University of Birmingham

Introducing nine new 125th Anniversary Fellows and Chairs - outstanding academics who bring expertise in key areas.

The University of Birmingham has appointed its third cohort of 125th Anniversary Fellows and Chairs – nine new academics taking the total number to 50.

Professor Clare Anderson, Professor Simon Gosling, Professor Deena Harji, Professor Christoph Kelp, Professor Lucy Mayblin, Professor Paul Monks, and Professor Andy Westwood join the University as 125th Anniversary Chairs. The new 125th Anniversary Fellows are Dr Niall Curry and Dr Renuka Dias.

These new academics come to Birmingham from a variety of high-profile backgrounds, including the British Academy, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and Philip Leverhulme Prize winners.

Congratulations and welcome to the latest group of outstanding academics joining the University of Birmingham as 125th Anniversary Fellows and Chairs. We may have finished celebrating our milestone anniversary, but we continue to invest in talented people who can further strengthen our research excellence and help us to achieve our ambition to be a top 50 global university.

The new Fellows and Chairs will help to build strength in key research areas, including climate change, migration, paediatric endocrinology, environmental science, history, public policy, linguistics, philosophy, and colorectal surgery - driving the University’s ambition to become a top 50 global university.

Professor Rachel O’Reilly MBE, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) said: “Congratulations and welcome to the latest group of outstanding academics joining the University of Birmingham as 125th Anniversary Fellows and Chairs. We may have finished celebrating our milestone anniversary, but we continue to invest in talented people who can further strengthen our research excellence and help us to achieve our ambition to be a top 50 global university.”

The appointments are part of the third phase of a campaign to recruit 125 new Fellows and Chairs, marking the University’s 125th anniversary in 2025. The latest appointments bring the total number of academics appointed through the programme to 50.