British Academy Fellowship for two Leeds professors
Professors Julia Barrow (Medieval Studies) and Fiona Williams OBE (Social Policy) have been made Fellows of the British Academy.
Professors Julia Barrow (l) and Fiona Williams (r)
Every year a limited number of Fellows are elected on the basis of their outstanding contribution to research in the humanities and social sciences.
Professor Barrow is Professor in Medieval Studies and Director of the Institute for Medieval Studies. Her research interests lie chiefly in church history c.700-c.1300, especially English episcopal charters and administration c.1000-c.1300, and the career structure of the medieval clergy in Western Europe c.800-c.1250. She joins a select group of medievalists from Leeds that have been elected fellows of the British Academy, together with John Le Patourel (elected in 1972, d. 1981) and Brian Richardson (elected in 2003).
Professor Williams OBE is Emeritus Professor of Social Policy, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of the Academy of Learned Societies in the Social Sciences. She was awarded an OBE in 2004. Her research interests are in the fields of gender, 'race', ethnicity, and care in contemporary society.
Professor Williams said: "I feel extremely honoured to have been elected to the British Academy. In the context of an increasing disavowal of expert discourse in political debate, the British Academy has a crucial to play in defending, developing and communicating its collective knowledge in the social sciences and humanities to diverse publics."
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