Two Oxford academics have been recognised for their contributions to social science.
Bettina Lange and Eric Zhao have been elected Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences, joining a cohort of distinguished scholars.
Professor Lange, a professor of law and regulation in the Faculty of Law and a Governing Body Fellow of Wolfson College, is known for her research on environmental law and its role in linking nature and society.
Her work has focused on the practical application of state law as a regulatory tool, often involving collaboration with policymakers and regulators.
Recent projects include the co-production of drought management guidelines with the Rivers Trust and consultancy for the Environment Agency on trust-based environmental regulation.
She has also led major studies such as the Leverhulme Trust-funded project ‘Floods and Pandemics – a Socio-Legal Study of Evidence in Regulation,’ which examined crisis governance through the challenges of public health risks from pandemics like Covid-19 and increased flooding due to climate change.
Professor Lange’s first book, Implementing EU Pollution Control: Law and Integration, was nominated for the Peter Birks Prize for outstanding legal scholarship.
She has supervised numerous graduate students and received a Teaching Excellence Award from Oxford’s Social Sciences Division in 2023.
Professor Zhao, who serves as professor of strategy and associate dean for research at Saïd Business School, is a fellow of St Hugh’s College and a researcher at the Gradel Institute of Charity.
His research explores how firms create and capture value amid technological and institutional change, with a particular focus on AI-driven transformation, human-machine collaboration, and organisational resilience.
Professor Zhao said: “I am deeply honoured to be elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
“At a time when AI is transforming organisations and society, social science is essential to understanding not only what technology can do, but how it should be governed and used.
“I see this Fellowship as both recognition and responsibility: to help turn rigorous research into wiser, more accountable action.”
He is the author of Optimal Distinctiveness (Cambridge University Press, 2022), a widely regarded work in his field.
Professor Zhao has received multiple career awards, including the Academy of Management Emerging Scholar Award in Entrepreneurship (2019) and the Strategic Management Society Emerging Scholar Award (2022), making him the first scholar to earn top honours in both strategy and entrepreneurship.
He has also won the Academy of Management Research Impact on Practice Award.
In addition to his research, Professor Zhao serves on the editorial boards of journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Organisation Science, and the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, and advises boards across Europe, Asia, and the US.