07 Nov 07

Dr Oliver Pooley will use the Prize to support his study of the philosophy of time

Dr Richard Scholar from the Modern Languages faculty and Dr Oliver Pooley from the Philosophy Faculty, and both from Oriel College have won two of this year’s Philip Leverhulme Prizes.

The Prizes are awarded across five disciplines each year by the Leverhulme Trust, to outstanding scholars, usually under the age of 36, who have made a substantial contribution to their field and whose research has been recognised at an international level. This year 26 Prizes have been awarded. They are worth £70,000 and are designed to support academics in future research.

Dr Richard Scholar’s research looks at the connections between early modern European literature and thought. His first book was on the je ne sais quoi and its role in putting an unexplained ‘certain something’ into words, not just in literature but also in theology, philosophy and culture.

Dr Scholar is currently working on the French sixteenth century essayist Montaigne and the art of free-thinking. He plans to use the Prize to pursue further work in this area and to start a new project on the connections between literary utopias and political thought.

Commenting on the Prize, Dr Scholar said: ‘I am pleased and honoured to have been awarded a prize, which reflects the considerable support I have received for my research throughout my career to date, both in Durham and in Oxford. I am excited by opportunities that the prize offers to pursue my research in the years to come.’

Dr Oliver Pooley’s research has explored the philosophical implications of space-time physics.  The main question on which he has focused is whether space-time is an entity in its own right or whether it is reducible to structural features of the material universe. He plans to use the Prize to progress with two new research projects, one is looking at the implications of relativity for the philosophy of time and  another looking at reconciling quantum physics and general relativity.