British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences

News of Fellows 2009: T-Z

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Thrift

• Professor Nigel Thrift will deliver the 2009 RSA/Fulbright Commission Lecture on 'We can’t go on like this: why British higher education must change' (Royal Society of Arts, 13 May 2009)

Twinning

• Professor William Twining gave the Centenary Lecture of the Society of Legal Scholars at LSE on 28 May 2009, with the title 'Punching our Weight? Academic law and public understanding'. (The title draws on the Academy's recent policy report 'Punching Our Weight' on the contribution academics can make to public policy making).

Vermes

• Professor Geza Vermes discusses the light thrown on the different traditions of the Binding of Isaac by a tiny fragment found among the Dead Sea Scrolls ('Isaac, first lamb of God', Standpoint, December 2009)
• Professor Geza Vermes, a pioneer in the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls, will deliver the 2009 Eli N. Evans Distinguished Lecture in Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as part of an international lecture tour in advance of the publication of his latest book, The Story of the Scrolls which will be published by Penguin in February 2010 (Talk by Dead Sea Scrolls Scholar Kicks Off Jewish Studies Events, UNC Global, 25 August 2009)

Vickers

• Sir Brian Vickers has solved the puzzle of the authorship of The Reign of King Edward III, attributing it to a collaboration between William Shakespeare and his contemporary, Thomas Kydd. The work was done using Pl@giarism, a programme more usually used to detect cheating students. This work formed the basis of a discussion meeting held at the Academy which was part of our first Literature Week. ('Computer program proves Shakespeare didn't work alone, researchers claim', The Times, 12 October 2009)

Warner

• Professor Marina Warner considers modern retellings of myths in a review of Dubravka Ugreši?’s Baba Yaga Laid an Egg in the London Review of Books (‘Witchiness’, Marina Warner, LRB, 27 August 2009)
• Professor Marina Warner reviewed a new edition of Edward Fitzgerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám by Daniel Karlin (‘Ventriloquism’, London Review of Books, 9 April 2009)

Weale

• Professors Martin Weale, Charles Goodhart, Joseph Stiglitz and Willem Buiter contributed to an assessment of the wider economic impact of the collapse of Lehman Brothers one year on ('Saving Lehman's: A Good Idea?', Independent, 15 September 2009)

Williams

• Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, called on corporations and governments to overcome their fears and make choices to bring real change in a sermon delivered at Copenhagen Cathedral as part of a faith initiative on climate change ('Archbishop of Canterbury says fear hinders climate change battle', Guardian, 13 December 2009 ; the full text of the sermon is available from the Canterbury website)
• Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, met with Pope Benedict XVI on 21 November to discuss the Pope's recent announcement of special arrangements for the mass conversion to Catholicism of traditionalist Anglicans. ('Williams faces pope over Vatican call for converts', Observer, 22 November 2009,  http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/nov/22/williams-faces-pope-on-converts)
• Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, issued on 20 October a Joint Statement together with the Archbishop of Westminster concerning a response by Pope Benedict XVI to a number of requests over the past few years to the Holy See from groups of Anglicans who wish to enter into full visible communion with the Roman Catholic Church. ('Pope provides easier path for Anglicans to become Catholics', The Independent, 21 October 2009; full text of the statement is available from the Archbishop of Canterbury's official website)
• Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, told the BBC that he fears the causes of the economic collapse have not been properly addressed and raised concerns about increasing social dysfunction arising from inequality (Newsnight, 15 September 2009; see also 'Archbishop condemns bank excesses', BBC News, 16 September 2009).
• Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, discussed his personal understanding of prayer, once described by the poet George Herbert as 'something understood' with Mark Tully in the BBCR4 programme of the same name (Something Understood, BBCR4, 13 September 2009).
• Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, along with a number of other religious leaders, has urged those attending the London G20 summit to remember the world’s poorest people in their discussions. (G20 summit 'must not forget poor', BBC News website, 30 March 2009; full text of the communiqué available from the Archbishop of Canterbury website)

Worthington

• Professor Sarah Worthington has been appointed to the Government Review of post-graduate provision in the UK, launched on 14 October 2009 and expected to report to Ministers in spring 2010 ('Views Sought For Review Of Postgraduate Provision In The UK' DBIS news release, 14 October 2009)