Seven academics from the University of Oxford have been elected British Academy Fellows in recognition of their contribution to the humanities and social sciences. Sally Maitlis, Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Leadership at Saïd Business School, and Ian Jewitt, Sir Roy Harrod Official Fellow in Economics at the Department of Economics, are among those to have received the highly-prestigious honour.
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 leading figures in these subjects from the UK and overseas. This year 85 Fellows have been elected: 52 UK Fellows, 29 Corresponding Fellows and four Honorary Fellows.
The seven new Fellows from Oxford are:
- Daniel Freeman, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Department of Psychiatry
- Simon Gilson, Agnelli-Serena Professor of Italian Studies at the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages
- Ian Jewitt, Sir Roy Harrod Official Fellow in Economics at the Department of Economics
- Sally Maitlis, Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Leadership at Saïd Business School
- Hilary Owen, Senior Research Fellow in the Sub-Faculty of Portuguese at the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages
- David Willis, Jesus Professor of Celtic at the Faculty of English
- Mark Wynn, Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion at the Faculty of Theology and Religion
Professor Timothy Power, Head of Social Sciences Division, said of the elections: “I am delighted Ian Jewitt and Sally Maitlis have received the great honour of being elected Fellows of the British Academy. My congratulations to them both on being recognised for academic distinction within their fields. They will bring their in-depth knowledge and outstanding research to this prestigious Fellowship, joining other leading minds in the social sciences and humanities.”
Sally Maitlis is Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Leadership at Said Business School. Her areas of expertise include sensemaking in organisations, trauma and adversity at work, and processes of personal growth.
Speaking on being elected Professor Maitlis said: “It’s an immense honour to be nominated to the British Academy, our national institution for the humanities and social sciences. It is humbling to have my work recognised in this way and very exciting to become part of the British Academy Fellowship, an amazing community of scholars, including many who have been great influences on my work.
“One of the distinctive things about the BA community is that it spans the humanities and social sciences. This is especially meaningful to me as my research builds on core ideas from psychology and human development, and has long been embedded in narrative traditions grounded in the humanities. From these perspectives, I have explored how people make sense of challenging and sometimes deeply painful issues in their work. These include experiences such as renegotiating careers which have been derailed and identities undermined by physical injury, navigating intractable problems in pursuing a calling, and leaders dealing with mental health difficulties in themselves and others.”
Ian Jewitt is Sir Roy Harrod Official Fellow in Economics in the Department of Economics. Professor Jewitt's research focuses on Microeconomic theory, especially information economics and decision theory. Ian Jewitt commented: "Many of my most esteemed colleagues are fellows of the Academy and not a few of my close friends. It is a great honour and a great pleasure to join them."
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