World-renowned archaeologist and anthropologist Lynn Meskell, an A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University, has been elected to the British Academy – the United Kingdom’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences – in recognition of her excellence in contributions to the fields of archaeology, heritage politics, and global cultural policy. Meskell is one of 92 distinguished scholars – and only one of 30 International Fellows from universities worldwide – elected to the Academy for 2025.

A highly recognized leader in a vast array of areas that range from the archaeology of Egypt and Neolithic Anatolia to the ethnographic study of global heritage institutions, Meskell holds joint appointments at the University of Pennsylvania in the Department of Anthropology of the School of Arts & Sciences; the Departments of Historic Preservation and City & Regional Planning in the Weitzman School of Design; and the Penn Museum, as a curator in both the Asian and Near East sections. She serves as an A.D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University (2019-26) and will visit the Cornell campus in that role this fall, September 24-28.

Since 2011, Meskell has conducted an institutional ethnography of UNESCO World Heritage, tracing what the politics of governance and sovereignty mean for diplomacy, international conservation, and heritage rights. She has undertaken a large-scale survey project in Syria and Iraq to assess public opinion on heritage destruction and reconstruction. Her landmark institutional ethnography of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage, A Future in Ruins: UNESCO, World Heritage and the Dream of Peace (Oxford University Press, 2018), which rereads the politics of preservation in relation to international history and global practices of governance and sovereignty. It was awarded the 2019 Best Book Award by the Society for American Archaeology.

In May 2025, Meskell presented the major lecture, “RUINED: How and Why We Weaponize the Past,” at the CBRL Amman Institute (Jordan), as part of her ongoing engagement with NATO. Meskell will continue to collaborate with NATO by advising on cultural property protection under its Human Security and Protection of Civilians initiatives and in organizing workshops with military and academic partners, including the Dutch Armed Forces.

In June 2025, Meskell was named as a 2026 Getty Research Institute Scholar.

Meskell holds Honorary Professorships at Oxford University and Liverpool University in the UK and the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and founding editor of the Journal of Social Archaeology (Sage, 2001).

Founded in 1902, the British Academy’s mission it is to “deepen understanding of people, cultures, and societies” by supporting and promoting outstanding contributions in the humanities and social sciences through research, scholarship, and public engagement. The Academy continues to develop programs to address the greatest challenges of our time – both nationally and internationally.