Fay Bound Alberti (born 1971) is a British writer and cultural historian of gender, emotion and medicine. Since 2023 she has been Professor of Modern History and UKRI Future Leaders Fellow at
King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...
University of York
The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...
. Bound Alberti is a Fellow of the
Royal Historical Society
The Royal Historical Society (RHS), founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history.
Origins
The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the H ...
(FRHistS) and previously Foundation Future Leader at the
Foundation for Science and Technology
The Foundation for Science and Technology is a British charity, providing a neutral platform for debate of policy issues that have a science, technology or innovation element.
Established in 1977, the Foundation brings together Parliamentar ...
.
Early life and education
Fay Bound Alberti was born in
Morecambe
Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768.
Name
The first use of the name was by John Whit ...
, Lancashire and raised in Wales. Her brother is the British Cinematographer
Lol Crawley
Laurie "Lol" Crawley, B.S.C. (born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire) is an English cinematographer. He is known for his collaborations with director Brady Corbet on such films as '' The Childhood of a Leader'' (2015), ''Vox Lux'' (2018), and ''The Bru ...
. Fay received her B.A. in History and English from the
University of Wales
The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...
in 1995, after which she completed her M.A. and Ph.D. in history at the
University of York
The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...
(1996–2000). She has won more than £3 million in research funding and has completed post-doctoral research in
history of medicine
The history of medicine is both a study of medicine throughout history as well as a multidisciplinary field of study that seeks to explore and understand medical practices, both past and present, throughout human societies.
The history of med ...
from 2001 to 2004 at the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at
University College London
University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
London Business School
London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degree, Master's degrees in management and finance, Master of B ...
.
Career
Bound Alberti has taught at several British universities including the
Open University
The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...
,
University of Lancaster
Lancaster University (officially The University of Lancaster) is a collegiate public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several new univer ...
, the
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...
and
University College London
University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
Lisbet Rausing
Dame Anna Lisbet Kristina Rausing, (born 9 June 1960) is a science historian and philanthropist. She is a co-founder of the Arcadia Fund, one of the UK's largest philanthropic foundations.
Early life
Lisbet Rausing is the eldest daughter of Han ...
and Peter Baldwin, and head of medical humanities grants at the
Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of Burroughs Wellcome, one of the predec ...
. In 2019 she was named by the MP Chris Skidmore as one of the first
UK Research and Innovation
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is a non-departmental public body of the Government of the United Kingdom that directs research and innovation funding, funded through the science budget of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology ...
Future Leaders Fellows, to pursue her research into the cultural history and emotions of face transplants as part of the AboutFace project. She took up this post at the University of York, where she was Professor in History. In 2023, Bound Alberti joined
King's College London
King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...
as Professor of Modern History and Director of the Centre for Technology and the Body. The AboutFace project has entered its second phase a Interface a research project into the cultural history of the face, and facial transplantation.
Writing and media
Fay Bound Alberti is an accomplished author and academic who specialises in history, medicine, and emotion. She is known for her insightful works, including ''Matters of the Heart: History, Medicine, and Emotion'' (2010), ''This Mortal Coil: The Human Body in History and Culture'' (2016), and ''A'' ''Biography of Loneliness: the history of an Emotion''. ''A Biography of Loneliness'' is currently undergoing translation into multiple languages, including simple and complex Chinese. Notably, ''Matters of the Heart'' was shortlisted for the prestigious Longman History Today award for Book of the Year, while ''This Mortal Coil'' received recognition as a finalist for the BSHS Dingle Prize.
Until 2019 Bound Alberti was part of the History Girls blogging collective, and has written for '' The F-Word'' feminist blog on the intersections between
softcore pornography
Softcore pornography or softcore porn is commercial still photography, film, imagery, or even audio that has a pornographic or erotic component but is less sexually graphic or intrusive than hardcore pornography, defined by a lack of sexual p ...
and the modern
music video
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
, and for Open Democracy on open access to academic works. She has written several articles on loneliness for
Aeon Magazine
''Aeon'' is a Online magazine, digital magazine of ideas, philosophy and culture. Publishing new articles every weekday, Aeon describes itself as a publication which "asks the biggest questions and finds the freshest, most original answers, provi ...
, The Conversation and
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
newspaper and is a reviewer for th Times Literary Supplement
Bound Alberti was interviewed by Julie Beck for ''
The Atlantic Magazine
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 ...
'' in 2017 on the cultural and psychological history of human perceptions of the heart. Bound Alberti has appeared on several television and radio programmes to discuss her work, including
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...
's ''Free Thinking'' to discuss ''This Mortal Coil'' in 2016 and on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
's ''
In Our Time In Our Time may refer to:
* ''In Our Time'' (1944 film), a film starring Ida Lupino and Paul Henreid
* ''In Our Time'' (1982 film), a Taiwanese anthology film featuring director Edward Yang; considered the beginning of the "New Taiwan Cinema"
* ''In ...
'' to discuss the
heart
The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...
in 2006. She also appeared on the Radio 4 series on the heart with the cleric and broadcaster
Giles Fraser
Giles Anthony Fraser (born 27 November 1964)Women's Health Interactive. She is a TED speaker, having spoken on loneliness at the TED Summit in Edinburgh, 2019. Fay is an outspoken critic of the medicalization of loneliness without reference to its social, economic and historical origins, especially during the 2019-2021 pandemic.
Since 2022, Bound Alberti has contributed to several international debates on the ethics of facial transplantation as a form of Vascularized Composite Allografts (VCA). Her articles include ''What we still don't know about vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA) outcomes and quality of life measurements'' and ''Blueprint for Sustainable Face Transplant Policy and Practice'' a 'International consensus recommendations on Face Transplantation: A 2-step Delphi study' . She argues that arts and humanities are needed to understand and inform scientific innovation.
Bound Alberti's new book on the face will be published in 2025 and is under contract with Penguin Press. Her literary agent Is Adam Gauntlett a Peters, Fraser + Dunlop