Three Lancaster professors are to be honoured for excellence in their fields and their substantial contributions to social science for public benefit.

Professor of Supportive and Palliative Care Nancy Preston, Professor in Public Sociology Michaela Benson and Professor of Linguistics and Law Lauren Devine are three of just 64 ‘outstanding’ social scientists welcomed by the Academy of Social Sciences to its Fellowship, it is announced today (April 1).

Nancy Preston is a Professor of Supportive and Palliative Care, Co-Director of the International Observatory on End-of-Life Care in the Faculty of Health and Medicine and a member of the NIHR/Department of Health Policy Research Unit for Palliative Care.

Her research focusses on palliative care and how best to integrate it into general healthcare systems including oncology and respiratory units, ICU, the community, hospices and care homes. She has been involved in seven European studies which focus upon service delivery, enhancing shared decision making and symptom management.

Professor Preston is especially interested in how people make decisions at the end-of-life including advance care planning and assisted dying, giving evidence before parliamentary enquiries for both the UK and Irish Governments.

She said: “I’m honoured to be appointed a Fellow. This privilege offers an opportunity to support the excellence and impact of social sciences in palliative care research. Palliative care aims to enhance the quality of life for patients and their families, and research in this area is essential if we are to make further improvements.”

Professor Benson is a sociologist with expertise in migration, citizenship and identity. She is particularly known for her research on lifestyle migration, the middle classes, and Britain's relationship to its emigrants and overseas citizens at moments of major political transformation including Brexit and decolonisation. She is also the Chief Executive of The Sociological Review Foundation.

She said: “I am humbled that my contributions to social sciences both through my research and contributions to the wider sociological community through my leadership at The Sociological Review have been recognised by my peers in this way.

“I am particularly delighted to join the ranks of other Fellows in Sociology—many of whom have inspired my research, impact and engagement work—and am looking forward to working with them to demonstrate the value of our discipline for making sense of the world around us, encouraging future generations of scholars, and engaging the public with our research.”

Professor Devine is a lawyer and linguist, with expertise working at the intersection between law, language, and corpus linguistics to further understanding of the importance of language analysis in legal texts. She is particularly known for her applied work on the relationship between state powers and private rights in areas where the state can disrupt autonomy, such as child protection.

She is the founder and Director of the Centre for Corpus Linguistic Approaches to Safeguarding Studies (CLASS). Her work in the social sciences focusses on improving outcomes for vulnerable groups in society when they become involved with the family justice system and other legal processes.

She said: “I am honoured to join this group of leading social scientists in the UK. It is not always obvious that social science research is happening in law schools, or where meaningful partnerships between disciplines are taking place to generate new methods and ways of solving complex social problems.

“Lancaster’s enthusiasm in recognising the advantages that interdisciplinary collaboration between law and linguists brings has made the development of my research possible.

“I am delighted to have the opportunity at Lancaster of working with talented colleagues and develop my interdisciplinary research to address contemporary issues in society where there is need to make a difference.”

Spanning a range of research and practice areas including health inequalities, the gender wage gap, European cybersecurity governance, AI and big data analytics, newly elected Fellows highlight the importance, breadth and relevance of the social sciences to understanding and tackling the varied challenges facing society today.

As well as excellence in research and applied professional use of social science, the new Fellows, drawn from a variety of backgrounds, disciplines and professions, have also made significant contributions beyond the academy, including to industry, policy and higher education.

President of the Academy Will Hutton FAcSS said: “I’m delighted to welcome these 64 outstanding social scientists to the Academy’s Fellowship, whose research and practice are helping to develop solutions to pressing societal issues.

“From informing decision-making around environmental challenges and encouraging entrepreneurial growth to improving planning systems and tackling educational inequalities, their insights, skills and understanding are delivering positive impact to improve our daily lives.”

The Academy’s Fellowship comprises 1,600 leading social scientists from academia, the public, private and third sectors. Our Fellows’ expertise covers the breadth of the social sciences, and their practice and research addresses some of the major challenges facing communities, society, places and economies.

New Fellows have been elected from 32 UK organisations, comprising 28 Higher Education Institutions, as well as think tanks, non-profits and business, and overseas institutions.

Selection is through an independent peer review which recognises their excellence and impact.