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Kellogg members receive Professorships in University's Recognition of Distinction Awards

November 5, 2020

Kellogg Official Fellow Dr David Griffiths and Kellogg Research Member of Common Room Dr Carlos Vargas-Silva, have had professorships conferred upon them by the University, in this year’s Recognition of Distinction Awards.

Professor Carlos Vargas-Silva

Professor David Griffiths

Dr David Griffiths, Director of Studies in Archaeology at the Department for Continuing Education, has been made Professor of Archaeology, whilst Dr Carlos Vargas-Silva, Director of the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) has been made Professor of Migration Studies.

 

On receiving the award, Professor David Griffiths said: “Any academic is pleased to receive peer recognition, and a professorship is the top of most peoples’ list of ambitions. This is great news for me, but also for my students, and for Kellogg College. These distinctions are awarded on three counts; Research, Teaching, and ‘Citizenship’ meaning administrative roles, offices held, etc. All three have to be demonstrated in full. My role as Director of Studies in Archaeology at Continuing Education involves overseeing a diverse programme in which around 2000 individual registrations are received annually to study archaeology. Several research projects have also come to fruition in the recent past. Many people will know of my long-running field project in Orkney, and also of the East Oxford Archaeology Project, an award-winning lottery-funded outreach and education initiative. Obviously I did not do all this entirely by myself! many colleagues and team-members helped make them a success. I hope to set an example whereby someone who is not from a wealthy, advantaged background, can ‘make it’ at Oxford, out of pure commitment and enthusiasm for their subject and students.”

While Professor Carlos Vargas-Silva commented: “Becoming a Professor allows me the opportunity to evaluate what it means to be a scholar working on ‘Migration Studies’, a topic that goes beyond any single discipline. At the end is about the adoption of conceptual and research tools from across disciplines to study migration. Here, the ultimate purpose is not to answer disciplinary questions, but to have a better understanding of migration in all its different forms.”

Kellogg President, Professor Jonanthan Michie congratulated them on this “… very well deserved recognition of their outstanding records in research, publication, scholarship and academic leadership.”