British Academy awards for research on economics and typography of the past

Wednesday, 25 April 2018

Dr Vaibhav Singh and Dr Neha Hui

Dr Neha Hui and Dr Vaibhav Singh have received funding from the prestigious British Academy, a fellowship of world-leading scholars and researchers in the humanities and social sciences. 

Dr Hui, a Researcher from the Department of Economics, and Dr Singh, a Research Fellow in the Department of Typography and Graphic Communication, were awarded British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships for their respective research projects.

British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships enable early-career academics in the humanities and social sciences to conduct a significant piece of research leading to publication over a period of three years. 

Dr Hui’s research on Understanding Post Emancipation Indentured Labour Migration from the Indian Subcontinent to Trinidad looks at colonial policies on indentured labour between 1838 and 1914, and the short and long term effects of this 'unfree' labour migration on the local economies of these colonies, in addition to global sugar consumption and prices. The project began in January 2018.

Dr Singh’s research, Merchants of alphabets: networks of typographic design and technology in Indian-language publishing, 1900–1950, examines how creative and commercial networks of design enabled the material production of text in India’s multilingual landscape – especially through mass communication channels, like newspapers – and played a critical role in establishing language and script preferences in the subcontinent. The project aims to situate typographic design in the broader intellectual frameworks of nationalism, mass communication, and technological innovation in the first half of the twentieth century. The project began in September 2017.

Speaking of her award, Dr Hui said: "The British Academy is an extremely vibrant community of esteemed scholars and I consider it a great privilege to be part of the network. 

“This award will enable me to carry out independent research on a topic that I'm passionate about, and that could provide insights on un-free migration even in the contemporary context."

Speaking of his award, Dr Singh said: “Receiving this award is vital support for an under-explored and under-represented area of scholarship that has new insights to offer on a wide range of questions – from the spread of literacy to the growth of industry, media, and publishing markets in India.

“It also enables me to broaden my interdisciplinary engagement with the area of my study, through conferences and exhibitions that have already started taking shape. I am very thankful for receiving this award.” 

Professor Roberta Gilchrist, Research Dean for Heritage & Creativity, and a Fellow of the British Academy, said: “Congratulations to both Neha and Vaibhav for receiving prestigious awards from the British Academy to support their respective research.

“Both projects, although working from different sources and traditions, display the hallmarks of Reading’s best historical research: they explore colonial and post-colonial relationships in an innovative way, providing us with a richer understanding of where we are today.”