Professor Stephen Tierney elected fellow of British Academy

Professor Stephen Tierney KC (Hon) FRSE, global distinguished professor of law at the Notre Dame London Law Programme, has been elected a fellow of the British Academy.

Founded in 1902, the British Academy is the United Kingdom’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. Its Fellowship consists of more than 1,800 scholars recognized for outstanding contributions to the humanities and social sciences. Fellows actively support the Academy’s work by evaluating research grant applications, contributing to policy research initiatives, and representing their fields both nationally and internationally.

Fellows are nominated and elected based on exceptional academic achievement. Each year, a select number of new Fellows are elected through a rigorous selection process.

Professor Tierney is one of 58 UK scholars elected to the Fellowship this year, joining just one other scholar from the University of Edinburgh. The new Fellows represent 28 universities across the United Kingdom.

Tierney’s scholarship examines constitutional theory and the role of the state, with particular attention to how constitutions respond to evolving political and social conditions. His work has explored the constitutional implications of nationalism, referendums, and federalism, including through three monographs published by Oxford University Press over the past two decades.

He is also a professor of constitutional theory at the University of Edinburgh Law School. He was appointed Honorary King’s Counsel in 2024 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His academic career includes senior research fellowships with both the British Academy and the Economic and Social Research Council.