Four LSE academics elected as British Academy Fellows

Four LSE academics have been elected as Fellows of the British Academy in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the humanities and social sciences.

Professor Benjamin Moll, Professor Stephanie Rickard, Professor Youngjin Yoo and Professor Noam Yuchtman are among 92 newly-elected Fellows, comprising 58 UK Fellows, 32 International Fellows and 2 Honorary Fellows.

Founded in 1902, the British Academy is the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. It is a Fellowship consisting of over 1,800 world-leading scholars in these subjects from the UK and overseas.

Welcoming the new Fellows for 2026, the President of the British Academy Professor Susan J Smith said: “I am delighted to welcome our newest Fellows to the British Academy. Each has made an outstanding contribution to their field, and together they reflect the remarkable breadth and depth of scholarship across our disciplines.

“At a time when society is grappling with radical uncertainty in the face of technological, economic and environmental change, the humanities and social sciences have never been more important. Insights from economics, geography and political studies help us navigate geopolitical tensions, while literature, history and philosophy – to name a few of the disciplines the Academy represents – fuel our creative industries and help people to better understand themselves and each other.”

Professor Benjamin Moll, Sir John Hicks Chair and Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics, researches macroeconomics and inequality; and how the enormous heterogeneity observed at the micro level, in particular the large disparities in income and wealth, impacts the macro economy and macroeconomic policy.

Professor Stephanie Rickard, Professor of Political Economy in the Department of Government, researches international political economy with a focus on trade agreements, subsidies, industrial policy and international financial rescues. Alongside academic work, Professor Rickard has contributed to policy discussions including the development of the UK's subsidy control regime.

Professor Youngjin Yoo, Professor of Information Systems and Innovation in the Department of Management and Academic Director of LSE Lifelong Learning Digital, is a leading voice on digital innovation. His research examines how digital technologies reshape the way organisations and societies innovate, and how the architecture of computing determines who creates and captures value in the digital economy.

Professor Noam Yuchtman, Hayek Professor of Political Economy in the Department of Management, researches topics in the fields of political economy, economic history, development economics and labor economics. He is also a managing editor at the Review of Economic Studies.

Find out more about this year’s British Academy Fellows.