Congratulations to our Professor of Sociology, Satnam Virdee, who has been made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE). Satnam is one of 91 Fellows elected to the RSE this year, joining a Fellowship of around 1,800 of the greatest thinkers, researchers and practitioners working in or with Scotland.

The RSE, using the expertise of its Fellows, creates a unique impact by:

  • Inspiring and supporting talent through a wide-ranging programme of research grants and awards.
  • Engaging the public across Scotland on key contemporary issues through its outreach programmes and a wide-ranging programme of public events.
  • Providing impartial advice and expertise to inform policy and practice through in-depth examination of major issues and providing expert comment on topical matters.
  • Promoting Scotland’s interests overseas through building relationships with sister academies across the world and facilitating research collaborations.

On receiving his fellowship, Satnam said: "I am delighted and honoured to be elected a fellow of the RSE. Over three decades, my work has focused on mapping the entangled histories of capitalism, class and racism alongside the remarkable efforts of the subjugated to challenge the structural inequalities they encountered. I hope my election represents an opportunity to have a deeper reckoning with racism and its multifarious effects so that we can move towards a more enlightened future of human flourishing for all."

Professor Les Back, Head of Sociology, said: "More than any other contemporary scholar, Satnam Virdee's writing and thinking provide a deep critical understanding of how racism is implicated and embedded in the structural inequalities of capitalist societies. Not content to only understand the world, he is a scholar committed to changing it and his election to an RSE Fellow is a significant step towards the realisation of a decolonised academy."

 

First published: 28 March 2023

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Professor Satnam Virdee

Royal Society of Edinburgh