British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Previous News of Fellows
Peter Hennessy, historian and constitutional expert has been appointed a cross-bench peer.
Professor Wilfred Lambert has been elected to the Honorary Council of the International Association of Assyriology. The Honorary Council consists of a small of number of scholars - currently six - elected by members of the Association for distinction in the field of Assyriology.
Sir John Vickers, chair of the Independent Commission on Banking, launched a discussion paper on the 24th September. The "call for evidence" seeks to identify issues to be covered by the work of the Commission.
David Crystal, described as ‘the nation’s favourite linguist’ is a regular contributor to BBC radio. Recent appearances involved speculation on Wikis and the web, and a role as expert on ‘It’s only a Theory’
Richard English has been heard regularly on radio recently commenting on a recent rise in security concerns about potential violence from dissident nationalists in Northern Ireland.
Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, has featured in an interview in the Times Colour Magazine on 25 September.
Speaking at St Mary's Church in Great Chart, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams urged people to engage with their community and the needs and feelings of others. (28 Sept)
Jonathan Bate argues in the Telegraph that Shakespeare's plays are fundamentally designed around interaction with an audience and that a new approach to televising them is required for success. (21 Sept)
Eamon Duffy spoke on a special Radio 4 programme Highlights of the Beatification. (19 Sept)
Diarmid McCulloch spoke on Radio 4's Broadcasting House about the Pope's visit to England. (19 Sept)
Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond, Honorary Fellow, is the only female among the 12 justices of the UK Supreme Court. In an interview on 16 September, she reflects on the court's first year, her 'irritations' and her hopes for further reform.
Nigel Thrift, Vice-Chancellor of Warwick University, presented to a European Universities Association meeting in Bologna on diversification of University income. He pointed out how straitened circumstances present opportunities and that diversifying a defence against the tendency of government to tell universities how to manage.
Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, addressed the Trades Union Congress in Manchester on 15 September. He is the only second Governor to address the Congress, the last was in 1989.
He told delegates that there was a real risk that the UK could fall back into crisis if the Government did not the address the deficit.
John Moore, noted for his work demonstrating how small economic shocks can cause significant falls in output due to credit restriction, has been tipped as a possible Nobel laureate in economics in the annual Thomson Reuters predictions. He is the only UK name on the list, which is based on citation analyses.
The exhibition of the Cyrus Cylinder in Iran has been facilitated by two British Academy Fellows, Neil MacGregor and John Curtis
along with Vesta Sarkosh Curtis of the British Institute for Persian Studies.
The 6th Century artefact has been referred to as the world's first statement of human rights and "the history of the middle east in an object".
The loan from the British Museum reciprocates loans from the National Museum of Iran and is a symbol of the enduring power of the humanities to connect peoples, even when conventional diplomacy is strained.
Thomas Bingham, Lord Bingham of Cornhill KG, died on 11 September, aged 76. He was the first man to be Master of the Rolls, Lord Chief Justice and Senior Law Lord. Seen by many as the pre-eminent judge of his generation, he was described recently as "perhaps the greatest world jurist of our times". He was elected an Honorary Fellow in 2003.
Geert-Jan van Gelder and Clive Holes participated in a Radio 4 programme broadcast on Sunday 5th September on the Majnun Layla legend in Middle Eastern poetries: "Crazy for Love: Layla and the Mad Poet". The legend goes back to 7th century Arabia, but is also a well-known element in Turkish, Persian and various Indian literary cultures too.
Ron Johnston reflects on the proposed changes to electoral boundaries and the voting system in the Economist 2 September 2010
Baroness O’Neill, former PBA, was interviewed in The Guardian on 24 August and Radio 4's You and Yours on the 31 August about the decline in modern language learning and the Academy’s 2009 report Language Matters.
Michael Fulford spoke to The Times about excavations in Roman Silchester which have yielded surprising evidence of British cultural resistance to Roman domination. (Sept 18)
David Crystal will present The Stories of English in an event at the first exhibition ever to explore the evolution of the English language from Anglo-Saxon runes to modern day rap. Evolving English: One Language, Many Voices will take place at the British Library from 12 November 2010 - 3 April 2011.
Nicholas Stern, Lord Stern, broke his holiday in Australia to advise newly elected parliamentarians there on issues to do with climate change, as they consider which of the two major parties to support, following the recent indecisive federal election.
