Exeter alumna elected Fellow of the British Academy
Professor Philomen Probert, alumna of Exeter College, has been elected a Fellow of the British Academy.
The British Academy is the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences, investing in researchers and projects across the UK and overseas. The Academy works to engage the public with fresh thinking and debates and bring together scholars, government, business and civil society to influence policy to benefit everyone. The British Academy looks to elect up to 52 new Fellows each year and currently has over 1,700 Fellows across the range of the many disciplines which it covers. Professor Probert joins the likes of other notable Fellows, such as Professor Dame Mary Beard and Professor Ingrid De Smet.
Professor of Classical Philology and Linguistics in the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of Wolfson College (where she was Acting President), Professor Probert first read the BA in Literae Humaniores at Exeter College, coming up in 1991. She later went on to complete an MPhil in General Linguistics and Comparative Philology at Exeter followed by a DPhil in Comparative Philology at St John’s College. With an interest in ancient Greek, Latin, Anatolian and Indo-European linguistics, and in the Graeco-Roman grammatical tradition, Professor Probert has written several works looking at the prehistory of the Greek accentuation system, from its contributions to historical linguistics and phonological theory to its description in ancient grammatical texts. She has also produced publications on the relative clauses in Anatolian and early Greek.
Professor Probert said:
“I am deeply honoured to be invited to join the Fellows of the British Academy. Linguistic work on ancient languages is always a joint effort: we never know enough individually, so we ask each other questions, discuss things together, and so on. I would like to thank teachers, students, colleagues, collaborators and friends for all these conversations, in person or over email, over video calls or in print. I look forward to contributing to the British Academy’s advocacy for the Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts, which does so much to make all this possible.”
Becoming a Fellow of the British Academy is a great distinction and Exeter College warmly congratulates Professor Probert on this achievement.
