Professor Sabina Leonelli elected to the prestigious Academia Europaea

Professor Leonelli, a philosopher and historian of science, has conducted influential research on changing modes of knowledge production, science policy and governance, including the social and ethical impact of automation and data-intensive research.

The Academia Europaea was established in 1988 and is the Pan-European Academy of Sciences Humanities and Letters. Its aim is to advance excellence in scholarship in the humanities, law, the economic, social, and political sciences, mathematics, medicine, and all branches of natural and technological sciences anywhere in the world for the public benefit.

There are more than 4,500 members - scientists and scholars who collectively aim to promote learning, education and research. including leading experts from the physical sciences and technology, biological sciences and medicine, mathematics, the letters and humanities, social and cognitive sciences, economics and the law. Membership is by invitation to eminent individuals.

Professor Leonelli said: “I am delighted with this nomination to serve as a fellow of the Academia Europaea, which champions international and interdisciplinary cooperation at the highest levels of research across all fields. The Academia follows the German conception of Wissenschaft by taking science to include the humanities and arts, something which clearly resonates with my work as a philosopher of science. At this crucial transition moment for the UK relationship to the rest of Europe, I am ever more honoured to be part of such an important pan-European institution.” 

Professor Leonelli has worked at the University of Exeter since 2008. Her research on the history, philosophy and social studies of biology, biomedicine and data science is funded by several public and private bodies, including the European Research Council, the ESRC, the British Academy, the Alan Turing Institute, the EPSRC and the Leverhulme Trust.