Jean Starobinski celebrates his 90th birthday this year, which will be marked by an international colloquium in his honour in November in Bern and Geneva on literary theory, the theme being 'A distance de loge'.
Stefan Collini unpicks some of the fashionable rhetoric surrounding the concept of social mobility in an article in The Guardian, 24 August
Sir Frank Kermode died on 17 August, at the age of 90, one of the greatest literary critics of our time. He was the Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at UCL and the King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at Cambridge University. He inspired the founding of the London Review of Books in 1979.
Obituary - Guardian
Obituary - Telegraph
Dr Anna Marmodoro, British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellow has been awarded a European Research Council grant of £1m for a five year project in ancient metaphysics, to begin in 2011. The project builds on her British Academy sponsored research on causal powers in Aristotle’s metaphysics.
Seamus Heaney revealed in the Times on 14 August how the tale of the Bog People had inspired his famous poem of that name of 1969. He also acknowledged how developments in the scholarly understanding of burials in the Danish bogs had affected his perspective. Seamus Heaney`s latest collection of poems Human Chain is published in September.
Peter Hennessey presented Why Russia Spies on BBC Radio 4 on 15 August.
Onora O'Neill writes about the euthanasia in the Guardian on 30 July 2010. She questions whether legislation can be framed in a way that keep citizens safe while promoting a meaningful sense of individual autonomy.
Tony Judt, British historian and writer based in New York, regarded as one of the most prominent public intellectuals in the USA, has died at the age of 62 after a two-year struggle with motor neurone disease. He was the author of the acclaimed Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945. (Aug 8)
Archie Brown gave the keynote address at the opening session of the ICCEES (International Council for Central and East European Studies) congress in Stockholm (26 July 2010). Professor Brown was asked to give this address when Mikhail Gorbachev withdrew at short notice. A major theme of the congress was the Soviet perestroika (and its various ramifications), launched 25 years ago. Archie Brown’s address was, accordingly, on the topic of ‘Gorbachev and Perestroika: A Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Perspective’.
Dr Anna Marmodoro, British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellow and Junior Research Fellow at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, has been awarded a European Research Council grant of £1m for a five year project in ancient metaphysics, to begin in 2011. Her project aims "to bring about a paradigm shift in our understanding of how the ancients conceived of the universe and its contents, over a period of nine centuries, 600 BC to 300 AD." The project builds on her British Academy sponsored research on causal powers in Aristotle’s metaphysics. The ERC award will support the creation of a team comprising five post-doctoral researchers and a DPhil research student.
Sir Frank Kermode died on 17 August, at the age of 90, one of the greatest literary critics of our time. He was the author of many books, including Romantic Image (1957), The Sense of an Ending (1967) and Shakespeare’s Language (2000).
He was the Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London and the King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at Cambridge University. He inspired the founding of the London Review of Books in 1979, where he wrote many thoughtful pieces.
Sir Adam Roberts writes about the public value of research and scholarship in the humanities and social sciences in Research Fortnight (issue 351, 28 July 2010). He is also interviewed in two BBC articles – talking about the effectiveness of international sanctions in the context of rising concern over Iran’s uranium enrichment programme and about the paucity of our understanding of Afghan languages and culture.
Stephen Shennan, Director of the UCL Institute of Archaeology, has recently been awarded the Rivers Memorial Medal 2010 by the Royal Anthropological Institute (UK). The award will take place on the 23 September 2010 at the Royal Anthropological Institute's AGM.
Sir David Cannadine chaired a major public debate at the Institute of Education on Monday 19 July on the future of history in schools.
David Clark has been awarded the 2010 Award of the American Psychological Association for Distinguished Scientific Applications of Psychology. (July 28)
Elizabeth Traugott received an honorary doctorate from the University of Helsinki in May. Her new book Gradience, Gradualness, and Grammaticalization has recently been released.
Hugh Trevor-Roper (1914-2003), Lord Dacre of Glanton, author of The Last Days of Hitler, is the subject of a new biography by Adam Sisman (Weidenfeld).
David Cannadine chose the multi-coloured model elephants, which have been on display across London this summer as part of an awareness and fundraising initiative, as the theme of his contribution to BBC Radio 4's A Point of View on 18 July.
Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, was the subject of a profile in the Financial Times on 17 July.
