Dr Emma Griffin (pictured, middle) from the school of History and Dr Adriana Sinclair (mid left) from the school of Political, Social and International Studies were announced as among 10 of the UK’s most promising young academics at a ceremony in London last night.

Producers from BBC Radio 3, BBC Television Arts and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) scoured the UK to find the brightest, early-career academics with the potential to turn their ground-breaking ideas into sensational broadcasting.

The 10 winners will now become resident New Generation Thinkers on Radio 3, receiving top-level mentoring on how to develop their ideas into viable programme propositions and shadowing the work of presenters and producers.

As well as making regular radio appearances, Dr Griffin and Dr Sinclair will also work with BBC Television Arts to develop their ideas for TV.

The scheme received more than 500 applications from early-career academics across the country - all passionate about communicating modern scholarship to a wider audience.

Following a six-month selection process, the final winners were chosen from a group of more than 50 finalists who attended a series of day-long workshops at the BBC.

The final 10 were chosen by a judging panel made up of BBC Radio 3 Night Waves Producers, BBC Television Arts Executives, and Arts and Humanities Research Council academics.

The University of East Anglia is the only institution represented by two academics in the final 10. Other New Generation Thinkers were selected from universities including Oxford and Cambridge.

Dr Sinclair lectures in international law and international relations and is particularly interested in challenging commonsense understandings of law.

She said: “This is a unique opportunity to create our own radio and television programmes using our research. BBC Radio 3 in general and Night Waves in particular bring ideas to the very forefront of programming, making thought-provoking and original shows. I'm incredibly lucky to be a part of it.”

Dr Griffin is a lecturer in modern British history and specialises in the industrial revolution and the history of working-class life.

She said: I'm really pleased to have been chosen as one of the New Generation Thinkers. I've listened to Night Waves on Radio 3 for years, so it's going to be fun switching listening for contributing!”

Matthew Dodd, head of speech programming at BBC Radio 3, said: “Choosing this year's New Generation Thinkers was quite a feat - the quality of ideas was so high.

“We're looking forward to working with the new New Generation Thinkers to turn their ideas into successful broadcasts and to introduce our listeners to a new wave of some of the most interesting academic researchers in their field.”

The New Generation Thinkers will make their debut appearance on BBC Radio 3’s arts and ideas programme Night Waves, broadcast Mondays to Thursdays at 10-10.45pm, from Monday, June 18.