The British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust award Senior Research Fellowships to nine outstanding scholars

The British Academy, in partnership with the Leverhulme Trust, has awarded nine Senior Research Fellowships to leading SHAPE (Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy) academics across the UK.

Worth a total of £419,000, the British Academy/Leverhulme Senior Research Fellowships will alleviate the scholars’ administrative and teaching duties, allowing them to concentrate efforts on a major research project.

Each year there are up to nine awards: eight made possible thanks to the generosity of the Leverhulme Trust, and one occasional award – the Thank-Offering to Britain Fellowship – provided by the Association of Jewish Refugees in gratitude for the UK’s support for Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution.

This year’s British Academy/Leverhulme Senior Research Fellows are:

• "‘Colonial Science’, the Production of Space and its Afterlives in Italian North Africa" – Professor David Atkinson, University of Hull
• "When Will We Be Free? Living in the Shadow of Empire and the Struggle for Decolonisation" – Dr Simukai Chigudu, University of Oxford
• "Alegropolitics: Connecting on the Afromodern Dance Floor" – Professor Ananya Jahanara Kabir, King’s College London
• "Mixed Lives and Hybrid Texts: Guides to Devout Living in Late-Medieval England" – Professor Eddie Jones, University of Exeter
• "Jugglers: An Intellectual History (1500-1700)" – Dr Thibaut Maus de Rolley, University College London
• "Transforming Representation? The Long-term Impacts of Feminisation on Parliament" – Professor Rainbow Murray, Queen Mary University of London
• "Thomas Carlyle and the Russians: Intercultural Dialogue in the Age of Empire and Revolutions" – Dr Frances Nethercott, University of St Andrews
• "'Occupations and Interruptions': Caring Responsibilities and Creativity in the Work of Christina Rossetti" – Dr Dinah Roe, Oxford Brookes University.

The British Academy/Thank-Offering to Britain Senior Research Fellowship:

• "Rabbinic Scholarship in the Context of Late Antique Scholasticism" – Professor Catherine Hezser, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

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

“Balancing the various professional duties required of academics is incredibly demanding so it is important that support such as the British Academy/Leverhulme Senior Research Fellowships exists to enable academics to pursue major research projects. These fellowships provide established academics with precious time to complete often career-defining projects and contribute to the UK’s world-class SHAPE research environment.”