The fellowship recognises Dr Eccleston-Turner for his outstanding achievements to social progress and development in the field of ensuring vaccines are available around the world, particularly in low-to-middle income countries.

Dr Eccleston-Turner, who joined the Department of Global Health & Social Medicine in 2021, specialises in infectious disease and international law, and has been working on the issue of fair access to vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic.

His has appeared as a witness before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee on the issue and provides advice to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

His research on vaccine nationalism in high-income countries was recently published in the Milbank Quarterly, stating that the “failure to adequately address the underlying lack of infrastructure in developing countries” for vaccine rollout threatens to further limit the success of the COVAX, the multilateral initiative aimed at accelerating the development of COVID-19 vaccines, and ensuring their availability around the world.

Fellowships from the Royal Society of the Arts recognise “the contributions of exceptional individuals from across the world, who have made significant contributions relations to the Arts, Manufacture and Commerce.”

Other fellows include Stephen Hawking, David Attenborough and Ellen MacArthur.