We are delighted to welcome the following new Fellows to Balliol this term:
Fellow
Professor Faisal Devji (Beit Professor of Global and Imperial History) is Professor of Indian History at Oxford. His research focuses on the intellectual and political thought of modern South Asia and on the emergence of Islam as a global category. His work has explored the cultural and philosophical meanings of violence, as well as the emergence of non-violence as a political project. His forthcoming book, Waning Crescent: The Rise and Fall of Global Islam, will be published by Yale University Press in October 2025.
Early Career Fellows
Theodor Nenu (Early Career Fellow in AI and Theoretical Philosophy) has taught several undergraduate courses spanning Computer Science and Philosophy. His research interests include logic, the philosophy of AI and cognitive science, and the philosophy of mathematics.
Robin Karlsson (Walker Early Career Fellow in Mathematical Physics) specialises in gravity and theoretical high energy physics. His research focuses on black holes and quantum gravity, particularly on holographic dual descriptions and the emergence of gravitational geometry.
Thomas McConnell (James Irvine Early Career Fellow in Classical Language and Literature) was previously a lecturer at Balliol. His research explores the relationship between the literary contents of different texts and genres and their linguistic expressions. He recently published his first monograph, Chronology, Dialect and Style in Early Greek Hexameter Poetry (Oxford University Press, 2025).
Samuel Fabian (Early Career Fellow in Biology) studies the aerial behaviour of insects, with a focus on how morphology influences visual guidance strategies. Using high-speed video, he reconstructs both the visual input and the flight manoeuvres of insects to investigate the strategies that guide their rapid airborne decision making.
Academic Visitors
Professor Verity Harte (George Eastman Visiting Professor) joins Balliol from Yale University, where she is George A. Saden Professor of Philosophy and Classics. Her research focuses on Greco-Roman philosophy, particularly the interconnected metaphysical, epistemological, psychological, and ethical theorising of Plato and, to a lesser extent, Aristotle. Her main project in recent years has been a monograph on Plato’s Philebus, to appear in the series, Cambridge Studies in the Dialogues of Plato.
Professor Emily Zackin (John G. Winant Visiting Professor of American Government) is Associate Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University. Her research focuses on constitutional theory and American political development. She is the author of Looking for Rights in All the Wrong Places: Why State Constitutions Contain America’s Positive Rights (Princeton University, 2013). Her current book project, co-authored with Chloe Thurston, examines the political development of debt relief in the US.
Professor Marc Domingo Gygax (Oliver Smithies Visiting Fellow) is Cotsen Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Classics at Princeton University. He specialises in classical historiography, Greek inscriptions, and material culture. His research examines long-term structures and continuities in Greek history, drawing on historical anthropology. One of his current projects examines the principles and evolution of gift-exchange in the Greek world.