We are delighted to announce that Professor Barbara Harriss-White has been named an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences.

Academicians are distinguished scholars and practitioners from academia and the public and private sectors. To be accepted as an Academician, a peer group must review the standing and impact of an individual's work; Academicians must have contributed to social science more broadly than through the normal demands of their job. This contribution can be in the area of thought leadership, practitioner applications or policy development.

Barbara Harriss-White was Head of Department at ODID between 2004 and 2007 and is Emeritus Professor of Development Studies. She was the Founder-Director of Oxford University’s Contemporary South Asian Studies Programme and organiser of the world’s first MSc in Contemporary India.

She has written, edited or co-edited and published 40 books and major reports, published over 200 scholarly papers and chapters and over 60 working papers. Her book ‘Rural Commercial Capital’ won the Edgar Graham prize. She works on India’s political economy, in particular food and energy, and aspects of deprivation – all through field research.