OU Faculty of Arts Funding Opportunities

The British Academy UK-Latin American/ Caribbean Programme

2010-02-12T09:49:00.003Z

The British academy’s Latin America and the Caribbean Panel have launched the 2010 initiative. This programme awards up to £20,000 to support a programme of seminars that involve both UK and Latin American and Caribbean scholars.

The current awards will go to programmes that run a seminar programme that disseminates knowledge and furthers research on a topic of mutual interest. Each programme must include at least two seminars; one must be held in the UK the other in Latin America or the Caribbean. Scholars from a number of institutions from within all these regions need to be involved. This scheme is aimed at strengthening existing academic links between and within these regions as well as giving the chance to initiate the development of new links.

This scheme is looking to incorporate:

A knowledge and sharing element
Two to three seminar participants will give lectures, attend meetings and take part in workshops within a one or two week time scale around the seminars
This is aimed at providing opportunities for younger scholars on both sides of the Atlantic to benefit form the interaction with key international participants.

The scope of the award must cover :

Workshops and seminars and may involve both staff and postgraduate students – please note international funding will NOT be provided for postgraduate students
Main purpose of funding is to cover travel and maintenance costs.

To be eligible the programme must cover the following criteria:

Applicants must be postdoctoral or equivalent – academic staff with at least one or two years teaching/research experience
The principal applicant must be ‘ordinarily resident’ in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands- ‘ordinarily resident’ as defined by Inland Revenue.
Both partners need to have input into the application UK and Latin America/Caribbean
Higher priority will be given to those that give a clear indication that the collaboration is based on consultation, partnership and with a future view for sustainability.

The principal applicant’s institution will need to endorse the proposal and outline briefly the resources that will be made available for the running of the workshops and resources.

Further information about these awards.

British Academy Small Research Grants

2010-02-11T10:11:00.001Z

The British Academy has grants available to support primary research in the humanities and social sciences. Applications will not be considered for less than £500. The maximum figure for a small research grant is £7,500 over two years. Applications are welcomed from collaborative and individual projects equally. Applications from international groups of scholars are welcomed as long as there is a UK based scholar as the lead applicant.

When applying for a small research grant all applicants should demonstrate the following:
Academy funds are sort for a clearly defined piece of research
This must have an identifiable outcome on completion of the Academy-funded component of the research
The level of the award is up to £7,500 with the minimum being £500.
Grants are awarded for a 24 month period
There are two rounds annually for applications
Deadline for submissions for current applications is 15 March 2010
Results of these applications can be expected from Mid May 2010
Research needs to be taking place on or after 1 June 2010
All applications must be submitted via the e-Gap2 process.

Further details on British Academy grants

Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowships now open

2010-02-10T09:10:00.002Z

Early career fellowships are aimed at those who are at a relatively early stage of their academic careers but with a proven record of research. One would anticipate that a Fellowship would lead to a more permanent academic position. Applicants are welcome from any discipline – approximately 70 fellowships will be available in 2010

Applicants criteria
May not currently hold, or have already held, a full-time established (i.e. permanent) academic position in a UK University or comparable institution in the UK.
Should normally hold a degree from a UK higher education institution by the time of taking up the Fellowship. Those without a UK degree will be considered if, at the time of application, they hold an academic position in the UK. It is likely that applications from candidates having an association with the UK academic community of less than two years' duration will be strengthened by a move of employing institution.
Should normally be under age 35 and hold an awarded doctorate or have equivalent research experience at the time of taking up the award. Applications from those aged 35 and over will be considered if they began their academic studies at a later age than is usual or if they have had a career change or break.
May, when registered for a doctorate, apply only if they have submitted their doctoral thesis by the closing date, and confirmation of this will be required as part of the application procedure.

Value
The Trust will contribute 50% of each Fellow's total salary costs up to a maximum of £23,000 per annum and the balance is to be paid by the host institution. Given the prestige of the awards each Fellow may request annual research expenses of up to £6000 to further his or her research activities.

Duration
Fellowships are available for either two or three years on a full-time basis, but requests to hold the award part-time over a proportionately longer period will be considered if this is appropriate for the nature of the research proposed and the career development of the individual. Fellowships will commence between the beginning of the 2010/2011 academic year and 1 May 2011.

Application Procedure
Applications through online application form. Applications must be submitted online by the closing date and time of 4.00pm on 11 March 2010.

Result will be reported, by letter, by the end of May 2010.

For further information visit http://www.leverhulme.org.uk/

2010-02-09T09:56:00.003Z

British Academy International Partnerships (Africa/the Middle East/South Asia)

The British Academy’s Area Panels have developed and released the International Partnerships (Africa/ the Middle East/ South Asia) awards scheme for 2010. These awards are for up to £10,000 a year for up to a total of three years and they are available to support the further development of ongoing links between research centres or institutions within both the humanities and social sciences arenas within the UK and Africa/ the Middle East/ South Asia. The links the panel are looking for to be developed further would need to be on specific research themed of a mutual interest to all parties concerned. This research could be further developed with the help of the award through visits in both directions, a series of workshops seminars and lecture programmes as well as collaborative research and joint publications. The Panel would be looking for the programme to provide a part of a training programme from either of the institutions involved and would ideally also involve participation from more than one overseas institution, this could also involve more than one department or university group or centre based in the UK.

Aim of the award
The aim of this scheme is to nurture and grow links between the UK and Africa/ the Middle East/ South Asia with the emphasis being in the particular area of helping scholars to further develop their research skills and so produce a joint research outcome. All applicants for this award need ot have identified an academic partner that is based in an institution in Africa/ the Middle East/ South Asia that will act as the co-applicant on the award.

Scope of Award
When applying for this award bear in mind that priority will be given to projects that include a training element such as the support and development of staff or postgraduate students ( both in UK and overseas). The scheme is intended to benefit early-career scholars from the UK and overseas, the projects that will regarded most highly will be those that incorporate junior academics from both sides UK and overseas. Please note workshops and seminars should form an integral part of the scheme and should involve both staff and postgraduate students. It will be expected that each programme will produce papers or some other joint research outcome designed for publication.

Note: For the purposes of this scheme South Asia includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka.

Level of Award
These grants are offered up to a maximum of £10,000 per year for up to 3 years

Period of Award
Up to 3 years, funding for years 2 and 3 will be conditional upon receipt of satisfactory annual progress reports.

Closing Date
20 April 2010 decisions to be announced mid-July

Further information can be found at http://www.britac.ac.uk/index.cfm

AHRC secures additional £4m to support ICT developments

2009-09-23T12:05:00.003+01:00

The AHRC has secured £4m of capital funding to enhance access to leading-edge digital technologies and facilities by arts and humanities researchers and enhance impact from digital research outputs, such as databases, established with current or past AHRC or AHRB support.

The call is designed to enhance the UK’s research strengths in the arts and humanities, including the outputs from AHRC’s ICT Programme, and to complement existing activities, such as those supported through the RCUK Digital Economy Programme.

The call has two strands, the first relating to access to leading-edge digital equipment, resources ands facilities, the second the development of AHRB/C digital research outputs to ensure long-term sustainability and accessibility of those resources.

Proposals can be submitted with a minimum full economic cost of £50,000 and a maximum full economic cost of £1,000,000. Projects will be expected to start on 1 March 2010 and run for periods of up to one year. The closing date for the receipt of applications is 4pm on Thursday 5 November 2009.

For further information, please go to the Digital Equipment and Database Enhancement for Impact funding opportunity page.

source: AHRC website

Music Department Research Seminar

2009-09-09T12:08:00.002+01:00

Title:Acoustics applied to manufacturing processes and organology. The case of the piano
Date:16 September 2009 – 2:00 pm
Venue:Room MR11 – Second Floor, Wilson Building A, Open University
Speaker: Adrien Mamou-Mani (Newton Research Fellow, OU)

I will present two previous studies I carried out concerning the physics of the piano. The first one is a modelling of the “downbearing”, the downward load applied by the strings on the piano soundboard. Following the opinions of makers, its adjustment is crucial for the mechanical stability and the acoustical quality of the instrument. I will present some effects of this load on the vibration properties of the soundboards. An emphasis will be done on unusual values of downbearing, which induce very large amplitude vibration. The second study deals with the dynamical behaviour of a historical piano action. The organological question asked by the piano curator at the Musee de la musique in Paris was: Is the simple escapement action of Erard pianos different than the English grand piano action? I will propose an answer using both experiments with a high-speed camera and numerical models of one Erard action and one Broadwood action.

