Six new British Academy/Wolfson Fellowships awarded to outstanding scholars in the humanities and social sciences

The British Academy and the Wolfson Foundation have awarded funding to six outstanding early-career researchers to promote and facilitate high-quality research in the humanities and social sciences across the UK.

Worth up to £130,000 over three years and designed to empower early-career researchers who show exceptional talent in both research and public engagement, the British Academy/Wolfson Fellowships provide researchers with time away from some of their administrative and teaching duties to pursue outstanding research, along with funding for public engagement and travel, to ensure their work reaches a global audience.

The full list of award-holders is:

• 'Navigating the Academic Space: Exploring Identity Negotiation and Feelings of Belonging Among Muslim Women in British Universities' – Dr Amena Amer, Lecturer, University of Greenwich, Faculty of Education, Health and Human Sciences
• 'Digital Enclosures: Automating Property in Contemporary Urban India' – Dr Thomas Cowan, Assistant Professor in Economic Geography, University of Nottingham
• 'Narrative Epistemology' – Dr Rachel Elizabeth Fraser, Associate Professor of and Tutorial Fellow in Philosophy, Exeter College and University of Oxford
• '"We are Hongkongers": Contested Identities, Communities and Home-building of Hongkonger Diaspora in the UK' – Dr Sui Ting Kong, Assistant Professor of Social Work, Durham University
• 'Extraction and the Social Scientist: Decolonising Research on the Politics of Knowledge, Agency and Resistance in Natural Resource Geographies' – Dr Amber Murrey, Associate Professor of Political Geography, University of Oxford
• 'Narrative Reparations: On Fictional Activism, Fictional Revenge and Fictional Healing' – Dr Michelle Williams Gamaker, Senior Lecturer in BA Fine Art and Goldsmiths Programme Leader for A Particular Reality, Goldsmiths, University of London.

Paul Ramsbottom, Chief Executive of the Wolfson Foundation, said:

“There is a crucial need to support researchers in the early stages of their career in the humanities and social sciences. We are excited to continue to support talented scholars to pursue original research projects, which will have a significant impact on their fields of study.”

Hetan Shah, Chief Executive of the British Academy, said:

“We are delighted to announce the third cohort of our prestigious British Academy/Wolfson Fellowships. Made possible thanks to the generous support of the Wolfson Foundation, the Fellowships will support these exceptional scholars to undertake bold and imaginative research into topics including the identities and needs of newly arrived migrants from Hong Kong, and feelings of belonging among Muslim women in British universities. We wish our new British Academy/Wolfson Fellows the greatest success and look forward to seeing the results of their research and public engagement.”

Professor Simon Swain, Vice-President for Research and Higher Education Policy at the British Academy, said:

“It is fantastic to see such a diverse and innovative cohort of awardees and the selection panel was incredibly impressed by the depth and quality of applicants. The 2022 British Academy/Wolfson Fellows exemplify the absolute value of innovative and internationally oriented research in the humanities and social sciences. I look forward to following the progress of these projects.”