It’s a huge honour to be asked to become a fellow of such a distinguished society and I’m really pleased to be able to do it. I’m looking forward to being able to use my role as a fellow to further work on equitable access to vaccine issues.
Dr Mark Eccleston-Turner
18 October 2021
Global Health academic made fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts for work on equitable access to vaccines
Dr Mark Eccleston-Turner, Senior Lecturer in Global Health Law, has been made a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts for his work on ensuring fair access to vaccines.
The fellowship recognises Dr Eccleston-Turner for his outstanding achievements to social progress and development in the field of ensuring vaccines are available around the world, particularly in low-to-middle income countries.
Dr Eccleston-Turner, who joined the Department of Global Health & Social Medicine in 2021, specialises in infectious disease and international law, and has been working on the issue of fair access to vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
His has appeared as a witness before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee on the issue and provides advice to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
His research on vaccine nationalism in high-income countries was recently published in the Milbank Quarterly, stating that the “failure to adequately address the underlying lack of infrastructure in developing countries” for vaccine rollout threatens to further limit the success of the COVAX, the multilateral initiative aimed at accelerating the development of COVID-19 vaccines, and ensuring their availability around the world.
Fellowships from the Royal Society of the Arts recognise “the contributions of exceptional individuals from across the world, who have made significant contributions relations to the Arts, Manufacture and Commerce.”
Other fellows include Stephen Hawking, David Attenborough and Ellen MacArthur.
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Senior Lecturer in Global Health Law