June 26 — College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences History Professor Natalia Milanesio has been awarded the prestigious Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professorship. Milanesio is one of only 13 humanities scholars worldwide to receive this competitive award in 2022. She will present her research on the transformations of sexual ideologies, practices and media content in Argentina after the fall of the 1970s dictatorship and the ensuing rise of feminism in the 1980s.

“Leverhulme is the biggest private granting institution in the [United Kingdom], and it has different departments that fund different research projects at different levels, from doctoral students to senior scholars,” Milanesio stated. “I have been sponsored for a year with a visiting professorship, and the main idea is to stay as part of the teaching and research staff.”

Originally from Argentina, Milanesio came to the United States on a Fulbright Fellowship. She completed her master’s degree in history at New York University and continued in academia to get a doctorate at Indiana University, focusing on the history of modern Latin America.

“My sponsoring institution [for the Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professorship] is the Institute of the Americas,” Milanesio said. “It is a multidisciplinary department at the University College London and is the biggest area studies program in the U.K.”

Excelling in area studies and the understanding of a country or region, the University College London Institute of the Americas (UCL-IA) has consistently ranked in the upper echelon of the U.K.’s Research Excellence Framework. The institution is renowned for its cross-disciplinary, comparative study of Canada, the Caribbean, Latin America and the United States, particularly in the subjects of politics, economics, history, anthropology, sociology, gender and the environment.

“It's not a typical research grant in which you receive money to conduct research,” Milanesio said. “The expectations are different because I am in a visiting position. I will still conduct research for my project, but it's more about the conversations and exchanges with local experts.”

Established in 1925, the Leverhulme Trust allows universities in the U.K. to bring in scholars from overseas who can contribute to disseminating academic knowledge currently untapped in Britain. Milanesio has been granted basic living costs and a salary through Leverhulme, supported by UCL-IA.

“Probably the most important part of the professorship is the series of talks, lectures or seminars that I'm scheduled to give, not only here at the University College London but at other U.K. universities,” Milanesio said. “This relates to the idea of bringing scholars from other parts of the world to contribute to the dialogues that are happening here.”

Milanesio is excited to discover the differences and parallels of the academic styles between the U.S. and U.K. She approaches Leverhulme with an innate curiosity about the institution’s expectations for education. Milanesio strives to expose students to cultural aspects of UCL through researching, colleague and student networking and unique organizations in the U.K. formed and maintained by Latin American experts.

“I see this as a possibility to learn and to experience something different, to try something different and cultivate new skills as a teacher and as an educator, as a researcher, as a colleague,” Milanesio said. “It comes with a challenge and an excitement to learn something new.”

A cultural historian of modern Latin America, Milanesio is interested in the different ways in which people and culture operate at different levels. Milanesio will use Leverhulme library archives and colleagues in the final conceptualization of her next project and present her recent work.

“I like to emphasize the importance of challenging yourself and stepping out of your comfort zone, trying something new regardless of the stage in your career,” Milanesio said. “Work to improve and hone your skills consistently and be curious about how things are done with people that come from a different background. It is a challenge to learn, and it is a challenge to reframe the way we think to accept that things can be done differently, but this curiosity gained in academic and personal exchanges is extremely beneficial.”