This year a total of 84 Fellows have been elected to the Fellowship, of which five are Cambridge academics:

• Professor Duncan Bell, Professor of Political Thought and International Relations, Fellow of Christ’s College
• Professor Sarah Franklin, Chair of Sociology, Fellow of Christ's College
• Professor Richard Holton, Professor of Philosophy, Fellow of Peterhouse
• Professor Samuel Lieu, President of the International Union of Academies, Bye Fellow of Robinson College
• Professor Ianthi Tsimpli, Professor of English and Applied Linguistics, Fellow of Fitzwilliam College

Founded in 1902, the British Academy is the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. It is a Fellowship of over 1400 of the leading minds in these subjects from the UK and overseas. The Academy is also a funding body for research, nationally and internationally, and a forum for debate and engagement.

Welcoming the Fellows, the new President of the British Academy, Professor Julia Black, said:

“As the new President of the British Academy, it gives me great pleasure to welcome this new cohort of Fellows, who are as impressive as ever and remind us of the rich and diverse scholarship and research undertaken within the SHAPE disciplines – the social sciences, humanities and the arts. I am very much looking forward to working with them on our shared interests.

“The need for SHAPE subjects has never been greater. As Britain recovers from the pandemic and seeks to build back better, the insights from our diverse disciplines will be vital to ensure the health, wellbeing and prosperity of the UK and will continue to provide the cultural and societal enrichment that has sustained us over the last eighteen months. Our new Fellows embody the value of their subjects and I congratulate them warmly for their achievement.”