Humboldt Research Prize for Professor Trentmann
Empire of Things author will use award to spend time in Germany working on moral economy.
Professor Frank Trentmann from Birkbeck’s Department of History, Classics and Archaeology has been awarded a Humboldt Research Prize, worth €60,000 by the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation. The prize is given to outstanding academics at the peak of their careers. Award winners are invited to spend a period of six to twelve months on academic collaboration with specialist colleagues in Germany. Professor Trentmann will be using his award to spend the summer in Konstanz and autumn in Berlin, working on moral economy.
Professor Trentmann has worked at Birkbeck since 2000, most recently working on consumption, materiality, energy and everyday life. He is the author of several books, the latest of which – Empire of Things – was published in 2016 and was voted ‘Book of the Year’ by The Times, The Sunday Times, The Times Literary Supplement and BBC History Magazine.
Of his award, Professor Trentmann said: “It is a great honour to receive this prize. I left Germany in 1986 as a young student and have been in the British and American academic system ever since. It will be a wonderful opportunity to return and to work with the excellent colleagues there. It will also be good for brushing up my rusty German!”
Further information
- Professor Frank Trentmann
- Empire of Things
- Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation
- Department of History, Classics and Archaeology
- Courses in history