Open Briefing Session on the University's Research Strategy

2009-09-09T12:03:00.002+01:00

PVC (Research & Enterprise) Professor Brigid Heywood will lead an open briefing session on the University's research strategy for the next five years.
Questions are welcome via e-mail either before or during the event and can be sent to strategy-rae@open.ac.uk. All OU staff are welcome to attend.

The event will be webcast via KMi Stadium (see: [stadium.open.ac.uk])

The Road to Professordom

2009-09-09T11:53:00.002+01:00

For many in the academic world a promotion to a professorship is the ultimate goal, and a difficult one to attain.

For hints and tips on how to make your career work for you so that you are in the best position for that promotion, come along to the first in our series of 2009-10 Bite Size Seminars, titled “The Road to Professordom”. Professor Linda Jones, Professor of Health in the Faculty of Health & Social Care, will tell her own story on what worked for her.

Seminar Title: The Road to Professordom
Speakers: Linda Jones, Faculty of Health & Social Care
Venue:Research Meeting Room, 2nd Floor, Library
Date: Thursday 1 October 2009
Time: 12 noon to 1pm

The seminar will be followed by lunch and an opportunity to network with other researchers.

To register: If you would like to attend, you can enrol directly by using the Staff Learning Management System (LMS): Link http://staff-lms.open.ac.uk/staff-lms/ or alternatively please contact research-training-development@open.ac.uk.

Sharing Best Practice in Supervision

2009-09-09T11:46:00.003+01:00

Would you like an opportunity to:
discuss best practice with other research supervisors?
update your supervision skills?
influence Open University research supervision policy?

If your answer is yes to any of these questions Sharing Best Practice in Supervision is for you.

Sharing Best Practice in Supervision will address some or all of the following issues: Coping with difficulties; Supporting students through probation; Maintaining the momentum for finishing on time; Supporting part-time students; International students’ perspectives;

To register: You can enrol directly by using the Staff Learning Management System (LMS): Link http://staff-lms.open.ac.uk/staff-lms/ or alternatively please contact research-training-development@open.ac.uk.

Please note there are limited places available so early registration is recommended.

New Chief Executive arrives at the Arts and Humanities Research Council

2009-09-09T11:36:00.003+01:00

This week sees the arrival of Professor Rick Rylance as the new Chief Executive and Deputy Chair of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

Before taking up the post of AHRC Chief Executive, Rick Rylance was Head of the School of Arts, Languages and Literatures at the University of Exeter. Prior to moving to Exeter in 2003 he had been at the then Anglia Polytechnic University in Cambridge which he left as Dean of Arts and Letters. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) in 1998 and a Founding Fellow of the English Association in 1999. He chaired the Sub-Panel for English in RAE2008 and was a member of HEFCE’S Advisory Group on the development of the REF. His personal research interests are in nineteenth and twentieth-century literature and the literary, intellectual and scientific history of those periods.

Professor Rick Rylance said:
“Over the next few years I am looking forward tremendously to working with colleagues in the arts and humanities community and with Government to develop our world-class research achievements and demonstrate their importance culturally, academically, socially and economically at home and abroad. I’d like to thank the terrific work already done by my new colleagues at AHRC, and my predecessors in this role, which give such a strong basis on which to do this.”

source: AHRC website
http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/News/Latest/Pages/NewChiefExecutivearrives.aspx

JISC Advance brings together eight JISC services

2009-09-09T11:21:00.004+01:00

As stated on the JISC site. A new organisation called JISC Advance launches this week. It will bring together eight established JISC services as part of JISC’s ongoing strategy to deliver world-class support to colleges and universities.

The organisation will be led by new managing director Guy Lambert and will co-ordinate JISC Digital Media, JISC infoNet, JISC Legal, JISCMail, JISC Netskills, JISC Procureweb, JISC TechDis and the JISC Regional Support Centre UK by centralising funding and business development opportunties.

Managing director Guy Lambert said: “All of these services are extremely well-respected within the education sector and receive good feedback from their users. JISC Advance will allow the services to reach new audiences, and will help our users to understand what we can collectively deliver for them.”

Guy Lambert joined JISC in January 2009, having previously worked in commercial and managerial roles at UK board level within the IT industry, in both the public and private sectors. His roles with Honeywell, Bull, Steria and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have all involved managing operational improvement and cultural change, with a service focus.

JISC Advance will launch at the Association for Learning Technology conference (ALT-C) at the University of Manchester on 9 September 2009.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/stories/2009/09/jiscadvance.aspx

Radical Nature Study Day at the Barbican

2009-09-03T10:42:00.001+01:00

Saturday 12 September 2009 10:30am - 4:30 pm
Location: Redgrave Suite, Level 4, the Barbican Centre, London EC2Y 8DS

An event exploring the relationship between contemporary art and climate change.

How are artists responding to the urgency of the issue? How does climate change affect culture? This study day maps the possible collaboration between creative thinking and problem solving.

Join artists Cornelia Parker, Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey; Franceco Manacorda, Curator of Radical Nature; Michaela Cimmin, Head of Arts, RSA; and Dr Joe Smith, Senior Lecturer, Geography, OU to engage with this hot topic. The event is chaired by Bob Spicer, Professor of Earth Sciences, OU and Gill Perry, Professor of Art History, OU.

This Study Day will be of special interest to students studying Arts and Humanities, Art History, Earth Sciences and Geography. It is organised by the Barbican in association with the OU.

Tickets £20/ £15 concessions (includes ticket for the Radical Nature exhibition currently showing at the Barbican) available from the Barbican Box Office 0845 120 7500 or online.

The programme for the day

10.30am - 12.30pm Morning focus on Climate change - Chaired by Bob Spicer

10.30am - 11.00am Welcome

11.00am - 11.30am Bob Spicer, Professor of Earth Sciences, Open University Climate Change in Context

11.30am - 12 noon Dr Joe Smith, Open University - Climate Change changes everything

12 noon - 12.30pm Mark Watts, former Environment Advisor to Ken Livingstone, now at Arup

Discussion with all speakers, and opened up to the audience, chaired by Bob Spicer

12.30pm - 2.00pm Lunch break with time to see RN exhibition

2pm - 4.30pm Afternoon focus on mediating through art / artists’ responses to climate change Chaired by Gill Perry

2 .00pm - 2.30pm Gill Perry, Professor of Art History, Open University – ‘A bilious shade of green’? Installation Art and the Evironment: Problems and Possibilities

2.30pm - 3.00pm Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey artists – illustrated talk

3.00pm - 3.30pm Michaela Crimmin, Head of Arts, RSA curatorial concerns-

3.30pm - 3.50pm Cornelia Parker intro & showing Comskian Abstract 2007 film (short 6 mins extract)

3.50pm - 4.30pm Discussion with all speakers, opened up to audience chaired by Gill Perry.

Radical Nature: Art and Architecture for a Changing Planet 1969 -2009 exhibition open from 11am until 8pm.

Tickets for Study day include entry to the exhibition on this day only.

Digital Humanities Project in Classics

2009-08-28T10:55:00.003+01:00

Elton Barker has recently joined the Faculty as a lecturer in Classics (from Oxford) and has brought with him the HESTIA (the Herodotus Encoded Space-Text-Imaging Archive) project. He is Principle Investigator for HESTIA, working with Stefan Buzar (University of Birmingham), Chris Pelling (University of Oxford) and Leif Isaksen (University of Southampton).

HESTIA provides a new approach towards conceptions of space in the ancient world, supported by a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Combining a variety of different methods, it examines the ways in which space is represented in Herodotus' History, in terms of places mentioned and geographic features described. It develops visual tools to capture the 'deep' topological structures of the text, extending beyond the usual two-dimensional Cartesian maps of the ancient world.

The project website is at: http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/hestia/index.html. Before the end of the year the project team are planning to post some initial results, including a spatial database (with a user-friendly set of queries that can be asked of it) and various maps that it can generate. They are also looking at developing a 'bookline', (a timeline linked to a map showing how certain places/regions come in and out of focus in the literature over time).

For more about the project, listen to a presentation by Elton Barker on 31 July, which can be downloaded from http://www.digitalclassicist.org/wip/wip2009.html along with the PowerPoint slides.

For more information about Digital Humantities projects in the Classics see The Digital Classicist website at http://www.digitalclassicist.org/. The Digital Classicist is a decentralised and international community of scholars and students interested in the application of innovative digital methods and technologies to research on the ancient world. The Digital Classicist is not core funded, and nor is it owned by any institution. The main purpose of this site is to offer a web-based hub for discussion, collaboration and communication.

