The Academy of Social Sciences have granted Fellowships to three Cambridge University academics.

Professor Jennifer Howard-Grenville, Professor Elisabete A Silva and Professor Bhaskar Vira were chosen alongside other leading figures from the academy, public and private sectors.

The Academy aims to use social science to benefit society. It does this through policy work, meetings and events, and most recently, its sponsorship of the Campaign for Social Science.

The Academy gives fellowships to “distinguished individuals” from different sectors, following a “peer review” process. 

Professor Jennifer Howard-Grenville, a fellow of Trinity Hall, is the Diageo Professor of Management Studies at the Cambridge Judge Business School. Her work encourages scholarship to take societal challenges, such as sustainability, into consideration. 

Howard-Grenville said she was “delighted and honoured” to be awarded the Fellowship, and expressed her gratitude for the scholars in her department, as well as in other social sciences, who are working to combat “most urgent issues facing business and society.”

Professor Elisabeth Silva is Professor of Spatial Planning at the Department of Land Economy and Director of the Lab of Interdisciplinary Spatial Analysis (LISA). She is also part of the eMOTIONAL Cities project, which aims to improve citizen’s health by analysing the link between people and urban spaces.

Professor Bhaskar Vira, Founding Director of the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute, is Head of the Department of Geography and Professor of Political Economy. His research looks at the relationship between human well-being and natural ecosystems. 

Vira stated that he was “honoured” to receive recognition from the Academy of Social Sciences, and that he was grateful to the Department of Geography and Fitzwilliam College - where he is a Fellow - for fostering “a welcoming and nurturing environment” for the social sciences.

In the press release, the academy said they were “pleased” to see an increase in nominations for BAME fellows, and that they came from a wider range of institutions. The President of the Academy of Social Sciences, Will Hutton, said that it was “vitally important” to engage with “with all sectors of the social science community.”