Marina Warner has been elected President of the British Comparative Literature Association in succession to Gillian Beer. (July 13)
David Rhind has been appointed Chair of the Nuffield Foundation. He will succeed Baroness O'Neill, former President of the Academy, who has been chair since 1997. David Rhind is also chair of the Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information and of the Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust Board.(July 13)
Sir Roy Goode played a central role in the 2001 UNIDROIT Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and the 2007 Luxembourg Protocol. He is also currently performing a similar function in work on a Space Protocol. He has served successively as chairman of the Study Group, Chairman and Co-Chairman of the Drafting Committee, Rapporteur, as well as being UK representative and author of the Official Commentaries mandated by two diplomatic conferences. (July 2010)
Sir David Hendry has been honoured with a conference at the University of St Andrew's. The conference is organized with the Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE), in recognition of the knighthood Sir David received for contributions to social science in the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours. (July 2010)
Jonathan Bate has been appointed as the next Provost of Worcester College, Oxford (5 July) . He will take up the post in the Summer of 2011.
Sir Michael Marmot was appointed President of the British Medical Association for the next 12 months (29 June 2010).
He appeared on the Today programme (2 July 2010) talking about health inequalities, socio-economic variation in life expectancy and non-medical health interventions.
Professor Theodore Zeldin appeared on the Today programme (2 July 2010) talking about “A Feast of Conversation”, a new event designed to encourage people to talk about a range of subjects with people they have never met before and promote the art of conversation.
Fiona Steele, Chris Skinner, Jonathan Gershuny and Harvey Goldstein are presenting at the ESRC Research Methods Festival (5-8 July 2010).
Sarah Worthington has been appointed to the Arts and Humanities Research Council
Tony Judt was the subject of a programme on BBC Radio 4 on 29th June. The acclaimed historian of post-war Europe is a victim of motor neurone disease. In the programme,'No Triumph, No Disaster', he describes the illness which has paralysed everything but his mind.
Dame Gillian Beer has been elected President of the Modern Humanities Research Association for 2011 and will give the annual President's Lecture next May. She also recently spoke at the Hay Literary Festival in Cartagena, Colombia, and gave a keynote talk at the Kolkata Book Fair.
Vernon Bogdanor was a participant in The Times national summit of business leaders convened 28-29 June to advise the government on its strategy.
Oliver Taplin's translations from Homer's Odyssey are being used for a production of "The Wanderings of Odysseus" for the 2010 summer theatre at Stanford University, California. (June 2010)
Nigel Thrift gave a presentation on challenges facing universities to a roundtable of higher education leaders organised on 28 June by the Higher Education Policy Institute.
Sir David Hendry has been appointed head of a new Institute for Economic Modelling at Oxford, a venture sponsored by philanthropists George Soros and James Martin (June 2010).
Ritchie Robertson has been appointed Taylor Professor of German Literature and Language at Oxford (June 2010).
David Butler has recently given up running a weekly seminar at Oxford that brought together academics and students with figures from government, Whitehall and journalism. He has been involved in broadcast commentary on elections in the UK for some 60 years. The BBC is to sponsor an annual lecture in his honour, to be hosted by the Reuters Institute.
Robert Conquest's new collection of poems, Penultima, has been published by the Waywiser press.
In March Professor Archie Brown spoke at a conference in Moscow chaired by Mikhail Gorbachev. The conference marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the launch of perestroika.
The following month Professor Brown gave four lectures entitled ‘Communism Reappraised’ in Taiwan. Professor Brown's latest book The Rise and Fall of Communism, was published in April by Random House as a Vintage paperback.
Professor Ruth Lister, in a letter in The Guardian (30 June) criticises the proposed cuts in Government welfare benefits and asks,“How much more will the poor and powerless be expected to pay for a crisis created by the rich and powerful?”
Professor Nick Boyle asserts in his new book 2014 How to survive the next world crisis that a cataclysmic "Great Event" that will shape the century is likely to occur in the middle of the next decade. (June 2010)
At the General Assembly of the Union Académique Internationale held in Budapest from 24 to 29 May 2010, Professor Nicholas Sims-Williams FBA was elected as one of the two Vice-Presidents.
