Professor Cheryl Schonhardt-Bailey has been elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in recognition of her outstanding research.

Fellows are elected from across the UK and the rest of the world for their distinction in the social sciences and humanities.

Lord Stern, President of the British Academy, has described the Fellowship as an essential resource of expertise: “Our Fellows play a vital role in the work of the Academy; encouraging younger researchers, engaging in public discussion of the great issues and ideas of our time, and contributing to policy reports. Their collective work and expertise are testament to why research in the humanities and social sciences is vital for our understanding of the world and humanity.”

Cheryl gained her PhD from UCLA in 1991 and joined the LSE first as a research officer in 1989, and then as a Lecturer in the Government Department in 1992. She is now a Professor in the Department, specialising in the politics of economic policy. She has authored, co-authored or edited seven books on trade and monetary policy, including From the Corn Laws to Free Trade: Interests, Ideas and Institutions in Historical Perspective and Deliberating American Monetary Policy: A Textual Analysis. She is one of the pioneers of the use of automated text analysis in political science.

Her research and publications, including journal articles, have three key strands: understanding how legislatures come to enact major policy change, particularly amidst clashes of conflicting ideas and struggles between interests; the effectiveness of legislative oversight as a deliberative process; and examining the moral dimension in the rhetoric of American political leaders. Her current research includes an assessment of the effectiveness of UK Parliamentary oversight of economic policymaking.

In receiving her Fellowship, Cheryl remarked, “It is a huge honour to have my research recognised by the British Academy. As a Fellow, I look forward to furthering the work of the Academy and in doing so, to enhance the reputation and standing of the LSE and the Department of Government.”

Established in 1902, the British Academy remains the UK’s expert body in the humanities and social sciences. Cheryl joins Department of Government professors Katrin Flikschuh, Simon Hix, Christian List, Ed Page, Anne Phillips and David Soskice as a Fellow of the Academy. For more information on Cheryl’s research and other Government faculty, please visit our staff pages.