British Academy Research Development Awards (BARDAs)

2009-08-27T11:52:00.003+01:00

Deadline to notify REST of intention to bid: 23 October 2009
Faculty deadline to complete application form: 27 November 2009

The British Academy launched its new online electronic grant administration processing system, e-GAP2, on 20 August 2009. If you are thinking of applying to one of the research grant programmes it is worth learning about e-GAP2 (see: http://royalsociety.org/page.asp?id=1136) and you can register as a user as soon as the call opens so that you can see what is required for the application.

BARDAs are offered for established UK-based scholars to develop a significant collaborative or individual research project, providing a flexible package of support, including research leave, research expenses, workshops and visits by or to partner scholars. Awards are offered on an FEC basis, up to £150,000 (of which the BA meets 80%). Priority is given to applicants who have at least five years postdoctoral experience.

Annual competition (two-stage process)
Applications available from: 2 November 2009. It will not be possible to access application forms before these dates. Paper-based applications will not be accepted.
Funder deadline for submission of applications: 15 December 2009
Results of outline stage expected: end January 2010
Research beginning on or after: 1 June 2010
A smaller group of the most outstanding applicants will then be invited to submit second-stage applications for a deadline in March 2010, final decisions in May

For full guidance on British Academy Research Development Awards (BARDAs) see: http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/barda.cfm

For details of all the recently announced British Academy deadlines see: http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/index.cfm

British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowships

2009-08-27T11:49:00.007+01:00

Deadline to notify REST of intention to bid: 23 October 2009
Faculty deadline to complete application form: 18 November 2009

The British Academy launched its new online electronic grant administration processing system, e-GAP2, on 20 August 2009. If you are thinking of applying to one of the research grant programmes it is worth learning about e-GAP2 (see: http://royalsociety.org/page.asp?id=1136) and you can register as a user as soon as the call opens so that you can see what is required for the application.

Senior Research Fellowships are offered for established scholars working at UK universities providing a period of research leave during which they will be able to concentrate on bringing a major piece of research towards completion while their normal teaching and administrative duties are covered by a full-time replacement. Awards are tenable for 1 year from autumn 2010.

Annual Competition
Applications available from: 22 October 2009. It will not be possible to access application forms before these dates. Paper-based applications will not be accepted.
Funder deadline for submission of applications: 7 December 2009
Results expected: early March 2010
Research beginning on or after: 1 September 2010

For full guidance on British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowships see: http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/srf.cfm

For details of all the recently announced British Academy deadlines see: http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/index.cfm

British Academy Conference Support Grants

2009-08-27T11:45:00.003+01:00

Deadline to notify REST of intention to bid: 12 October 2009
Faculty deadline to complete application form: 12 November 2009

The British Academy launched its new online electronic grant administration processing system, e-GAP2, on 20 August 2009. If you are thinking of applying to one of the research grant programmes it is worth learning about e-GAP2 (see: http://royalsociety.org/page.asp?id=1136) and you can register as a user as soon as the call opens so that you can see what is required for the application.

Conference Support Grants are offered of between £1,000 and £20,000 to promote the dissemination of advanced research. Conference convenors may apply for financial assistance, e.g. to bring key speakers to the UK, or for a wider range of expenses.

Two rounds annually
Applications available from: 15 October 2009. It will not be possible to access application forms before these dates. Paper-based applications will not be accepted.
Funder deadline for submission of applications: 1 December 2009
Results expected: end January 2010
Conferences happening on or after: 1 February 2010

For full guidance on Conference Support Grants see: http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/confs.cfm

For details of all the recently announced British Academy deadlines see: http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/index.cfm

British Academy Small Research Grants

2009-08-27T11:36:00.003+01:00

Deadline to notify REST of intention to bid: 12 October 2009
Faculty deadline to complete application form: 4 November 2009

The British Academy launched its new online electronic grant administration processing system, e-GAP2, on 20 August 2009. If you are thinking of applying to one of the research grant programmes it is worth learning about e-GAP2 (see: http://royalsociety.org/page.asp?id=1136) and you can register as a user as soon as the call opens so that you can see what is required for the application.

Grants are offered of up to £7,500 for collaborative or individual projects to facilitate initial project planning and development, to support the direct costs of research, and to enable the advancement of research through workshops or by visits by or to partner scholars.

Two rounds annually
Applications available from: 7 October 2009. It will not be possible to access application forms before these dates. Paper-based applications will not be accepted.
Funder deadline for submission of applications: 23 November 2009
Results expected: end January 2010
Research taking place on or after: 1 February 2010

For full guidance on Small Research Grants see: http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/srg.cfm

For details of all the recently announced British Academy deadlines see: http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/index.cfm

British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships

2009-08-27T11:29:00.003+01:00

Deadline to notify REST of intention to bid: 12 October 2009
Faculty deadline to complete application form: 9 November 2009

The British Academy launched its new online electronic grant administration processing system, e-GAP2, on 20 August 2009. If you are thinking of applying to one of the research grant programmes it is worth learning about e-GAP2 (see: http://royalsociety.org/page.asp?id=1136) and you can register as a user as soon as the call opens so that you can see what is required for the application.

Postdoctoral Fellowships provide a career development opportunity for outstanding early career researchers who have not yet been appointed to a permanent academic post, to strengthen their experience of research and teaching in a university environment, offering employment for three years.

Research beginning on or after: 1 September 2010
Annual competition (two-stage process)
Applications available from: 28 September 2009. It will not be possible to access application forms before these dates. Paper-based applications will not be accepted.
Funder deadline for submission of outline proposals: 26 November 2009
Results of outline stage expected: January 2010
A smaller group of the most outstanding applicants will then be invited to submit second-stage applications for a deadline in March 2010, final decisions in May.

For full guidance on Postdoctoral Fellowships see: http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/pdfells.cfm

For details of all the recently announced British Academy deadlines see: http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/index.cfm

British Academy Overseas Conference Grants

2009-08-27T11:13:00.004+01:00

Deadline to notify REST of intention to bid: 16 October 2009
Faculty deadline to complete application form: 30 October 2009

The British Academy launched its new online electronic grant administration processing system, e-GAP2, on 20 August 2009. If you are thinking of applying to one of the research grant programmes it is worth learning about e-GAP2 (see: http://royalsociety.org/page.asp?id=1136) and you can register as a user as soon as the call opens so that you can see what is required for the application.

Overseas Conference Grants are simple travel grants towards the travel expenses of scholars delivering a paper at a conference overseas.

Two rounds annually
Applications available from: 1 October 2009. It will not be possible to access application forms before these dates. Paper-based applications will not be accepted.
Funder deadline for submission of applications: 16 November 2009
Results expected: end December 2009
Conferences taking place on or after: 1 January 2010

For full guidance on Overseas Conference Grants see: http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/ocg.cfm

For details of all the recently announced British Academy deadlines see: http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/index.cfm

Briefing Events for Researchers Considering Applying for ERC Starting Grants

2009-08-25T11:25:00.003+01:00

Following the launch of the latest Call for Starting Grants, on 30 July 2009, the UK Research Office (UKRO) is organising a series of information events for researchers who are based in the UK or moving to the UK and who are interested in applying for European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grants.

Each session is geared to providing participants with an overview of the ERC in FP7, focusing on the Starting Grant Scheme and the most recent call, and also to giving attendees a deeper understanding of the proposals format and the key issues in planning, writing and costing a Starting Grant proposal.

The sessions will be held in the following locations:

University of Sheffield, 3 Sept 2009;
Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, 7 Sept 2009;
Royal Veterinary College, University of London, 14 Sept 2009;
University of Cambridge, 21 Sept 2009;
Brunel University, London, 22 Sept 2009.

Two identical sessions will be held at each venue, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. It is only necessary to attend one session. Both sessions will provide an overview of the ERC and will focus on the application process for the ERC Starting Grants. There will be opportunities to ask questions during each session.

There is no charge to attend and places can be booked on-line at http://www.ukro.bbsrc.ac.uk/erc/events_ukro/

Background Information
The Ideas programme is one of the specific programmes of FP7. Implemented by the European Research Council (ERC) independently of the rest of FP7, individual projects of scientific excellence proposed by truly creative scientists, engineers and scholars can be funded. Activities of “frontier research” can be across disciplines, including engineering, social science and the humanities.

