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The British Academy welcomes 86 new Fellows showcasing the breadth and depth of humanities and social sciences research
21 Jul 2023
The British Academy welcomes a new group of leading international humanities and social sciences researchers to its Fellowship for 2023. The latest cohort of Fellows highlights the depth and breadth of the SHAPE (Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy) disciplines and reflects the importance of interdisciplinary research.
Of the 86 Fellows elected this year, 52 were elected from 29 universities across the UK. There are a further 30 Corresponding Fellows from universities in South Africa, Germany, Australia and India as well as four Honorary Fellows.
The newly elected Fellows, many of whom have received funding and support from the Academy throughout their careers, represent a diverse range of specialisms across the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In doing so, they demonstrate the value of Connected Knowledge, a new communications campaign launched by the British Academy earlier this month to celebrate collaboration between disciplines and particularly those in STEM and SHAPE.
The new Fellows’ expertise includes:
- language processing and reading development (Professor Kate Nation, University of Oxford)
- the evaluation of public health interventions and policy (Professor Kate Hunt, University of Stirling)
- public responses to environmental and technological risk (Professor Nicholas Pidgeon, Cardiff University)
- Black studies, poetics and critical theory (Professor Fred Moten, New York University)
- the archaeology and epigraphy of the Ancient Near East (Professor Laïla Nehmé, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique).
Joining a community of over 1,600 distinguished intellectuals, the newly elected Fellows of the British Academy become part of the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. Current Fellows include the classicist Professor Dame Mary Beard, the historian Professor Rana Mitter and philosopher Professor Baroness Onora O’Neill. The Academy also counts Professor David Olusoga, Baroness Brenda Hale, and Professor Gary Younge among its current Honorary Fellows.
Welcoming the new Fellows, Professor Julia Black, President of the British Academy, said:
It is with great pleasure that we welcome yet another outstanding cohort to the Academy’s Fellowship. The scope of research and expertise on display across our newly elected UK, Corresponding and Honorary Fellows shows the breadth and depth of knowledge and insight held by the British Academy. It is our role to harness this to understand and help shape a better world.
With the vast expertise and wide-ranging insights brought by our new Fellows, the Academy continues to showcase the importance of the SHAPE disciplines in opening fresh seams of knowledge and understanding, while simultaneously advancing the well-being and prosperity of societies worldwide. I wholeheartedly congratulate each of our new Fellows on this achievement and look forward to working together.
On being elected to the Fellowship Professor Clare Anderson, Professor of History at the University of Leicester, said:
The British Academy generously supported my first postdoctoral project, awarding me £2,200 in 1999 to support historical research in the India Office archives. It is no exaggeration to say that the work that I was able to complete at that time was of fundamental for the development of later, more ambitious research projects and programmes. I can hardly believe that almost 25 years have passed, since then, and I am thrilled to have received the great honour of being elected as Fellow.
Another newly elected Fellow, Professor Nicholas Pidgeon, Professor of Environmental Psychology at Cardiff University, added:
I am both honoured and delighted to be elected to the Academy. Our world now faces multiple environmental challenges, many of which are human in their origins. I look forward to contributing to the important work of the Academy in advancing our understanding how society can forge a more sustainable future for all.
The full list of this year’s new UK, Corresponding and Honorary Fellows
UK Fellows
Corresponding Fellows
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