Sir John Vickers has been appointed Chair of the new Independent Banking Commission, which is charged with reducing the risk of failure in the banking sector. (June 2010)
Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, has emerged from the government's overhaul of financial regulation as one of the most powerful figures in determining the future shape and stability of the economy (June 2010)
Sir Peter North CBE QC has led an independent review of the law on drink and drug driving. Sir Peter recommends the lowering of the legal limit of alcohol per 100ml of blood from 80mg to 50mg, and has called for police to have greater powers to check for drink drivers. (June 2010)
Fergus Millar, 74, recipient of the Kenyon Medal for Classics in 2005, has been Knighted. Professor Millar is credited as being among the most influential ancient historians of the 20th Century.
Tim Besley has been awarded a CBE. A distinguished economist and former monetary policy committee member, Professor Besley authored a pre-election letter aimed at generating consensus in fiscal policy. (June 2010)
A symposium in honour of Professor Peter Spufford FBA, author of Money and its use in Medieval Europe (Cambridge, 1988) will be held over two days (16-17 Sept. 2010) in Queens’ College Cambridge. (June 2010)
Sir Christopher Ricks has agreed to continue at Oxford as Professor of Poetry this year, beyond the end of his term, while a successor is being identified. An anthology of 30 poets discussed by him in his lectures as Professor will appear in 2010. (June 2010)
Writing in the New Statesman Martha Nussbaum reminds readers that the humanities are essential for developing "the principles and rules of sound thinking", the imagination and moral faculties that are essential to citizenship in a democratic society. (June 2010)
The British Academy is proud to note the election of a number of its Fellows to the American Philosophical Society. Dame Gillian Beer and Martin Litchfield West were elected as 2010 members. (June 2010)
Professor Quentin Skinner gives his inaugural lecture on "Truth and the Historian" at Queen Mary, University of London, 2nd June.
On 27 May Baroness O'Neill was awarded a Honorary Doctorate of Law at Harvard University. At the same ceremony the same degree was also awarded to CF Thomas Nagle.
Robert Skidelsky calls for restraint in cuts to government stimulus in the New Statesman. Citing Keynes, he argues increasing money supply is only effective if the money is spent. While the government can commit to spending, the private sector tends to hoard new money out of uncertainty. He adds that confidence and the exchequer are better served by funding a deficit that increases demand than by risking zero or negative growth from a recession.
Professor Stefan Collini calls in a letter to the Times (15 May 2010) for measures to ensure that “vital scholarly disciplines [are not] extinguished for ever in this country.” He argues for a temporary delay of cuts to allow breathing space to explore alternative avenues, including cooperation between institutions, in order to protect vulnerable and threatened areas of scholarship.
Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, backed the new government's deficit reduction plan, calling it "strong and powerful". Mr King said plans for spending cuts worth £6bn in 2010 were "sensible". (May 2010)
Donald Winch will be giving a lecture on ‘Wealth and Wellbeing’ as part of the University College London series on the Grand Challenge of Human Wellbeing on 21 June 2010, with Doug Long and Jonathan Wolff of UCL acting as commentators. (May 2010)
The BBC’s general election gurus included constitutional expert Vernon Bogdanor and historian Peter Hennessy, who according to the Metro (7 May) provided the quote of the night: “The Queen is like Heineken lager. There are parts of the constitution only she can reach”. (May 2010)
Writing in the Guardian Simon Baron-Cohen suggests that biological determinism should be used to understand, not to justify gender differences. (May 2010)
The Times reports Mervyn King as saying whoever wins the next election will not get back into power for a generation, such is the level of austerity required to tackle the deficit. (May 2010)
Dr Avril Pyman's new book Pavel Florensky: A Quiet Genius will be the main feature of a special symposium at Pushkin House in London on 12th May. The occasion also marks Dr Pyman's 80th birthday. (May 2010)
David Lowenthal has been awarded the biennial Forbes Prize 'for conspicuous services to conservation' by the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. The prize is the institute's highest honour. Professor Lowenthal will give the prize lecture at the IIC Congress in Istanbul in September. (May 2010)
Richard Overy FBA analyses the threats that face the study of the past in THE, and offers hope that history will triumph. (May 2010)
Christopher Peacocke has been elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. (May 2010)
CUP is delighted to announce the publication of The Archaeology of Measurement: Comprehending Heaven, Earth and Time in Ancient Societies, edited by Iain Morley and Colin Renfrew.
