The British Academy recognises Manchester academics for their expertise

A number of academics from The University of Manchester have today been recognised for their knowledge and expertise by being elected as Fellows of the British Academy. 

Dr Melanie Giles, Professor Penny Harvey and Professor Hilary Owen are among 85 scholars to be elected to the prestigious fellowship this year. David Olusoga, Professor of Public History, has also been awarded with an Honorary Fellowship in recognition of his broadcasting and public engagement work.

Founded in 1902, the British Academy is the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. It is a Fellowship of over 1600 of the leading minds in these subjects from the UK and overseas. 

Current Fellows include the classicist Professor Dame Mary Beard, the historian Professor Sir Simon Schama and philosopher Professor Baroness Onora O’Neill, while previous Fellows include Dame Frances Yates, Sir Winston Churchill, Seamus Heaney and Beatrice Webb. The Academy is also a funding body for research, nationally and internationally, and a forum for debate and engagement.   

David Olusoga’s broadcasting work includes the popular series A House Through Time, and the series Black and British: A Forgotten History which accompanied his book of the same name. On receiving his Honouary Fellowship, he said: “It’s a wonderful and unexpected honour to have been elected an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy – I’m thrilled that my work exploring marginalised histories has been recognised in this way.”

Melanie Giles is a Senior Lecturer in Archaeology. Her book Bog Bodies: Face to Face with the Past won 2022’s Book of the Year in the prestigious Current Archaeology Awards.