Two funding streams support researchers, namely the ERC Starting Independent Researcher Grant (referred to as the Starting Grant) and the ERC Advanced Investigator Grant (referred to as the Advanced Grant). Application follows calls for proposals.

The ERC Starting Grants aim to provide critical and adequate support to the independent careers of excellent researchers, whatever their nationality, located in or moving to the EU Member States and Associated Countries, who are at the stage of starting or consolidating their own independent research team or, depending on the field, their independent research programme.

The ERC Advanced Grants aim to encourage and support excellent, innovative investigator-initiated research projects by leading advanced investigators across the EU Member States and Associated Countries. This funding stream complements the Starting Grant scheme by targeting researchers who have already established themselves as being independent research leaders in their own right.

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, 1674-1913

2009-08-24T14:19:00.001+01:00

A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court is available on-line at http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/.

This online digital resource is the output of a collaborative research project between the University of Hertfordshire, the Open University and the University of Sheffield, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (in 2000 and 2005), the Big Lottery Fund (2001) and the Economic and Social Research Council (2005).

The directors of this project, and authors of all the historical background pages, are Professor Clive Emsley (Open University), Professor Tim Hitchcock (University of Hertfordshire) and Professor Robert Shoemaker (University of Sheffield).

Professor publishes book on the Great British Bobby

2009-08-24T13:28:00.003+01:00

The Great British Bobby, A history of British policing from 1829 to the present, has just been published by Professor Clive Emsley, co-director of the International Centre for Comparative Criminological Research at The Open University. He is also President of the International Association for the History of Crime and Criminal Justice.

Professor Emsley said: “Histories of the police have always tended to be institutional and have tended to focus on law makers and chief constables. I wanted to explore the lives of the men and women on the beat at the sharp end.

“My father was a policeman who, in 1943, changed his police blue for RAF blue. He was killed serving with Bomber Command a few months before I was born.

"I guess the book was written partly because of the father that I never knew, but also because I believe that it is important to understand the lives of ordinary people. The aim of the book is to weave the stories of ordinary police officers into the social history of Britain over the last 250 years.”

The Great British Bobby, A history of British policing from 1829 to the present, is published by Quercus books, ISBN 978 1 84916 197 8. Times Review.

OU professor talks at International Congress of the History of Science

2009-08-24T11:26:00.003+01:00

Jim Moore, Professor of the History of Science, gave the opening plenary address `Darwin's Sacred Cause', to the 23rd International Congress of the History of Science (triennial of the world's leading professional body), meeting in Budapest - 26-31 July, 2009.

Darwin’s Sacred Cause, authored by Jim Moore and Adrian Desmond, gives a completely new explanation of why Darwin came to his shattering theories about human origins. More than a thousand people enjoyed Jim’s presentation, to the point where two historians of mathematics (one being the UK leader in the field) said despite initial misgivings, they were “quite convinced by the argument”, which they credited as revealing a potentially radically new Darwin.

As a result of the presentation, the Director-General of the Hungarian (national) Museum of Natural History gave Jim a private two-hour tour, where he was shown astonishing 18th-century natural mummies and Neanderthals. Jim said: “It was amazing to hold the mandible of a 25-35 year-old woman, dead 60,000 years."

Jim has now been invited by The Foreign Secretary of the Cuban Academy of Sciences to address the Academy and to lecture at the University of Havana in early October.

Related links:
Talking to Open2, Jim Moore explains how Charles Darwin changed our whole way of thinking - and makes a surprising revelation concerning one of the motivations for Darwin's work. http://www.open2.net/historyandthearts/arts/jimmooreinterview.html

Hatred of slavery drove Darwin towards evolutionary theory: http://www.open.ac.uk/platform/news/arts-and-culture/hatred-slavery-drove-darwin-towards-evolutionary-theory

AHRC Collaborative Research Training Scheme - Student Led Initiative

2009-08-19T11:55:00.001+01:00

This route is part of the Collaborative Research Training scheme which provides pump-priming funds to support the provision of specialised subject - or discipline - specific research training which will enable institutions to offer such training to groups of students where it is not possible or cost-effective to provide the training in just one department or institution. The aim of the Student-Led Initiative route is to support the establishment of innovative collaborative research training programmes, originated by and run for postgraduate doctoral students that have a subject – or discipline – specific focus. Training is welcome which has as broad or as narrow a subject focus as is appropriate for the particular field.

The Student-Led Initiative provides awards of up to £2000 towards the costs of setting up a training project, activity or event.

Eligible activities could include:

Networks or Research Forums
Journals or on-line web resources: these could include students both submitting, reviewing and editing papers as well as students organising and administering the journal, or provide on-line video resources
Conferences (as long as these are student-led and student organised)
Career Development Initiatives
Roundtable events with academics and practitioners in the relevant field to discuss career pathways and career development issues
Public Engagement activities: these could be showcase/demonstration events, where students can present their research to community organisations, media, primary and secondary educational pupils, the general public etc.
Activities involving the exchanges of knowledge involving interaction between students and non-academic organisations. These could be professional interactions such as events engaging with professional bodies, policy makers, government bodies or relevant businesses such as local or national employers

The AHRC are keen to see proposals outlining innovative practices that will benefit a wide range of postgraduate researchers, either by their involvement in the organisation of the programme, or by participating in the scheme.

Events are welcome which address a clearly identified gap in provision within or across subjects, for example additional language skills, fieldwork techniques, practical skills required for specific careers, engagement with professionals or practitioners.

The scheme operates on a rolling deadline with applications accepted throughout the year.

To download the application form and guidance please see: http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Pages/CRTS-Student-LedInitiative.aspx

The OU faculty of Arts has had previous funding from this source for the January 2009 conference for postgraduate doctoral students in Classics titled ‘Sex and the (Ancient) City: Love and Friendship in Greece and Rome’.

Leverhulme Trust Funding Success for OU and Warwick University collaboration

2009-08-18T14:46:00.002+01:00

Professor Dennis Walder of the Arts Faculty has been awarded a Leverhulme Research Project Grant of £140, 826 for a three-year joint project with Dr Yvette Hutchison of the University of Warwick, entitled ‘Performing Memory: theatricalising identity in contemporary South Africa’ . The grant is to fund two full-time PhD students, as well as travel and archival work.

Professor Walder is Director of the Ferguson Centre for African & Asian Studies, where one of the students will be based, and a South African theatre archive established; the other will be supervised by Dr Hutchison, an Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies at Warwick.

Both Walder and Hutchison have wide experience of research and publication in the South African theatre context – Walder’s work on playwright Athol Fugard is well known - and they recently co-edited a special Africa Issue of Contemporary Theatre Review. The Ferguson Centre is engaged in a number of projects related to memory, identity and nation, and is building up an archive of research materials.

The aim of the new project is to explore how formal processes of remembering and recording the contested histories of South Africa – such as the Truth and Reconciliation hearings – are related to popular performative representations including plays, installations, memorials, film and TV. The outcomes of the project will include a book and several articles.

Radical Nature Study Day at the Barbican

2009-08-18T11:36:00.003+01:00

Internal approval process for bids

2009-08-06T09:47:00.002+01:00

If you are thinking of applying for ANY external funding - whether for research, enterprise, teaching or any other activity - you need to let the University know and receive the relevant approvals. Depending on the circumstances, this may take a few weeks. There is a new page on the intranet which outlines the processes with an explanation of which form to use for each type of funding. This can be found at: http://intranet.open.ac.uk/developmentoffice/project-funding/

If you are a member of the Arts Faculty, please notify the Research and Enterprise Team at Arts-REST of any planned funding bids or negotiations.

EU funding call for Reinterpreting Europe's cultural heritage

2009-07-31T09:27:00.004+01:00

Funding scheme: FP7 Collaborative project (small or medium-scale focused research project) - Activity 8.5: The Citizen in the European Union - Area 8.5.2 Diversities and commonalities in Europe - SSH.2010.5.2-2 Reinterpreting Europe's cultural heritage: towards the 21st century library and museum?

National museums and galleries emerged in the context of the consolidation of the nationstate in Europe from the 18th century onwards. At the beginning of the 21st century, the intellectual underpinnings of many of these institutions are being questioned, while at the same time, new forms of interaction with the publics are formed. The purpose is to develop a new role for national museums and libraries that allows them, in an innovative way, to adequately reflect past trends and processes that are not constrained by national borders, engage the interest of new social groups and audiences, while simultaneously acting as agents of social cohesion and stability in Europe.

