Exeter Fellow Professor Nandini Das elected Fellow of the British Academy

Professor Nandini Das, Tutorial Fellow in English at Exeter College and Professor of Early Modern Literature and Culture at the University of Oxford, is one of six University of Oxford academics recently elected 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 debate and brings together scholars, government, business, and civil society to influence policy for the benefit of everyone. Each year, a select number of scholars are elected to the Fellowship in recognition of their achievements in the humanities and social sciences. Professor Das joins more than 1,800 Fellows, including distinguished academics such as Professor Dame Mary Beard and Professor Ingrid De Smet.

Professor Das is internationally recognised for her research on early modern literature, travel, cross-cultural encounters, and the history of the British Empire. Her acclaimed book Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire won the British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding in 2023, offering a fresh perspective on the early relationship between England and Mughal India. Her latest book, This Little World: A New History of Tudor and Stuart England, was published in May and is attracting significant acclaim.

Professor Nandini Das said:

I am delighted and honoured to have been elected a Fellow of the British Academy. It’s a real privilege. I am also conscious, however, that it comes at a sobering moment for our sector in general. UK higher education, and the humanities in particular, face an existential crisis. Without sustained investment in these disciplines, and in the next generation of scholars, we risk impoverishing our intellectual and cultural life for decades to come.

The humanities matter because they help us understand ourselves, our past, and the challenges we face together. I therefore see this Fellowship not only as a personal honour, but also as a reminder of the importance of making the case for these disciplines, at a time when that case needs to be made with renewed clarity and conviction.

Exeter College warmly congratulates Professor Das on this outstanding achievement.

To read about This Little World: A New History of Tudor and Stuart England click here.

Professor Nandini Das. Photo: Francis Augusto