A celebratory reception was hosted by the John Templeton Foundation at the Academy on 5 May. (May 2010)
Marilyn Strathern is to chair the new Nuffield enquiry into human bodies in medicine and research, which will look at donor organs and ways of increasing the supply. (May 2010)
Professor Tim Besley delivered the annual Capstone Showcase lecture at LSE on 4 May on "Up for a challenge? Taking Office in the Wake of a Global Economic Crisis". (May 2010)
Writing in the LRB Professor Stefan Collini criticises the popular rhetoric of "aspiration", asserting that it masks an increasing level of inequality and rests on willful blindness to the relative nature of status and class.
"In an aggressively individualist society, large numbers of people identify with what they dream of being able to do rather than with what they are likely to be able to do"
Professor David Hand was a member of the independent panel convened to examine the research published by University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit, which was at the centre of the "Climategate" affair. The panel's finding that there had been no scientific malpractice was widely reported.
Twenty-two scientists have written to The Independent, 9 April, criticising the Conservative Party for its “lack of vision”, expressing concern that this reflects “a lack of commitment” to science and research, and calling on the party to spell out their spending plans for science.
In response to George Monbiot’s article (The Guardian, 6 April) lamenting the damaging divide between our two cultures (“the incomprehension with which science and humanities students regard each other is a tragedy of lost opportunities”) Professor Robin Milner-Gulland has written to the paper (8 April), pointing out that it is only in the English language that the words “science” and “scientist” have such a narrow meaning.
Professor Tim Besley is quoted in a front page story, in The Guardian, warning that too much “election froth” over tax reduction risks distracting voters from the primary importance of repairing the public finances.
Professor Ian Diamond FBA, Chief Executive of the ESRC since 2003, took up his post as Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen on 1 April 2010.
Professor Stefan Collini opened a conference on the Value of Literary Studies in March, noting that while literary scholars should not apologise for sometimes addressing a limited audience, they do have to make their case for public investment. He suggested that highlighting contributions to human understanding made more sense than “contributing to the tourist industry”.
Terry Eagleton is the subject of a new study The Trek of the Critic, in which he engages in dialogue with author Matthew Beaumont about his work and thoughts on literary theory and literature over many decades.
Anne Salmond is the author of a major study on the European discovery of Tahiti. Aphrodite’s Island (University of California Press 2009) gives an overview of European’s and also Tahitians’ evolving views of one another. It has been described as "a blockbuster of a book" (THE).
Blair Worden has published The English Civil Wars (2nd ed, Orion, January 2010), a short, accessible distillation of decades of research on an era that retains a strong hold on historical imagination in the UK.
John Kay’s latest book is Obliquity (Profile Books, 2010), in which he argues that complex goals are rarely best achieved when approached directly. He relates this approach to policy decisions, economic and other, of recent years.
The book is reviewed in the Financial Times
Henry Moore (1898-1986), formerly Honorary Fellow of the Academy, is the subject of an exhibition at Tate Britain, which showcases his celebrated crayon drawings of Londoners sheltering in the Underground during the wartime blitz.
Professor Michael Moriarty of Queen Mary, University of London has been awarded the Ordre des Palmes Académiques (Order of Academic Palms), an French order of chivalry originally created by Napoleon to honour eminent members of the University of Paris.
It is one of the world's oldest civil awards, awarded to recognise major contributions to French education and culture.
In a letter to the Guardian Professor Sir Adam Roberts rejects the notion of opposition between the Arts and Sciences writing that the "damaging myth of two rival cultures needs to be challenged at every turn"
Professor Edmund Bosworth had been awarded the Levi Della Vida Medal for outstanding contributions to the field of Islamic studies.
Mervyn King has called for the creation of "economic fire-breaks" to better protect the economy from shocks and to contain them when they occur.
John Kay was on BBC Radio 3’s Nightwaves on 22 March talking about the challenges facing the UK's universities.
John Morrill and Theo Hoppen have been elected an Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy
Dame Marilyn Strathern has been elected Life President of the Association of Social Anthropologists.
Peter Hennessy was interviewed by the Today programme about hung parliaments.
Professor Robert D Putnam will give the Gregynog Lecture at Aberystwyth University on The Age of Obama and the Challenges of a Multi-ethnic Society.
Prof Putnam will argue that, as a leader, Barack Obama embodies the union of black and white and reflects the ties between established Americans and new arrivals.