Research could look at the impact of museums, galleries and libraries (including virtual libraries) on identities and values through time and in Europe today, including research on memorialisation and the institutionalisation of cultural memory, as well as on how to best coordinate the activities and collections of museums galleries and libraries across Europe for the benefit of a European and global audience.

Research should also look at how contemporary research in the social sciences and the humanities can be applied in the re-evaluation and re-interpretation of collections and archives in museums, galleries and libraries; this will imply linkages between researchers and archivists in the museum, gallery and library sectors and the academic sector. The increased role of Information and Communication Technologies in museum and gallery displays or in virtual libraries, as well as scenarios for the organisation and content of post-national museums could be looked at.

For these collaborative projects there needs to be at least 3 partners located in 3 different member states. The maximum requested EU contribution under this scheme is EUR 2.7m.

Deadline: 2 February 2010 at 17.00.00 Brussels local time

For more information see: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/dc/index.cfm?fuseaction=UserSite.CooperationDetailsCallPage&call_id=254 or contact Arts-REST

ESRC new strategic plan increases focus on impact

2009-07-30T13:55:00.003+01:00

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) released its Strategic Plan for 2009-14 on 21 July. It outlines the research council’s goals and objectives for the next five years, including a greater concentration on the impact of its research.

"The social sciences are essential to developing the international competitiveness of UK business and the wellbeing of citizens in the UK and beyond. Providing a high quality social science knowledge and evidence base, which is at the heart of the ESRC's mission, is fundamental to addressing a range of economic and social issues within the UK and globally. To achieve this, active two-way dialogue and collaboration between social scientists and potential users throughout the research process and beyond is crucial."

For more information and to download a full copy of the Strategic Plan go to: http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/strategicplan/

European Science Foundation Research Networking Programmes - 2009 Call for Proposals

2009-07-16T09:19:00.001+01:00

The European Science Foundation (ESF) are inviting Proposals for new Research Networking Programmes. An ESF Research Networking Programme is a networking activity bringing together nationally funded research activities for four to five years, to address a major scientific issue or a science-driven topic of research infrastructure, at the European level with the aim of advancing the frontiers of science.

Key objectives include:

creating interdisciplinary fora;
sharing knowledge and expertise;
developing new techniques;
training young scientists.

A successful Programme proposal must show high scientific quality and also demonstrate added value by being carried out at a European level rather than by individual research groups at the national level.

Proposals may be submitted in any or across several of the following broad scientific fields:

Biomedical Sciences
Life, Earth and Environmental
Physical and Engineering Sciences
Humanities
Social Sciences

Science driven issues of Research Infrastructures in any of the above fields

Deadline 22 October 2009, 16.00hrs CET

For more information see: http://www.esf.org/activities/research-networking-programmes/rnp-call-for-proposals.html#c15761

Deadlines for Digital Economy Research in the Wild

2009-07-13T12:36:00.004+01:00

(This story was originally posted on 27 April 2009)
The Digital Economy Programme invites applicants to apply for short-term funding to perform their ‘Research in the Wild’. This call is about allowing researchers in the Digital Economy to expose and test their research ideas with potential beneficiaries – for example, the individual, business and/or society – in order to get closer to achieving a viable proposition with potential for transformational impact.

Projects are limited to up to 18 months in duration and this call will be open for 12 months after which it will be subject to review.

Proposals will go through an Expression of Interest stage before full proposals are invited. Expressions of interest will be assessed internally on a quarterly basis. Deadlines for Expressions of Interest are:

15 May 2009 (passed)
14 August 2009
13 November 2009

The Digital Economy is an RCUK Cross-Research Council Programme involving EPSRC, ESRC, AHRC and MRC, hence challenges in the Digital Economy will require multi-disciplinary input across a broad spectrum of subjects including researchers from the arts and humanities, economic and social scientists, medical sciences, in addition to engineering and physical sciences.

This call is being administered by EPSRC and all application details can be found on their website at http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/CallsForProposals/RiTW.htm Applications are made through the Je-S system.

AHRC Knowledge Transfer Fellowship scheme - next deadline 12 November 2009

2009-07-13T12:23:00.003+01:00

The Knowledge Transfer (KT) Fellowship Scheme is designed to support academics to undertake a programme of knowledge transfer activity in a flexible way. The knowledge transfer project should be planned around an existing piece of arts or humanities research which has the potential to make a significant difference beyond the world of academia. KT Fellows may work either on their own or as part of an academic team, to collaborate with, and bring tangible benefits to, non-academic organisations through a process of knowledge exchange. These benefits may be economic, social or cultural in nature.

Researchers can apply to work on the project on either a full time or part time basis for between 4 months and 3 years. The award can be between £5,000 and £1 million on a full economic cost basis.

The Knowledge Transfer Fellowships scheme has two closing dates each year, in November and May. The next closing date will be 12 November 2009, at 4pm. A revised scheme guide will be available in August, and the J-eS system will open for applications to this round at the same time.

For more information see: http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Pages/KTFellowshipScheme.aspx

For more general information about Knowledge Transfer see the RCUK Knowledge Transfer Portal: http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/innovation/ktportal/default.htm

International fellowship programme for New York Public Library resources

2009-07-13T11:58:00.001+01:00

15 fellowships of up to $60,000 are awarded each a year to outstanding scholars and writers – academics, independent scholars, journalists, and creative writers - by the Cullman Center’s Selection Committee.

The Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers is an international fellowship program open to people whose work will benefit directly from access to the research collections at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street (formerly the Humanities and Social Sciences Library). Renowned for the extraordinary comprehensiveness of its collections, the Library is one of the world's preeminent resources for study in anthropology, art, geography, history, languages and literature, philosophy, politics, popular culture, psychology, religion, sociology, and sports.

Foreign nationals conversant in English are welcome to apply.

The Cullman Center looks for top-quality writing from academics as well as from creative writers and independent scholars. It aims to promote dynamic communication about literature and scholarship at the very highest level – within the Center, in public forums throughout the Library, and in the Fellows’ published work.

Exclusions
Candidates who need to work primarily in The New York Public Library's other research libraries – The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and the Science, Industry and Business Library – are not eligible for this fellowship, nor are people seeking funding for research leading directly to a degree.

Deadline
Completed applications and letters of recommendation for the Cullman Center fellowship must be received by Friday, September 25, 2009. Candidates will learn the results of the competition in early March.

For more information and application form, see:
http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/scholars/fellowship.html

Launch of OU's new Research and Enterprise Hub

2009-07-13T11:40:00.001+01:00

Finding research-related information on the intranet has been made a whole lot easier thanks to a new Research & Enterprise Hub (http://intranet.open.ac.uk/research/) - launched on the OU intranet this week.

The site performs a signposting function, making it easy to find research-related content wherever it may be across the university. The target audiences are researchers, research students, research managers, research administrators and other support staff as well as staff in service units supporting research.

The Hub project team, led by Mark Wight, would like to thank all those who have contributed to its development, especially Pat Grace in the Strategy Unit (who built the site), Research Administrators and Research School teams.

The site will be maintained by the Research School (email Research-Publicity).

Edited from email from Mark Wight, Senior Manager (Research Degrees) 13/07/09

‘Building on History: The Church in London’ Project

2009-06-25T16:21:00.005+01:00

A pioneering project aiming to disseminate fascinating and important new insights into the modern history of religion in London in order to inform both policy-making and self-understanding was launched at a reception at Lambeth Palace Library on 18th June 2009. Dr Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London, spoke at the event along with the Project leader, Professor John Wolffe of The Open University. Over the next three years ‘Building on History: The Church in London’ will see two leading historians of modern British religion -- Wolffe and Professor Arthur Burns (King’s College London) – work with the leading national depository for English religious history, Lambeth Palace Library, and the Anglican Diocese of London to enhance the diocese’s self-understanding and effectiveness.

‘Building on History: The Church in London’ is funded by a £234,000 Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Knowledge Transfer grant. It is amongst the first ventures of its kind involving academic historians collaborating not with a gallery or museum but with a major public institution, as the Church of England seeks eagerly to unlock its own history to bring insights to its clergy, congregations and the broader multi-cultural community of contemporary London.

The project enjoys the strong support of the Bishop of London, who spoke at a Building on History seminar at St Paul’s Cathedral on 5 May of the importance of historical awareness to London Anglican identity and the development of informed strategy. Many of the social changes and pastoral challenges currently facing the diocese, such as rapid urban development, and heavy migration (both within and to the area) have been perennial issues for both Church and the metropolis since at least the late eighteenth century; and a historical perspective on the experience of these phenomena over time will help inform current and future responses.

