Leicester’s world-leading Social Scientists honoured by Academy
Professor Neil Chakraborti (left) and Professor Glenn Fulcher (right).
Two prominent academics at the University of Leicester have been recognised as experts in their field by the Academy of Social Science.
Professor Neil Chakraborti - Director of the University’s Centre for Hate Studies and a Professor of Criminology - and Professor Glenn Fulcher, who is Professor of Applied Linguistics and Language Assessment, have both been elected as Fellows of the Academy.
New Fellows are honoured for the excellence and impact of their work. They are chosen because their research or leadership has helped to address some of the major challenges facing society, places and economies.
Professor Neil Chakraborti has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications within the field of hate crime and has been commissioned by numerous funding bodies to lead research studies that have shaped hate crime policy and scholarship. He is series editor of Palgrave Hate Studies and Chair of the Research Advisory Group at the Howard League for Penal Reform. Prof Chakraborti is Director of the University’s Centre for Hate Studies – a world leading research centre whose core mission is to transform responses to hate and extremism through research and training programmes.
Professor Glenn Fulcher is a world-leading researcher in Applied Linguistics. He won the prestigious Messick Memorial Award last year for his outstanding contribution to validation theory - the study of how inferences can be drawn from scores on assessments (as summaries of complex performance and knowledge) to likely future real-world performance in specified domains. Professor Fulcher’s contribution to the theory includes theorising and developing methods for retro-fitting assessments to new purposes, which he developed with Fred Davidson of the University of Illinois. The work won the 2011 International Language Testing Award for a significant conceptual contribution to the field of assessment. Professor Fulcher was President of the International Language Testing Association (ILTA) in 2006 and he was also the longest serving Editor of the premier journal Language Testing.
Professor Henrietta O'Connor. Head of College of Social Science, Arts and Humanities at the University of Leicester said:
“I would like to congratulate Professor Chakraborti and Professor Fulcher on this fantastic and richly-deserved achievement. They are both exceptionally talented social science practitioners and I’m delighted that their world-class thought-leadership, research and professional expertise is being recognised by such a prestigious Academy.”
The Academy’s distinguished Fellowship comprises 1,400 leading social scientists from academia and the public, private and third sectors. Their expertise covers the breadth of social sciences and the Academy works with them to promote social sciences in the UK for public benefit. This includes championing and fostering a thorough understanding of social sciences in policy, business and public life.