Professor Simon Swain of the University of Warwick, has been elected as one of 42 highly distinguished UK academics from 18 universities as Fellows, in recognition of his outstanding research, taking the total number of living Fellows to over one thousand for the first time.

Simon is Professor of Classics and Greco-Arabic Studies, and the Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Warwick.

Simon works on the reception and development of Greek thought in the Islamic Middle Ages, and the social and cultural history of the Greek East in the Roman period and after. He has had extensive external funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Leverhulme, Wellcome, and the European Union (EU) for projects on the reception and development in late antiquity and the Islamic period of ancient Greek science and pseudo-science (medicine, physiognomy), economic, and political thought.

At its Annual General Meeting (16 July 2015), the Academy welcomed the new Fellows whose research areas span the full range of the subject areas across the humanities and social sciences, from history to psychology, economics to law, literature to philosophy and languages to archaeology.

Professor Simon Swain, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Warwick, said: “It is an honour to be elected as a Fellow of the British Academy. I hope that my research continues to encourage younger academics and helps to contribute to the discussion of great issues and debates of our time. The British Academy's research into humanities and social sciences is vital to helping us understand the world and humanity.”

Lord Stern, President of the British Academy, said: “This year we have the honour of once again welcoming the finest researchers and scholars into our Fellowship. Elected from across the UK and world for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences, they represent an unrivalled resource of expertise and knowledge.”

A total of 65 new Fellows were elected last week, including 20 new Corresponding Fellows from overseas universities and three new Honorary Fellows: former Chief Executive of the British Library, Dame Lynne Brindley DBE, now Master of Pembroke College, Oxford; Dame Carol Ann Duffy DBE, Poet Laureate Professor of Contemporary Poetry and Creative Director of the Manchester Writing School, Manchester Metropolitan University; and Sir John Eliot Gardiner CBE, founder and artistic director of the Monteverdi Choir, the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique.

 

Notes for editors:

The Academy's Review of the Year and further information on the Academy and its activities are available online.

Further information on Professor Swain’s research can be found here.

Discover more about Professor Swain’s research in this interview: Reflections on the Roman author Bryson Arabus

Alex Buxton

Communications Manager
Tel: 02476 150423
Mob: 07876 218166
a.buxton.1@warwick.ac.uk