The last twenty years have transformed academic understanding of the place of religion in modern English society, particularly in relation to ‘secularization’. It is increasingly clear that claims of religion’s inevitable decline in the face of modernization are not borne out by the ability of religious groups to respond react to changing contexts. Building on History creates a new space in which those active in the contemporary religious life of the capital can reflect on and learn from the remarkable stories now emerging about the experience of the churches in one of the world’s great cities responding to two centuries of challenge and change.

Following the launch, the project will engage with the Diocese of London at every level. Seminars and workshops for clergy and laity will provide a context in which history can provide helpful perspectives on practical contemporary concerns. In addition, seminars will be convened with church leaders responsible for formulating both diocesan and national policy. As the project progresses, it will interact with other Christian traditions and with London’s diverse local and cultural communities.

For more information see project website: http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/building-on-history-project/index.html

Partners: Arts and Humanities Research Council; The Diocese of London (Church of England); King’s College London; Lambeth Palace Library; The Open University
Directed by: Professor John Wolffe, Professor Arthur Burns
Project Researchers: Dr Lucinda Matthews-Jones, Dr John Maiden

Collaborative Research Seminar - Framing Muslims: New Directions

2009-06-22T14:45:00.006+01:00

A collaborative workshop has been organised by the Ferguson Centre for African and Asian Studies, Open University and the Framing Muslims Project, SOAS as follows:

25 June 2009, 2pm
Venue: MR01, Wilson A Block, Ground floor
Milton Keynes Campus, Open University

Speakers:
Madeline Clements (English, University of East London)‘Lunar streets and the Lonely Planet: locating Karachi in Kamila Shamsie’s Kartography’

Maruta Herding (Sociology, Cambridge University)‘'Pop-Islam': The Emergence of an Islamic Youth Culture in Western Europe’

Peter Morey (English Literature, University of East London)
‘How (not) to Recognise a Muslim Stereotype: the Spooks Controversy’

Amina Yaqin (Postcolonial Studies and Urdu, SOAS)
‘What is a Muslim Diaspora? Locating Muslim transnational subjectivities in British media post 9/11’

ALL ARE WELCOME

If you would like to book a place please contact Heather Scott, Research Centre Secretary at h.scott@open.ac.uk

This seminar is one of a series. The specific questions which the seminar series and interactive website will address include the following:
How is the production and reception of images of Muslims governed?
How have the roles and conventions of such representations changed since 9/11?
What are the strengths and limitations of existing theoretical paradigms when addressing questions of representation and power?
How might we understand oppositional modes of Muslim representation, and how is the space for such forms negotiated?
How has the legal status of certain Muslim practices and structures been called into question, and how has this questioning been mediated?
How has the re-entrenchment of national belonging been used to question models of multiculturalism?
For more information see: http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/ferguson-centre or http://www.framingmuslims.org

OU Music Dept Research Seminars on "Entrainment in Cuban Music: An Analysis of Son" & "Word and Song: Performing Devotion in South Asia"

2009-06-22T11:22:00.002+01:00

Room MR03 – Ground Floor, Wilson Building A (R023), Open University, Milton Keynes 24 June 2009 – 2:00 pm
All welcome

Adrian Poole (OU) - Entrainment in Cuban Music: An Analysis of Son

Son is a style of popular dance music that combines African and Spanish elements and which originated in the Eastern region of Cuba in the late 19th century. Originally associated with the peasant or working-classes, son developed to become one of Cuba’s most important and influential musical forms and is often described as the forerunner of modern salsa. An important feature of son, and all dance music, is the ‘groove’: the sense of shared timing negotiated between performing musicians which provides the drive, feel and motion that invites audiences to move with the music.

Whilst early ethnomusicologists such as Alan Lomax and John Blacking have explored the relationship between musical rhythmic interaction and bodily movement, it is Charles Keil and Steven Feld’s work on Participatory Discrepancies that provides the most explicit connection between the socio-musical processes that create the musical ‘groove’ and how this groove draws the listener in, evoking a sense of participation and shared experience. In their 2005 article “In time with the music: The concept of entrainment and its significance for ethnomusicology”, Clayton et al suggest an interdisciplinary approach that connects research in ethnomusicology with entrainment theory - how two or more rhythmic entities interact - providing a useful methodological framework that combines ethnography with the analysis of performance timing data.

This paper draws on the these theories to present some initial findings of how musicians in rhythm sections (bass, percussion and piano players) interact with each other to create and develop a successful dance ‘groove’ during the performance of Cuban son.

Jaime Jones (University College, Dublin) - Word and Song: Performing Devotion in South Asia

The liturgical canons of bhakti (devotional) practice in South Asia undergo constant manipulation and transformation through performance. The musicians who activate the canon through song, dance, theatre, and drumming play a fundamental role in the creation of felt connections between sacred ideologies and daily experience, and they do so knowingly. The music-making that constitutes devotional ritual simultaneously reiterates a fixed repertoire and re-creates the same fixed repertoire through musical invention, virtuosity, and stylistic citation. In other words, devotees build new spiritual encounters from the established texts of their tradition through music.

In this paper, I examine the use(s) of music in devotional traditions of South Asia in order to underscore the agency of devotees as performers. I consider the ways in which singers and musicians mobilize histories, practices, and genres in order to effectively and affectively construct bhakti. This focus extends previous literary studies of bhakti songs by sustaining questions about the role of performance in the sacred and the discursive strategies that allow musical practice and worship to coincide.

Free Evening Lecture Series: Art and Travel in the Mediterranean, 1600–1900

2009-06-22T11:05:00.003+01:00

In the history of British travel since the late sixteenth century, the Mediterranean has always played a prime role and inevitably captured the imagination like no other European region. Travel to the Mediterranean was stimulated by its art and architecture and in return inspired new art, architecture, collecting and art criticism. Images drawn, painted or photographed on these journeys by a diversity of travellers – artists, antiquarians, scientists, ethnographers, diplomats, navy personal, amateurs and tourists, to name just a few – have fulfilled a whole variety of purposes. This lecture series, organised by the National Maritime Museum’s Centre for Art and Travel and generously hosted by the Paul Mellon Centre, attempts a new overview on the subject from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century.

Lectures
26 November 2009: The Origins of the Grand Tour and the Discovery of Art, Edward Chaney, Southampton Solent University

10 December 2009: 'Present under the rose...' Stratford Canning, his Greek artist, and the last chance to see Turkey before the Tanzimat, Charles Newton, former Curator, Victoria & Albert Museum

21 January 2010: 'These inhuman trafficers in flesh & blood' : British artists and the slave trade in Egypt, Briony Llewellyn, Independent Art Historian

4 February 2010: Revolving Mirrors: Britain and Spain from the Armada to the Spanish Civil War, David Howarth, University of Edinburgh

18 February 2010: ‘Hellas… in one living picture’: British artist travellers in Greece, Jenny Gaschke, National Maritime Museum

All lectures take place at: Seminar room, Paul Mellon Centre, 16 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3JA. 18.00 start; 19.00 drinks; 19.30 exit. (Nearest tube stations include Tottenham Court Road, Goodge Street or Russell Square.)

Booking: Free of charge and no need to book, but if you wish to reserve a place, please check NMM website for contact details (link below).

For more information see: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/researchers/research-areas-and-projects/cart/art-and-travel-lectures/

Futurism and the Avant-Garde - OU Art History Study Days at Tate Modern

2009-06-22T10:18:00.004+01:00

Saturday 27 June 2009, 11.00–17.15
Starr Auditorium, Level 2, Tate Modern

This symposium explores the controversial status of Futurist movements in art history, and some of their 'avant-garde' practices. Speakers engage with various forms of Futurist art, performance and film, including the use of manifestos and demonstrations. Italian Futurism will be viewed in relation to other radical art practices across Europe. The Futurists' disdain for traditional values and their pursuit of an 'art of modern life' will be explored in relation to prevailing concepts of modernity and 'avant-garde' utopias.

