Professor Jonathan Dancy and Professor Peter Cooper made Fellows of the British Academy

Monday, 18 July 2016

Professor Peter Cooper and Professor Jonathan Dancy

We are pleased to announce that Professor Jonathan Dancy and Professor Peter Cooper have been elected as Fellows of the British Academy.

Both Jonathan Dancy and Peter Cooper have been elected in recognition of their outstanding contribution to research in humanities and social sciences.

Peter Cooper, Professor of Psychopathology, is one of the leading clinical researchers in the UK and has worked at the University of Reading for three decades.

Professor Laurie Butler, head of the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, said: "I am delighted that Peter has been recognised by the British Academy for his outstanding contribution.

"Peter's work on anxiety and, more recently, cognitive and emotional development has positively impacted on the lives of countless children and their families worldwide."

Jonathan Dancy, Senior Research Professor in our Department of Philosophy, is an eminent philosopher who specialises in ethics and moral philosophy. Jonathan is also a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas, Austin, and has contributed to Reading Philosophy for twenty years.

Professor Dancy said: "This is a considerable honour and a welcome recognition of a lifetime's effort. I am very grateful to Reading, and to my previous university, Keele University, for the support they have both given me to make this possible."

Professor Maximilian de Gaynesford, head of the Department of Philosophy, said; "Famously exact, with a fine ear for language, Jonathan has taught generations of students how to be precise and careful in their use of argument-often with a single pointed remark or meaningful look.

"Jonathan is the best colleague one could imagine, fiercely loyal and strongly encouraging, excellent in advice, forceful when sure something is wrong, transparently delighted when something is right. His colleagues in turn are absolutely thrilled that the British Academy has honoured him in this way."

The British Academy is one of the world's leading societies for the humanities and social sciences- this year, a total of 42 academics have been elected into the society as new Fellows. Members of the British Academy are highly revered as specialist in areas across the humanities and social sciences, including law, linguistics, economics and history.