Medievalist wins BBC 'new generation thinkers' award

An Oxford University medievalist has been named a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Thinker.

Dr Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough, an early career fellow in Oxford’s Faculty of English Language and Literature, was chosen by BBC producers after a rigorous selection process to find bright, engaging early-career academics with the potential to turn their research ideas into compelling programmes.

The New Generation Thinkers scheme, which is run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council, gives winners the chance to work with radio and TV producers to develop their ideas into programmes for broadcast.

Dr Barraclough, who specialises in Old Norse-Icelandic literature and is writing a book on the sagas (to be published with Oxford University Press), says: 'I am delighted to have been chosen as one of the Radio 3 New Generation Thinkers. I have spent much of my academic life in the company of Norse saga heroes with names such as such as Erik Bloodaxe, Thorfinn Skull-Splitter, Ragnar Hairy-Breeches and Eysteinn Fart (although I'm yet to find an Old Norse manuscript containing the saga of Noggin the Nog).

'I am looking forward to bringing this vibrant, fascinating world to as wide an audience as possible.' Dr Barraclough has carried out research in Scandinavia, Iceland and Greenland, as well as parts of the British Isles settled by the Vikings such as Orkney. This summer, she will be returning  to Greenland to explore what was once the Norse 'Western Settlement', sailing the deserted fjords and camping by ruined medieval farmsteads before  travelling up the coast to Disko Bay, where the Norsemen had their northern hunting grounds.

Dr Barraclough is based at The Queen's College, where she teaches Old and Middle English, and is currently learning Danish to help her research. Not only does this help her to cope better when on research trips but, she says, 'it gives me an excuse to watch The Killing and Borgen 'for research purposes'.'