The seminar has been organised by Tate Modern in collaboration with The Open University

Speakers

Lutz Becker is a director of political and art documentaries such as ‘Double Headed Eagle’ 1972, ‘Lion of Judah’ 1981 and ‘Nuremberg in History' 2006. A practicing painter, he is also a curator of exhibitions. He collaborated with the Hayward Gallery on ‘The Romantic Spirit in German Art’ 1994, ‘Art and Power’ 1995 and Tate Modern on ‘Century City’ 2001. He is an expert on Russian Constructivism and Italian Futurism. His recent exhibition on European photomontage 'Cut & Paste' was held at the Estorick Collection, London.
Mary Ann Caws is Distinguished Professor of English, French, and Comparative Literature, Graduate School, City University of New York. She has edited the HarperCollins World Reader, the Yale Anthology of Twentieth Century French Poetry, Surrealist Love Poems, Surrealist Painters and Poets, Surrealism, and authored The Surrealist Look, Glorious Eccentrics, Surprised in Translation, To the Boathouse: a Memoir, Provencal Cooking: Savoring the Simple Life in France, and illustrated biographies of Picassos’s Weeping Woman, Proust, Picasso, James, Woolf, and Dali. She has co-translated volumes of René Char, Tzara, Reverdy, Breton, and Desnos, and held Fulbright, Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundation fellowships.
David Cottington is a Professor of Art History at Kingston University London, and the author of several books on the early twentieth century avant-garde, including Cubism in the Shadow of War: The Avant-Garde and Politics in Paris 1905-1914 (Yale University Press, 1998), Cubism and its Histories (Manchester University Press, 2004) and Modern Art: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2005). He is currently working on two books about the avant-garde.
Alex Danchev is Professor of International Relations at the Univeristy of Nottingham. He is deeply interested in the interconnections and intersections of art and politics. He is the author of a number of widely acclaimed biographies, among them GEORGES BRAQUE (Penguin, 2007). His most recent books are PICASSO FURIOSO (2008) and ON ART AND WAR AND TERROR (2009). He is currently working on a biography of Cezanne, and a collection of artists' manifestos.
Matthew Gale is Head of Displays at Tate Modern and curator of Futurism.

For more information and to book see: http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/eventseducation/symposia/18175.htm

Launch of new electronic grants system

2009-06-16T17:38:00.002+01:00

During June and July, the British Academy will complete the testing and implementation of its new electronic grant making system, eGAP2 (electronic Grant Administration Processing system). It is anticipated that, pending a successful outcome to the test phase, the system should go live in early August. The software was developed by our sister Academy, the Royal Society, which implemented this second version of the system in spring 2008. Over the past few months, we have made a number of changes to the system and have adapted eGAP2 to better fit the Academy’s needs.

The introduction of electronic grant making will help the Academy to overcome the shortcomings of an almost completely paper based system, and to manage an ever increasing volume of applications and awards. Saving time used for keying in several thousand applications and monitoring reports every year will allow Academy staff to continue to respond promptly and knowledgeably to enquiries and requests for support from researchers in the UK and abroad. Applicants will benefit by being able to have direct access to the progress of their application and to share applications with others where relevant. Further announcements – in particular with regard to schedules of future funding competitions – will be made on the Academy’s website and through the Academy's email bulletin.

From British Academy website: http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/egap-release.cfm

Funding Opportunity for Pursuing Transdisciplinary Approaches to the Big Questions

2009-06-15T16:31:00.003+01:00

The Metanexus Institute announces grants in support of transdisciplinary exploration of fundamental questions of life, the cosmos, and humanity. Metanexus invites proposals from networked teams of five or more investigators who:

Intend to examine questions that range beyond those normally studied within established academic disciplines;
Span an adventurous diversity of such disciplines;
May engage religious and spiritual points of view;
Seek to forge new and enduring links among different fields of study; and
Aspire to have a transformational impact upon human knowledge and education.

To foster this transformation, MGNI will support open and dynamic transdisciplinary exploration and research with the aim of discovering new scientific, philosophical, and spiritual insights. The grants are intended to provide seed money for the formation and maintenance of networked groups of investigators from diverse academic backgrounds with the aim of building intellectual community.

Awards of $30,000 (£18,000) will be made through the Metanexus Global Network Initiative (MGNI) Basic Grant. Winning proposals will demonstrate academic rigor in program content, imagination and creativity in program planning, and cost-effectiveness in program execution.

For Further information visit: http://www.blogger.com/www.metanexus.net/globalnetwork

Fellowships and grants from The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

2009-06-15T14:49:00.006+01:00

The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art has two rounds of fellowship and grants awards each year - a January round for fellowships and grants and a September round for grants (the application deadlines are 15 January and 15 September). Their Advisory Council meets to decide on the awards in March (for the January round) and in October (for the September round). They write to applicants informing them of the outcome of their application no later than three weeks after the Council's meeting.

The following programmes have a deadline of 15 September 2009:

Curatorial Research Grants - Up to £20,000 per annum to help institutions undertake research for a particular exhibition or installation of British art (up to three years).
Educational Programme Grants - Up to £5,000 for lectures, symposia, seminars or conferences on British art and architecture.
Publications Grants (Author) - Up to £10,000 (but normally not exceeding £5,000) for costs incurred by authors on books, catalogues of exhibitions or permanent collections of British fine and decorative arts and architecture.
Publications Grants (Publisher) - For costs incurred by publishers or institutions on books, catalogues of exhibitions or permanent collections of British fine and decorative arts and architecture.
Research Support Grants - Up to £3,000 to contribute towards travel and subsistence expenses for scholars engaged in research on the history of British art or architecture.
The Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Research Support Grant - This grant was instigated by the Barns-Graham Charitable Trust (www.barns-grahamtrust.org.uk) in 2009 and will be administered by the Paul Mellon Centre. £2,000 will be awarded annually to assist scholars and researchers in the field of 20th Century British painting.

For more information, guidance and application form, please see: http://www.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk/16/

Leverhulme Trust Research programmes for 2010

2009-06-09T08:29:00.006+01:00

The Leverhulme Trust have just published its annual call for Research programme bids, and this year’s two themes are

Beauty

The Impact of Diasporas.

Normally one grant is awarded for each theme. The grants provide funds to research teams for up to five years to enable them to explore significant issues in the social sciences, in the humanities and, to a lesser extent, in the sciences. The scale of the awards is set at a level where it is possible for a research team to study a significant theme in depth by conducting a group of interlinked research projects which taken together can lead to new understanding. The themes are selected not to exclude particular disciplines from the competition but rather to encourage research teams to look upon their established research interests from a set of refreshing viewpoints.

For each theme, a minimum of £500,000 and a maximum of £1.75 million is available for the support of work extending over periods of up to five years.

For further information see: http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/grants_awards/grants/research_programmes/

British Library’s Sound Archive

2009-06-08T16:59:00.004+01:00

The British Library has an Archive Sound Recording website with 21,000 selected recordings of:

music -including classical and world music
spoken word - including oral history and accents and dialects
human and natural environments. – including soundscapes and wildlife

You are able to: Search all recordings on the site; listen to the recordings and download them; add notes and tags and create a favourites list.

To find out more visit:http://sounds.bl.uk/

Leverhulme Trust Emeritus Fellowship Awarded to OU Professor of History

2009-06-08T16:27:00.004+01:00

Professor Clive Emsley has been awarded a Leverhulme Trust Emeritus Fellowship, which will allow him to continue his research on "Crime and the British Military in the 20th Century" for another 2 years after his retirement in September 2009. He is currently Professor of History and co-director of the International Centre for Comparative Criminological Research (ICCCR) at the Open University.

Prof Emsley says "Most crime is (and has been) committed by young men, and most military personnel are (and have always been) young men. The end of wars in Britain, since the eighteenth century, has witnessed fears that men, trained to kill and brutalised by the experience of battle, will find it difficult to return to civilian life and will continue to act violently, and hence criminally at home. Focussing primarily on the two world wars of the twentieth century, this research project will explore the scale of criminality by men in the armed forces and their behaviour at the wars’ ends."

"The aim of this project is to explore two distinct aspects of crime and the British Military during the twentieth century. First, there are the issues of the extent and variety of offending by soldiers: second, there is the problem of soldiers returning from conflict and the extent to which their experiences fostered subsequent criminal behaviour."

"It is generally recognised that most crime is committed by young men. The majority of soldiers are young men and it has often been commented upon how conventional crime declined in wartime and how juveniles and women appeared in greater percentages before the courts. Army provosts, and those relatively few military historians that have commented upon crime, have tended to use the positivist assumption that offenders in uniform were simply ‘professional criminals’ that had been recruited or conscripted. The initial aim of the project is to explore the kinds of crimes committed by soldiers in wartime on both the home and the battle fronts and the extent of this crime. The basic hypotheses to be tested are that:

There was remarkably little difference between offences committed by civilians and offences committed by soldiers; however,
In some instances, war provided new opportunities or new pressures to commit crime.

