Elena Russo awarded the Sir Julian Corbett Prize
Elena Russo has been awarded the prestigious Sir Julian Corbett Prize 2026 for her research on nineteenth-century Mediterranean history with a focus on the Adriatic Sea under the Habsburg Empire. The Sir Julian Corbett Prize in Modern Naval History is an international award established in 1924, given annually by the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) at the University of London to celebrate original research in the field of modern naval history.
Russo's winning article is entitled 'Rethinking the Nineteenth-Century Habsburg Empire from the Deck of a Lloyd Steamship: Cosmopolitanism, Imperialist and Regionalist Practices in the Age of Rising Nationalism'.
The paper considers the Lloyd Steamship Company as a window to the wider socio-political dynamics of the Habsburg Empire's maritime domains in the Adriatic coasts. While it is commonly argued that the nineteenth century Adriatic territories were a fulcrum of rising nationalism, she argues in her paper that multiple allegiances coexisted along the Adriatic shores. Russo presents Lloyd as a product of that world, woven with complex identities. She focuses on how the company held cosmopolitan, imperial and Adriatic regionalist impulses between the 1840s and 1870s. This paper combines qualitative analysis and digital humanities methodologies, such as geomapping and data analysis, to better understand the complexity of the Habsburg Adriatic.
Reflecting on the significance of receiving this award, Russo said:
Being awarded this prize is a great honour, as it is usually given to established academic. I am thrilled to see that my research is receiving recognition from distinguished scholars in the field and am delighted that this award recognises the importance of the Adriatic Sea.
The nineteenth-century northern Adriatic territories are extremely interesting but often left out of main historiographical discourses. Set where Habsburg history and Mediterranean studies intersected, these territories provide interesting case studies where diverse cultures, religions, and peoples coexisted. My academic work focuses here. This project is part of my wider studies on the area, starting with my dissertation that will be completed in the upcoming academic year.
Find out more about the Sir Julian Corbett Prize here.