Professors Haidy Geismar, Maria Lee and Roger Koenker have been elected as new British Academy Fellows for 2025 as part of 92 new distinguished scholars - 58 UK Fellows, 30 International Fellows and four Honorary Fellows.
Founded in 1902, the British Academy is the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences, bringing together over 1,800 world-leading leading scholars in these subjects from the UK and overseas.
It is also a funding body for research - nationally and internationally - as well as a forum for debate and engagement.
Professor Haidy Geismar is the inaugural Director of the School for the Creative and Cultural Industries. She is an active curator, curating the UCL Ethnography Collections and works with other museums. As a social anthropologist, she has extensive experience working in partnership with cultural practitioners, including curators, community artists and cultural organisations. Her research interests focus on intellectual and cultural property, indigenous rights, colonial histories and legacies, new forms of cultural representation, the affects and effect of digitisation, the anthropology of art, critical museology and the South Pacific (especially Vanuatu and New Zealand).
Professor Roger Koenker is an Honorary Professor of Economics. His research is focused primarily on empirical Bayes methods for studying heterogeneity and inequality in economics and related fields. He is also an elected Fellow of the Econometric Society, the American Statistical Association and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics.
Professor Maria Lee (UCL Laws) teaches and researches environmental law and policy and has a long-standing interest in the ways in which law shapes decision-making. She has worked extensively with civil society and policy makers, and her current areas of work are broadly on the ways in which environmental groups use and understand legal expertise and on planning law. Both of these strands of work relate to her long-standing interests in expertise, public participation and democracy in environmental matters.
Professor Geraint Rees, UCL Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation and Global Engagement), said: "Huge congratulations to my colleagues honoured by the British Academy."
"This prestigious recognition reflects their exceptional contributions to transforming the lives of people and societies around the world and demonstrates the relevance and impact of UCL’s outstanding research around the world."
The newly appointed President of the British Academy, Professor Susan J Smith, welcomed the new Fellows for the first time: "What a line-up! They represent the very best of the humanities and social sciences, and bring years of experience, evidence-based arguments and innovative thinking to the profound challenges of our age: managing the economy, enabling democracy, and securing the quality of human life," she said.
"Champions of research excellence, every new Fellow enlarges our capacity to interpret the past, understand the present, and shape resilient, sustainable futures. It is a privilege to extend my warmest congratulations to them all."
Links
- (Left to right): Professor Haidy Geismar (photo credit Marq Riley), Professor Maria Lee and Professor Roger Koenker.
- University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT (0) 20 7679 2000
