British Academy elects Cambridge Professors to Fellowship in 2026

They are among 92 distinguished scholars to be elected to the fellowship in recognition of their work in fields ranging from the history of race, to bringing human insight into the study and development of AI.

The Cambridge academics made Fellows of the Academy this year are:

Professor John Arnold (Faculty of History; King’s College)

Professor Mia Bay (Faculty of History; Jesus College)

Professor Rebecca Cassidy (Department of Social Anthropology) 

Professor Anna Korhonen (Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics; Churchill College)

Professor Joel Robbins (Department of Social Anthropology; Trinity College)

Professor James Warren (Faculty of Classics; Corpus Christi College)

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 1800 of the leading minds in these subjects from the UK and overseas.

Current British Academy Fellows include classicist Professor Dame Mary Beard, the historian and expert on China Professor Rana Mitter and philosopher Professor Baroness Onora O’Neill. Professor David Olusoga, Baroness Brenda Hale, and Professor Gary Younge are also among its Honorary Fellows. Previous Fellows include Dame Frances Yates, Sir Winston Churchill, Seamus Heaney and Beatrice Webb. 

The Academy is a funder of both national and international research, as well as a forum for debate and public engagement.

In 2026, a total of 58 UK Fellows, 32 International Fellows and 2 Honorary Fellows have been elected to the British Academy Fellowship.

Newly elected fellow, Professor Anna Korhonen (Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics; Churchill College), said:

“I am delighted and deeply honoured to be elected a Fellow of the British Academy. My work is about bringing human insight into the science and technology of Artificial Intelligence, so there is something particularly meaningful about this recognition coming from the UK's national academy for the humanities and social sciences. 

“It comes at a time when the biggest questions about AI are fundamentally human - and no single discipline can answer them alone. I am immensely grateful to Cambridge for enabling me and colleagues across the Schools to build interdisciplinary initiatives that can address these questions.”

President of the British Academy Professor Susan J. Smith, formerly Mistress of Girton College and now Life Fellow, 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.”