Sparking public conversations: Frances Hand selected as a BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker

12 June 2026

Hertford alumna Frances Hand is one of five promising early-career academics selected by BBC Radio 4 and the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) as New Generation Thinkers for 2026.

The New Generation Thinkers programme is a competitive nationwide search for academics who are passionate about sharing innovative ideas with the public. Frances’s research focuses on making childbirth safer for women in the UK, drawing on thousands of testimonies to develop a novel framework on the causes and consequences of systemic violent practice in UK maternity wards, and arguing for a more human rights focused response.

She says,

‘Whilst my “home” will be Woman’s Hour, New Generation Thinkers work across the whole of BBC Radio 4, so you might also see me on programmes like Free Thinking and The Essay. New Generation Thinkers have also been known to live comment on the BBC Proms or be brought onto BBC Breakfast to talk about the latest news, so you are likely to hear my voice in lots of different spaces! Our main role is to pitch ideas, bring our unique perspectives to the BBC and co-design programmes based on our interests and expertise.

Sparking public conversations has always been incredibly important to me. My research is nothing without the women that have shaped it, and the national situation will not improve if we confine it to academic spaces. I am so excited to have the opportunity to bring these important issues to wider audiences, and be a public voice to remind women that they are not alone in their experiences of violence, coercion and harm.’

Biography

Currently in the final stages of her DPhil in Law at St Edmund Hall, Frances Hand completed the BCL (LLM) at Hertford in 2021. During this time, she was Chair of the Hertford College Law and Humanities Research Group. She also received the Victoria Fisher Memorial Prize from the University of Leicester in recognition of her work in feminist legal theory, and the Ben Ogden Memorial Prize for her strong academic record and contribution to Hertford life.

 

Photography by Chris Lacey Photography.