A live stream of 2010 DEMOS annual lecture, delivered by Professor Amartya Sen is available.
The lecture focuses on his recent work The Idea of Justice, arguing for a people centred view of democracy and power.
Writing in the Times, Professor Vernon Bogdanor expressed caution about military leaders becoming involved in party-political disputes.
He was subsequently interviewed on the BBC Radio Today programmes,
Henry Moore (1898-1986), artist and Honorary Fellow, was the subject of a retrospective on BBC television on 18 March.
The programme coincides with a dedicated exhibition of Moore's sculpture at Tate Britain
The British Academy is saddened to have learnt of the passing of one of its former Presidents, Sir Kenneth Dover, on 7 March at the age of 89.
Sir Kenneth, one of the world's greatest Greek scholars, was President from 1978 to 1981 and subsequently Chancellor of the University of St Andrews from 1981 to 2005.
Nigel Vincent (Vice-President, Research and HE Policy) wrote a column in the Times Higher on 4 March discussing universities' "inexorable loss of autonomy" and calling on them to work together to win stronger public support for higher education.
Former PBA Baroness O'Neill gave a presentation to the Cabinet Office strategy unit, looking at questions around trust and lack of trust in public servants, and how the same themes also dominate discussions of trust in politicians, the media and professionals.
Andrew Gamble gave a presentation to the Cabinet Office strategy unit on "Politics of the Recession". Gamble examined whether this recession is different from previous ones, particularly whether it is marked by a shift in the international balance of power. He also analysed the political conditions for recovery, and the potential political fall-out from fiscal retrenchment and sovereign debt.
Professor Peter Hennessy, tells the story of the places where political leaders have met at moments of crisis since the Second World War for the BBC.
Professor Vernon Bogdanor gave the European Leo Baeck lecture in London on 4 March on “Keith Joseph: Ideologist of Thatcherism”, exploring the importance of Keith Joseph’s influence on Thatcherism and also New Labour.
Annette Karmiloff-Smith appeared on In Our Time talking about the development of the brain in pre-verbal infants.
A letter that puts UK debt into historical context and urges knowledge-based economic growth was sent to the Guardian by members of the History and Policy network.
The letter was signed by twenty senior economic historians, including three British Academy Fellows; Professor Martin Daunton, Professor Geoffrey Hosking and Professor Patrick O’Brian.
In his blog, David Firth provides some interesting new analysis of the varying impact of HEFCE's formulae for allocating research grants following the 2008 RAE exercise.
David Hand has been co-opted for a further period as President of the Royal Statistical Society.
Professor David Marquand wrote the cover story in the New Statesman on 1 March in which he takes a historical perspective on the rise and policies of Conservatives leader David Cameron.
Professor Vernon Bogdanor wrote a review in the same issue recalling his experience of teaching David Cameron at Oxford.
Dr Andrew Burnett FBA and other leading figures from the arts and humanities have written to The Observer to warn that funding cuts could damage the UK's "cultural capital".
In an accompanying article Professor Jonathan Bate FBA adds "There is more to citizenship than business, innovation and skills."
Professor Mervyn King has warned that the UK needs to "face up" to the dangers within the financial system and adapt radical reforms – or risk an "even bigger crisis next time."
Professor Ian Diamond will succeed Professor Sir Duncan Rice as Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen on 31 March 2010.
Two letters organised by British Academy Fellows have been sent to the Financial Times fuelling the debate about UK deficit spending.
Professor Lord Skidelsky (letter) and Professor Richard Layard (letter) organised separate letters.
The action comes in response to a letter sent by Professor Tim Besley FBA to the Sunday Times arguing for spending cuts to reduce the UK's budget deficit.
Professor Lord Skidelsky spoke on the Today Programme.
Professor Joseph Stiglitz has published Freefall: Free Markets and the Sinking of the Global Economy. He outlines his position in an interview with the Independent
Sir Michael Marmot has published Fair Society, Healthy Lives. The Review provides an evidence based strategy for reducing health inequalities by 2025.
Professor Nicholas Boyle has been elected a Corresponding Fellow of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences.
Lord Bingham was profiled in The Guardian on 8 Feb 2010 linked to his new book, The Rule of Law. "Iraq war was illegal, says former lord chief justice".
A conference and field-seminar in memory of Professor M.W. Beresford FBA will take place over the weekend of May 21-23 in Winchelsea (East Sussex).
