Eight Oxford academics elected British Academy Fellows

Eight Oxford University academics have been elected as 2018 Fellows of the British Academy for their stand-out research in the humanities and social sciences.

The British Academy Fellowship has been bestowed on more than 1,400 world-leading minds from universities across the UK, including the classicist Dame Mary Beard, who received an honorary Oxford University degree at Encaenia 2018.

Each year, up to 76 first class scholars who have been seen to produce the very best academic research in the humanities and social sciences, receive the honour of joining the British Academy. Previous high profile Fellows include Sir Winston Churchill, C.S Lewis, Seamus Heaney and Beatrice Webb.

This year marks the largest ever round of new Fellows to be elected to the British Academy.

The new Oxford Fellows are:

• Professor Jane Lightfoot, Professor of Greek Literature at the Faculty of Classics, Oxford University
• Professor Carol Harrison, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, in the Faculty of Theology and Religion at Oxford
• Professor Fiona Stafford, Professor of English Language and Literature in the Faculty of English, Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford
• Professor Helen Small, Professor of English Literature in the English Faculty, Tutorial Fellow, Pembroke College
• Professor Ian Rumfitt, Professor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Philosophy, Senior Research Fellow, All Souls College
• Professor Ian Loader, Professor of Criminology in the Faculty of Law, Professorial Fellow of All Souls College
• Professor Melinda Mills, Nuffield Professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology and Fellow of Nuffield College
• Professor Ben Ansell, Professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions, Nuffield College, Director of Graduate Students Professional Training

Professor Sarah Whatmore FRS, FAcSS, Head of the Social Sciences Division at Oxford University, has also been appointed as a member of the British Academy Council.

As the UK's national body for the study of social sciences and humanities, an appointment to the Council of the Academy is a prestigious mark of distinction. The British Academy not only provides independent research funding, and support to a community of researchers excelling in their fields, but it also actively champions the place of the social sciences and humanities at large.

Professor Sir David Cannadine, President of the British Academy, said: 'I am delighted to welcome this year’s exceptionally talented new Fellows to the Academy. Including historians and economists, neuroscientists and legal theorists, they bring a vast range of expertise, insights and experience to our most distinguished fellowship.

'The election of the largest cohort of Fellows in our history means the British Academy is better placed than ever to help tackle the challenges we all face today. Whether it’s social integration or the ageing society, the future of democracy or climate change, Brexit or the rise of artificial intelligence, the insights of the humanities and social sciences are essential as we navigate our way through an uncertain present into what we hope will be an exciting future.'