Research is central to intellectual life at Hertford.
We have exceptional strengths across the medical and physical sciences, social sciences, and humanities, with scholars at all stages of their careers engaged in groundbreaking work. Hertford is an open and richly curious space, committed to cross-disciplinary discussion and collaboration – some of it taking place in our regular Research Evenings, and even more of it happening in informal conversations. Our research informs our teaching at all levels. We also remain committed to the wider dissemination and public discussion of the kind of work we do.
At a glance
Our fellows, lecturers and graduate students are active in a diverse range of research fields, and this page gives some examples of current projects.
Hertford fellows currently hold four European Research Council grants and three Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowships – find out more below.
Many of our academics also have links to their own personal and departmental websites from their profiles. This is often the best place for subject specialists and prospective students to find out more about research at Hertford.
PROFILE: Professor Emma Smith outlines her Leverhulme research project
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ERC grants
- Chemistry: Professor Fernanda Duarte holds an ERC Consolidator Grant for her project on computational modelling of chemical reactions in solution.
- Economics: Professor Federica Romei holds an ERC Starting Grant for her research project on heterogeneous agents in heterogeneous countries.
- Mathematics: Professor Dawid Kielak holds an ERC Consolidator Grant for research in geometric group theory.
- Physics: Professor Siddharth Parameswaran holds an ERC Consolidator Grant for work in theoretical condensed matter physics/quantum materials.
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Leverhulme Trust awards
- English: Professor Emma Smith holds a Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship (2026–29) for research on ‘Imperial bibliography: books, race and value’.
- Geography: Professor Jamie Lorimer started a Leverhulme Fellowship in 2025 to write a book consolidating his research on the contested place of livestock and meat consumption in the food system.
- Philosophy: Professor Carissa Véliz holds a Leverhulme Trust research award for research on the ethics of AI: ‘The paradoxes and perils of prediction’.
Hertford Bookshelf
Browse the latest publications by Hertford fellows and lecturers, and take a look ahead to see some of their forthcoming titles.
Emily Winkler, Pocket Bayeux Tapestry (Bodleian Library, September 2026)
Giora Sternberg, Writing Acts: The Power of Writing in the Ancien Régime (OUP, October 2026)
David Dwan, The Good Life and Other Fictions (Princeton, January 2027)
Lambros Malafouris & M.D. Koukouti, Understanding Creative Gesture in Pottery Making: A Cognitive Archaeological Approach (Bloomsbury Academic, 2027)
Research events
Hertfordians regularly come together to share and discuss their latest work. These sessions have been eclectic and fun.
In Michaelmas 2025, Claire Vallance (Chemistry), Giora Sternberg (History) and Lambros Malafouris (Archaeology & Anthropology) explored the way creativity might be conceived and pursued in their respective fields and how it can be made its own object of study.
In the subsequent two terms we had excellent presentations on women’s work cultures in 19th-century France and Flanders (David Hopkin); the design of auctions and public procurement (Elizabeth Baldwin); the role of evaluative doubt in relation to women’s testimony (Kate Greasley); the moiré effect in physics and new interest in moiré materials (Sid Parameswaran). Our new Professorial Fellow of Geography, Bob Hilton, introduced his work to the college in Trinity with a paper on the climate sensitivity of greenhouse gas release from Arctic rivers. In Hilary we were also joined by Zehra Azim from the MCR, who gave a fascinating presentation on her research on immunology and women’s health. We look forward to more collaborations with the MCR in the future.
Early Career Research Fellows
Hertford continues to invest in talented new researchers.
In Trinity 2025 we invited three new Early Career Fellows to join the college: Xinyu Li, a medical researcher working on prediction models for the better management of diabetes; Jesse Taylor-West, a member of the Mathematical Institute and a researcher in fluid dynamics, particularly lava flows; and Hannah August, a researcher of early modern literature, working on 17th-century drama holdings in Australasia.
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News
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