Professor Dame Sue Black has been elected a Fellow of The British Academy, an independent fellowship of world-leading scholars and researchers in the humanities and social sciences.

Professor Black is Lancaster University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Engagement and the University lead for Eden Project North. Sue is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Royal Society of Biology, a lifetime Professor of Anatomy for the Royal Scottish Academy and President of her professional body, the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.

As an academic, she is best known as an anatomist and a forensic anthropologist and is currently leading a 2.5m Euro project called H-Unique, funded by the European Research Council.

This will create the world’s first searchable database of the anatomy and variations of the human hand, building on her ground-breaking research techniques which have been used by the police and courts in cases of child abuse. This work has helped to secure over 30 life sentences and over 300 years of prison sentencing for those guilty of child sexual abuse. She has been awarded two police commendations for her work in helping to secure convictions in these investigations.

She is an award-winning author having published 14 text books and two highly popular non-fiction books. She has a high media profile and frequently appears on television, radio and in the press.

She was awarded an OBE in 2001 for her work in war crimes investigations in Kosovo and in 2016 she was awarded a DBE for her services to education and forensic anthropology.

Other British Academy Fellows from Lancaster University include Professors Elizabeth Shove, Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad and Terry Eagleton.

Professor Julia Black FBA, President-elect of the British Academy, said: “The 2020s will be the decade that the humanities and social sciences reassert themselves on the national, and the global, stage. The last six months have highlighted just how vital these subjects are to the health, wellbeing and prosperity of the nation and to tackling grand challenges.”