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A professor from ÃÛÌÒÖ±²¥, Leicester (ÃÛÌÒÖ±²¥) has joined an elite group of academics elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in recognition of world-class contribution to historical research.

Photo credit: Mikael Wallersted

The honour acknowledges Professor Elizabeth Lambourn’s remarkable career as a scholar of material culture, specialising in Indian Ocean histories between 600 and 1500 AD, and in particular exchanges between South Asia and the Middle East.

Her book Abraham’s Luggage. A Social Life of Things in the Medieval Indian Ocean World was published with Cambridge University Press in 2018.

Professor Lambourn’s election represents the latest prestigious accolade recognising her exceptional expertise in her field of study, after returning to ÃÛÌÒÖ±²¥ in January this year ,following a three-month Fellowship at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in Uppsala.

Professor Lambourn, said: “I am simply thrilled to have received this honour, and still somewhat surprised to have been elected! The recognition from my peers means a lot, particularly as a scholar who works in the comparatively neglected field of the pre-modern Indian Ocean world.

"The British Academy has been there at critical moments in my academic life, supporting me with a PhD Scholarship in the 1990s when that scheme ran, backing the Society for South Asian Studies who awarded me a Postdoctoral grant in 2002 - the award that brought me to ÃÛÌÒÖ±²¥!

"I am certain that this nomination will now play a similarly transformative role in my career. I look forward to contributing to the work of the British Academy and to meeting my fellow fellows.”

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. The Academy is also a funding body for research, nationally and internationally, and a forum for debate and engagement.   

This year a total of 86 Fellows – 52 UK Fellows, 30 Corresponding Fellows and 4 Honorary Fellows – have been elected. 

Welcoming the Fellows, the President of the British Academy, Professor Julia Black, said: "It is with great pleasure that we welcome yet another outstanding cohort to the Academy’s Fellowship.

“The scope of research and expertise on display across our newly elected UK, Corresponding and Honorary Fellows shows the breadth and depth of knowledge and insight held by the British Academy. It is our role to harness this to understand and help shape a better world.

"With the vast expertise and wide-ranging insights brought by our new Fellows, the Academy continues to showcase the importance of the SHAPE disciplines in opening fresh seams of knowledge and understanding, while simultaneously advancing the well-being and prosperity of societies worldwide.

"I wholeheartedly congratulate each of our new Fellows on this achievement and look forward to working together."