Pembroke Alumni Awarded British Academy Mid-Career Fellowships

Congratulations to Pembroke alumni Dr Meghan Campbell and Dr Geoffrey Swenson for being awarded Mid-Career Fellowships by the British Academy earlier this year!

The awards are given to researchers who are recognised as excellent communicators and ‘champions’ in their field. Worth a maximum of £160,000 each, the Fellowships enable recipients to pursue a major piece of research that advances understanding and engagement in their subject area.

Dr Swenson and Dr Campbell were among 43 outstanding academics to receive a Fellowship this year. Read more here.

Both Dr Campbell (DPhil Law 2011) and Dr Swenson (DPhil International Relations 2012) were very engaged in the Pembroke community during their time here, each serving as MCR Presidents between 2012 – 2013.

Dr Campbell is now a Reader at the University of Birmingham. She shares:

“I am so delighted to be awarded a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship to examine a significant but overlooked gap in legal efforts to achieve women's equality. When women seek to vindicate their right to equality, states frequently argue that the breach of the right is regrettable but justified. My project will investigate how courts disentangle the state’s claim that is can limit women’s equality. I aim to understand whether justification is being used to shield the state’s choice from scrutiny or to illuminate the severity of women’s inequality.  It is very thrilling and humbling to be awarded this Fellowship. My time at Pembroke, studying for my DPhil was invaluable in shaping my ideas on women’s equality and I am very, very grateful for all the support of so many throughout the application process.”

Dr Swenson is currently a Senior Lecturer at City University. He shares:

“I am thrilled to have been selected for the Mid-Career Fellowship. My time at Pembroke was invaluable to developing this research project, which builds upon my doctoral work and my first book, Contending Orders: Legal Pluralism and the Rule of Law.  Non-state justice systems, rooted in custom or religion, are the dominant form of legal order in the Global South. My fellowship research investigates how major rule-of-law-promoting states have approached non-state justice authorities in policy and practice. Policymakers and practitioners both struggle with the same deep tension: they recognize the importance of non-state justice authorities but fear close association due to human rights concerns. My work seeks to develop the knowledge necessary to better understand and support access to justice and the rule of law wherever legal pluralism thrives.”