Specialist lectures and discussion on ’New towns of the Middle Ages’ (like Winchelsea), will build on Professor Beresford’s ideas and work. For further information, please visit www.winchelsea.net
Sir Michael Marmot has published Fair Society, Healthy Lives. The Review provides an evidence based strategy for reducing health inequalities by 2010. The strategy will include policies and interventions that address the social determinants of health inequalities.
A stream of Professor Sir Marmot being interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme is available.
Professor Nicholas Boyle has been elected a Corresponding Fellow of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences.
Lord Bingham was profiled in The Guardian on 8 Feb 2010 linked to his new book, The Rule of Law. "Iraq war was illegal, says former lord chief justice".
Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury will give a lecture focusing on the positive contribution refugees have made to the UK. The lecture is hosted by UCL on the 12 May. It is an invitation only event.
Professor Edward Luttwak (a corresponding Fellow) writes on the lessons to be learnt from the Byzantine empire's art of war and diplomacy for the modern Afghan conflict
Professor Julian Jackson considers the place of the Resistance in the French collective memory of the Second World War
Dr Noel Malcolm considers the mythology of the Inquisition following the opening up of the archive of the Roman Inquisition to scholars
A conference and field-seminar in memory of Professor M.W. Beresford FBA will take place over the weekend of May 21-23 in Winchelsea (East Sussex).
Specialist lectures and discussion on ’New towns of the Middle Ages’ (like Winchelsea), will build on Professor Beresford’s ideas and work. For further information, please visit www.winchelsea.net
Professor Robin Dunbar, has revealed (24 January) that while we may be able to amass 5,000 friends on social networking sites, the neo-cortex of our brains is capable of managing a maximum of 150 friendships and a "sympathy group" of 12 to 15 people. See extensive press reports. Or British Academy research Why Humans aren't just Great Apes
Professor Peter Hennessy appeared on Radio 4 on 29 January as a commentator on Tony Blair’s appearance at the Iraq enquiry.
Professor Rosemary Ashton appeared on Radio 4’s In Our Time on 28 January talking about Silas Marner. A podcast of the programme is available from the BBC website
Professor Sir John Hills led the report ‘An Anatomy of Economic Inequality in the UK’, launched today by the National Equality Panel. The Panel also included two other Fellows - Professor Ruth Lister and Professor Stephen Machin.
The report shows that the gap between rich and poor in the UK is wider now than 40 years ago. A stream of Professor Hills on the Today Programme, is available from the BBC.
For a full copy of the report, visit the Government Equalities Office website..
President of the British Academy, Professor Sir Adam Roberts, appeared on BBC Breakfast News on 27 January morning as part of a discussion about the Iraq inquiry.
Sir Keith Thomas will deliver the second of the 2009/10 Renaissance Seminar Series – From barbarism to civility: assumptions about social evolution in early modern England? at Queen Mary, University of London.
The seminar will take place on the 28 January in the Clinical Lecture Theatre, Francis Bancroft Building, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS
A reception will follow the lecture.
To confirm your attendance or request a copy of the series programme email events@qmul.ac.uk
Fyssen Foundation Prize
Winner Professor Chris Frith
Professor Chris Frith has been awarded the Fyssen Foundation International Prize for 2009.
This further honour follows the award last year of the Latsis Prize jointly to Chris and his wife, Professor Uta Frith. (11 January 2010)
Professor Stefan Collini and Professor Martha Nussbaum are both quoted in an article in this week’s Times Higher Education on the challenges facing humanities in higher education.
It follows Professor Collini’s article in the Times Literary Supplement on 13 November 2009 questioning how notions of impact assessment can work for the humanities.
Professor Nussbaum's forthcoming book Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities speaks of "a worldwide crisis in education" where "the humanities and arts are being cut away". (11 January 2010)
Fellows honoured
The British Academy is delighted to announce that three of its distinguished scholars have been acknowledged in the 2010 New Year Honours List:
Professor Paul Mellars, Professor of Prehistory and Human Evolution, University of Cambridge was awarded a Knights Bachelor Knighthood for services to Scholarship;
Professor Christopher Skinner, Professor, Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute, University of Southampton was appointed a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) for services to Social Science; and
Professor Timothy O’Riordan, Emeritus Professor of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia was appointed an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) for services to Sustainable Development.