Professor Sonuga-Barke elected a Fellow of the prestigious British Academy
Professor Edmund Sonuga-Barke of the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, is one of four UK psychologists among 76 distinguished scientists and scholars to be elected to the fellowship in recognition of his work on ADHD and related neurodevelopmental disorders. Edmund is Professor of Developmental Psychology, Psychiatry & Neuroscience in the Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. He also has Visiting Chairs at Aarhus University and the University of Sussex. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
Of his election, Professor Sonuga-Barke, who is also a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, said, ‘I feel very blessed to be selected by my peers into such a distinguished and celebrated fellowship. I dedicate it to my family and to all my teachers, mentors, students and colleagues – without their inspiration and support this could not have happened. My hope is that this recognition will better enable my colleagues and me to work to raise awareness of, and address, the needs of children with mental health problems and developmental disabilities.
‘More generally, I hope in some small way to play my part in promoting the civilising influence of the scholarly values of the British Academy on the life of the nation especially during this time of upheaval, when the integrity and clarity of the arguments scholars and scientists put forward has never been more important. It remains our duty to ask difficult questions of society without fear or favour.’
Professor Sonuga-Barke joins 76 world-leading academics elected from universities across the UK and around the world, including Simon Gaunt, Professor of French Language and Literature, from the Faculty of Arts & Humanities.
Professor Sir David Cannadine, President of the British Academy, said, ‘I am delighted to welcome this year’s exceptionally talented new Fellows to the Academy. Including historians and economists, neuroscientists and legal theorists, they bring a vast range of expertise, insights and experience to our most distinguished fellowship.
‘I extend to all of our new Fellows my heartiest congratulations and I look forward to working closely with them to build on the Academy’s reputation and achievements’
The British Academy is a community of over 1400 of the leading minds that make up the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. Current Fellows include Professor Francesca Happe, Professor Robert Plomin, Professor Judy Dunn and Professor Sir Michal Rutter at the IoPPN as well such luminaries as the classicist Dame Mary Beard, the historian Sir Simon Schama and philosopher Baroness Onora O’Neill, while previous Fellows include Sir Winston Churchill, C.S Lewis, Seamus Heaney and Beatrice Webb. As well as a fellowship, the British Academy is a funding body for research, nationally and internationally, and a forum for debate and engagement.