Prof. Nie Zhenzhao of GDUFS Elected as International Fellow of the British Academy

On July 17, 2024, local time in London, the British Academy held its annual Fellows Meeting, electing 52 UK Fellows and 30 International Fellows. Professor Nie Zhenzhao, Yunshan Chair Professor of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS), was honored as an International Fellow for his pioneering contributions to literary theory and criticism.

Prof. Nie Zhenzhao

Founded in 1902 under a Royal Charter granted by King Edward VII on the night of his coronation, the British Academy is the highest statutory academic institution in the United Kingdom in the field of humanities and social sciences. For over 120 years, election to the British Academy has been regarded as one of the highest honors in the field in the UK and the Commonwealth.

The British government recognizes four “National Academies” in its administrative documents: the Royal Society (natural sciences), the British Academy (humanities and social sciences), the Royal Academy of Engineering (engineering and technology), and the Academy of Medical Sciences (medicine and health). These academies receive financial support from the UK government, and their presidents are designated as statutory members of the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology.

In the field of science diplomacy, the British Academy and the Royal Society represent the UK in the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA). During G20 summits, the academies of participating countries form S20 and SSH20 working groups to provide policy recommendations to world leaders. The British Academy and the Royal Society represent the UK at these summits.

This year’s newly elected International Fellows include renowned figures such as political scientist Pippa Norris (Harvard University), historian Lauren Benton (Yale University), economist Janet Currie (Princeton University), and philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah (New York University).

Prof. Nie Zhenzhao is the sixth Chinese (mainland) scholar to be elected as an International Fellow of the British Academy, following in the footsteps of Professors Chen Yinke (1944), Xia Nai (1974), Ma Chengyuan (1993), Lin Yifu (2010), and Rong Xinjiang (2021).

Appendix: Professor Nie Zhenzhao’s Biography

Professor Nie Zhenzhao is an International Fellow of the British Academy and Academia Europaea, as well as a professor and Yunshan Chief Professor at GDUFS. He was awarded the State Council Special Allowance in 1993. Currently, he serves as President of the International Association for Ethical Literary Criticism and is internationally renowned as the “Father of Ethical Literary Criticism.”

Professor Nie is the lead expert for the textbook writing group of the Marxist Theory Research and Construction Project and the chief expert for major projects funded by the National Social Science Fund of China. He has been consistently listed among Elsevier’s Most Cited Chinese Researchers and Stanford University’s World’s Top 2% Scientists (both for career-long impact and single-year impact). His monograph Introduction to Ethical Literary Criticism was selected for inclusion in the National Library of Philosophy and Social Sciences Achievements, with its Russian, Korean, and English editions published by Saint Petersburg State University Press, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Press, and Routledge and CRC Press, respectively. Prominent international academic journals such as TLS, Arcadia, Comparative Literature Studies, Style, CLCWeb, and Kritika Kultura have published special issues or reviews on his work, analyzing and promoting the ethical literary criticism theory he pioneered.