Three York academics elected as British Academy Fellows
Posted on Monday 20 July 2026
Professor of Theatre, David Barnett; Professor of Policing and Social Justice, Adam Crawford, and Professor of Medieval Literature, Elizabeth Tyler, have all been made fellows due to their contribution to the humanities and social sciences.
Interest
Based in the School of Arts and Creative Technologies, Professor David Barnett has been at the University since 2015. He has a particular interest in German theatre, specifically the Brechtian tradition of making theatre politically. Speaking shortly after the event, he said: "I'm deeply honoured to have been elected a Fellow and to serve as one of only two Professors of Theatre in the British Academy. More importantly, though, is the opportunity this position offers to speak up for and to defend the Humanities at a time at which they are under a great deal of pressure."
Professor Crawford is Chair in Policing and Social Justice at York Law School. He has been elected as an 'Interstitial' Fellow, which straddles two of the Academy's disciplinary sections: Law; and Sociology, Demography, and Social Statistics. The election recognises his outstanding contributions to interdisciplinary research, socio-legal studies, and criminology.
Professor Tyler is based in the Department of English and Related Literature. Her research and teaching focus on the literature of England situated within wider Insular, Latin West and Afro-Eurasian frameworks. Spanning the early and high Middle Ages, she is especially interested in poetry, history-writing, multilingualism and vernacular literary cultures.
Delighted
Professor Susan Smith, President of the British Academy, 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.”
Further information
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.
