Warwick celebrates three new British Academy Fellows

Three University of Warwick academics have been elected as Fellows of the British Academy, in recognition of the originality and influence of their research in the humanities and social sciences.

Professor Sonia Bhalotra, Professor of Economics; Professor Kirsty Hooper, Professor of Hispanic Studies; and Professor Celia Lury, Professor in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies, are among this year's newly elected Fellows.

The British Academy is the UK's national academy for the humanities and social sciences. Its Fellowship recognises scholars whose research has made a substantial contribution to their discipline and to wider society.

The three newly elected Fellows have been recognised for research spanning economics, interdisciplinary social science and Hispanic studies, reflecting the breadth of Warwick's contribution to the humanities and social sciences.

Professor Sonia Bhalotra

Professor Sonia Bhalotra is Professor of Economics. She is recognised for her contributions to research on the micro-foundations of inequality and social mobility, with a focus on health and gender. She uses experimental methods on large data sets to illuminate decision-making in families, businesses and government. She is currently Principal Investigator on a European Research Council Advanced Grant contributing new evidence to guide policy on domestic violence and workplace sexual harassment.

Professor Bhalotra said: "I am honoured to have been elected a Fellow of the British Academy. My research seeks to understand why some people do not fulfil their potential, with a particular focus on women and children. It investigates how markets, technology, social norms, law, and political and corporate leadership shape people’s opportunities. I hope this recognition highlights the importance of bringing rigorous empirical evidence to questions of profound social significance."

Professor Kirsty Hooper

Professor Kirsty Hooper is Professor of Hispanic Studies. Educated at state schools in Hertfordshire, she studied Modern Languages at the University of Oxford. A linguist and historian specialising in Galician, Spanish and Anglo-Spanish cultural history since 1800, she has particular expertise in Anglo-Spanish connections and the history of Hispanic communities in the UK.

Professor Hooper commented: "It’s a tremendous honour to be asked to join the British Academy. At a time when Arts, Humanities, and especially Languages are under serious threat in UK universities, the British Academy is at the forefront of the drive to ensure everyone, whatever their background and wherever they live, can access higher education in these crucial fields."

Professor Celia Lury

Professor Celia Lury is Professor in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies. Her research has been influential in developing the interdisciplinary study of culture, examining cultural change, personalisation, social relations and the evolving methods used to study contemporary society. Her work brings together insights from the humanities and social sciences to understand how technological and cultural transformations are reshaping everyday life.

Professor Lury said: "I am delighted to be elected a Fellow of the British Academy. Throughout my career I have been interested in how societies are changing, and in developing new ways for researchers to understand those changes across disciplines. At a time of rapid technological, cultural and environmental transformation, the insights of the social sciences and humanities are more important than ever. I look forward to contributing to the British Academy's work in championing these disciplines and their role in public life."

Professor Stuart Croft, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Warwick, said: "Congratulations to Sonia, Kirsty and Celia on this well-deserved recognition. Their research exemplifies the curiosity, creativity and intellectual rigour that define Warwick. Across very different disciplines, they have challenged assumptions, opened up new ways of understanding the world and produced research with lasting value beyond academia. We are immensely proud to see their achievements recognised by the British Academy."

Welcoming the new Fellows for 2026, the President of the British Academy Professor Susan J Smith said: “I am delighted to welcome our newest Fellows to the British Academy. Each has made an outstanding contribution to their field, and together they reflect the remarkable breadth and depth of scholarship across our disciplines. 

"At a time when society is grappling with radical uncertainty in the face of technological, economic and environmental change, the humanities and social sciences have never been more important. Insights from economics, geography and political studies help us navigate geopolitical tensions, while literature, history and philosophy – to name a few of the disciplines the Academy represents – fuel our creative industries and help people to better understand themselves and each other.

"Our new fellows join a community of scholars with unparalleled expertise, dedicated to advancing research, fostering collaboration across disciplines and demonstrating the value of the humanities and social sciences. I am proud to give my warmest congratulations to them all on their election today.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Biographies:

Professor Sonia Bhalotra

Sonia Bhalotra is Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick. She is recognised for her contributions to research on the micro-foundations of inequality and social mobility, with a focus on health and gender. She uses experimental methods on large data sets to illuminate decision-making in families, businesses and government.

She is currently Principal Investigator on a European Research Council Advanced Grant contributing new evidence to guide policy on domestic violence and workplace sexual harassment. This research is set in Denmark, Norway, Italy, the UK, USA, India, Brazil and Chile. Sonia is Co-Investigator on the UKRI-funded CAGE Research Centre where she co-leads research on mental health and gender in a similar range of countries. She is Co-Investigator on a Norwegian Research Council large grant on the social consequences of employer power; Co-Principal Investigator on JPAL grants evaluating labour market policies in Italy and teacher-student bonding in Bangladesh respectively; and Co-Investigator on grants from the American National Institute of Health awarded to study persistent impacts of maternal depression on mothers and children.

She is Fellow of the Royal Economic Society; the UK Academy of Social Sciences; and the International Economic Association. She is Research Fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies London, Centre for Economic Policy Research London, Rockwool Foundation Berlin and CESifo Munich; and Visiting Professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam. She serves on the Council of the Royal Economic Society, and on their Standards of Conduct Committee; she is on the Women in Economics Committee of the European Economic Association, Associate Editor of the Economic Journal, and she acts on a number of advisory boards.

Professor Kirsty Hooper

Professor Kirsty Hooper is Professor of Hispanic Studies at the University of Warwick.

Educated at state schools in Hertfordshire, she studied Modern Languages at the University of Oxford. A linguist and historian specialising in Galician, Spanish and Anglo-Spanish cultural history since 1800, she has particular expertise in Anglo-Spanish connections and the history of Hispanic communities in the UK.

She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a Corresponding Member of the Real Academia Galega, and a former holder of a Philip Leverhulme Prize. She has just completed work on 19th-Century Spanish London: Culture, Commerce, Community, supported by a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship.

Professor Celia Lury

Professor Celia Lury is Professor in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies at the University of Warwick, where she was the founding Director of the Centre following its establishment in 2012.

Before joining Warwick, she was Professor and Head of the Department of Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, and previously Co-Director of the Institute for Women's Studies at Lancaster University.

Her research has been influential in developing the interdisciplinary study of culture, examining cultural change, personalisation, social relations and the evolving methods used to study contemporary society. Her work brings together insights from the humanities and social sciences to understand how technological and cultural transformations are reshaping everyday life.

About the British Academy

Founded in 1902, the British Academy is the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. It is a Fellowship consisting of over 1,800 world-leading leading scholars in these subjects from the UK and overseas. Current Fellows include the classicist Professor Dame Mary Beard, the historian and China expert Professor Rana Mitter 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 funder of both national and international research, as well as a forum for debate and public engagement.

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