Congratulations to the Mitchell Institute’s Professor Marsha Henry on being elected as of the new Fellows to the Academy of Social Sciences.

The Academy of Social Sciences promotes understanding of our contemporary human world.  It is the national academy of academics, practitioners and learned societies in social science.  As the sector’s leading independent voice in the UK, the Academy of Social Sciences champions the vital role social sciences play in education, government and business.

Elected by peer review on the basis of excellence in their fields, the new Fellows are from a diverse range of backgrounds, spanning 39 UK organisations, including 29 higher-education institutions, as well as think-tanks, non-profits and business organisations, and from countries beyond the UK including Australia and China.

Selected for their contributions in a range of areas including educational inequalities, place-based economic development, human-rights protection, the regulation of new technologies, and welfare reform, the new group highlights the importance and relevance of social sciences in tackling major challenges facing society today.

As well as excellence in research and professional applications of social science, the new Fellows have also made significant contributions to industry, policy and higher education.

President of the Academy, Will Hutton FAcSS, said: “It’s a pleasure to welcome these 63 leading social scientists to the Academy’s Fellowship.  Their research and practical applications have made substantial contributions to social science and wider society in a range of areas from international trade policy and inclusive planning systems through to innovative entrepreneurship and governing digital technologies.  We look forward to working with them to promote further the vital role the social sciences play in all areas of our lives.”

Commenting on her Fellowship, Prof Marsha Henry said: “I am honoured to receive this fellowship and hope it highlights further that just and inclusive research and teaching are essential parts of contemporary university life.”

Professor Marsha Henry 

Professor Marsha Henry is the Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton Chair in Women, Peace, Security and Justice at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice.   Her research is concerned with the gendered and racialised politics of violence; militarisation; global south development; international aid and intervention; and conflict, peace, and security.   She is the author of several books, the latest of which is: The End of Peacekeeping:  Gender, Race, and the Martial Politics of Intervention (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2024).  Marsha has also advised a number of national governments on women’s participation in the armed forces, combatting sexual exploitation and abuse in humanitarian settings, and developing anti-racist and diversity strategies in foreign policy ministries.