The fear of the brutalised veteran returning home to commit violent offences has a long history. The acknowledgement of the problem of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, commonly described in Britain as ‘shell-shock’, began during the First World War. Soldiers before civilian courts began to use the disorder as a defence before the end of the war. Nevertheless, while there has been research on the history of the concept and its gradual acceptance, there have been few attempts to explore its impact on criminal offending."

"The second aim of the project is to explore the concerns about brutalised veterans – as reflected in the comments of experts and in the popular media – together with the reality of such veterans appearing before the courts. The basic hypotheses to be tested here are that:

In the euphoria of victory, there was also an underlying climate of fear about brutalised veterans; however,
While there may have been some sympathy for men who responded violently (but not with lethal results) to wives that had been unfaithful, there was little serious appreciation of men that had been seriously psychologically damaged by their experiences and who, in consequence, drifted into drunkenness and violent offending."

The research will take place in London, Fareham and Brussels and the principal outcome of the project will be a book and at least one conference paper at the European Social Science History Conference in Ghent in 2010.

AHRC Beyond Text project asks "What is Black British Jazz?"

2009-06-08T14:49:00.005+01:00

The ‘Black British Jazz’ project (BBJ) explores the emergence of a distinct tradition within British music. BBJ melds reggae, hiphop, African music and US jazz into a rich, and constantly developing set of sounds. In documenting this musical hybrid, the project touches on important issues for the study of music – the transmission of cultural values, the social context of musical forms, and frameworks of ownership that impact on musical communities.

The research takes an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together researchers with specialism’s in sociology, music psychology and (ethno) musicolology. It integrates a range of methods, from detailed analysis of performance through to ethnographic and historical investigation.

The project approaches BBJ via three research strands:

Routes
Ownership
Performance

These strands act as guides for our work. But as the project develops we will also be looking for ways of integrating them and highlighting common themes.

In terms of audience the project reaches out, beyond academia, to a broad constituency through film, a radio series/podcast, an end-of- project concert and more. What Is Black British Jazz runs from January 2009 through to July 2011 and is supported through the AHRC’s Beyond Text programme.

The Open University project team are:

Dr Jason Toynbee (Principal Investigator), Dept of Sociology,
Dr Mark Doffman (Research Fellow), Dept of Sociology,
Dr Catherine Tackley (Co-Investigator), Dept of Music,
Dr Byron Dueck (Co-Investigator), Dept of Music,
Mark Banks (Co-Investigator), Dept of Sociology,

The project aims are:

To trace the historical and geographical routes along which black British jazz (BBJ) has developed.
To examine the role of memory and cultural transmission in the emergence of new musical forms (also to contribute to their preservation through audio-visual recordings).
To investigate ownership of BBJ in relation to entrepreneurship, creativity and cultural policy.
To analyse aesthetics, embodied practice and participation in BBJ performance.
Research questions

The main research question, 'What is Black British Jazz?', is broken down as follows:

What is the cultural identity of the genre?
How did it emerge?
Who owns it, how is it owned and what is the impact of cultural policy on ownership?
What are the defining themes in its performance? How do musicians use grooves, voices and improvised scripts in its delivery?
In political and aesthetic terms, why and how does BBJ matter?

Outputs
Research outputs from the project include conventional academic forms such as books, journal articles and conference papers. But the project team also aim to make the results of their work available to a broader public. A film (in collaboration with Metal Dog Productions), a short series of radio programmes/podcasts and a concert will take the project to non-academic audiences. Project data drawn from performances, interviews and documents will also be available as a) archive material held by the British Library and the Center for Black Music Research in Chicago and b) a resource for jazz education.

For more information see: http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/blackbritishjazz/ and http://projects.beyondtext.ac.uk/blackbritishjazz/blog.html

AHRC Fellowships - early career researchers scheme launched

2009-06-04T14:52:00.004+01:00

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) will accept applications for their early career researchers fellowship scheme from 1st September (open deadlines). The early career route aims to enable the AHRC to work in partnership with institutions to support the career development of researchers at the start of their careers and to provide them with focused research time.

The Fellowships scheme provides salary and associated costs for periods of three to nine months, to enable an individual researcher to work on a specified research project or programme. The Fellowship can be used to support a wide range of research activities provided that these lead to significant specified research and other outputs by the end of the Fellowship, including the preparation of publications and other outputs from research conducted prior to the start of the Fellowship. Proposals for full economic costs up to a maximum of £120,000 may be submitted.

The early career route aims to enable the AHRC to work in partnership with institutions to support the career development of researchers at the start of their careers and to provide them with focused research time and appropriate support and mentoring so that they can broaden their research experience and enhance their research outputs profile. In order to apply to this route, applicants must meet additional eligibility criteria as outlined in the AHRC Funding Guide.

The Fellowships scheme (Standard and Early Career routes) operates with open deadlines. This means that applicants can submit Fellowship applications at any time without having to worry about submitting for specific deadlines.

Applications to this scheme can be submitted at any time from 1 September 2009.

Please note that the assessment process for applications submitted to the Fellowships scheme (Standard and Early Career routes) takes approximately 30 weeks and the earliest start date for a project should be no earlier than 9 months after submission to the AHRC.

If any researchers associated with the Open University Faculty of Arts are intending to apply to this programme, they must contact the Research & Enterprise Support Team (REST) for confirmation of the full economic cost of their proposal and to receive the necessary internal approvals to allow the application to be submitted. Please notify the team of your intention to make an application at least 4 weeks before the date that you intend to submit your bid.

For more information see: http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Pages/Fellowshipserc.aspx

AHRC Science & Heritage Postdoctoral Fellowships

2009-06-04T14:36:00.001+01:00

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Science and Heritage Postdoctoral Fellowships are designed to support outstanding early career researchers to carry out research and so establish an independent research career in heritage science.

The duration of the Fellowship is equivalent to 3 years full-time and they are open to researchers with no more than 5 years post-doctoral or equivalent experience.

The funding will cover Fellow’s salary and a small amount of travel and subsistence, equipment and consumables.

The deadline is 4pm Thursday 10th September 2009

AHRC is administering this call on behalf of AHRC and EPSRC. Please ensure that you have read the Details of the Call and the Specification document carefully before making your application. For more information see: http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Pages/Fellowshipspdsciher.aspx

Open Call for proposals for ESF Research Conferences to be held in 2011

2009-05-21T16:13:00.002+01:00

The European Science Foundation (ESF) invites scientists to submit proposals for high-level research conferences to take place in 2011 within the framework of its Research Conferences Scheme in the following scientific domains:

Molecular Biology+
Brain, Technology and Cognition
Mathematics
Physics/Biophysics and Environmental Sciences
Social Sciences and Humanities

Submission deadline: 15 September 2009, midnight CET

In the area of Social Sciences and Humanities, the topics should be at the forefront of scientific research and may be interdisciplinary when appropriate. The ESF will fund up to 4 3-day-long Social Sciences and Humanities conferences to be held in 2011 in Linköping, Sweden.

The ESF Research Conferences Scheme provides the opportunity for leading scientists and younger researchers to meet for discussions on the most recent developments in their fields of research. It acts as a catalyst for creating new synergistic contacts throughout Europe and the rest of the world. ESF Research Conferences are open to scientists world-wide, whether from academia or industry.

Format:

90-150 participants (including up to 25 speakers and convenors)
A duration of 4 full conference days (3 full conference days for conferences in social sciences and humanities)

Core activities:

lectures by invited speakers
short talks by young scientists
poster sessions and extensive discussion periods
Forward Look Plenary Discussion about future developments in the field
no parallel sessions
Joint meals and social activities to encourage further contact and networking

For more information see: http://www.esf.org/activities/esf-conferences/call-for-proposals/framework-call-for-proposals.html and http://www.esf.org/activities/esf-conferences.html

Conference to assess state of crime

2009-05-21T14:20:00.003+01:00

An assessment of the current knowledge of crime, crime prevention and deviance in Europe will be debated at CRIMPREV’s final conference at The Open University from 17-19 June 2009. The international project was launched at the end of 2006 with EU funding to investigate perceptions of crime; criminalisation; deviant behaviour; interactions between different forms of organised crime; public policies of prevention; and to establish good practice guidelines across Europe.

The International Centre for Comparative Criminological Research (ICCCR) at The Open University played a significant role in CRIMPREV since its inception. Clive Emsley, Director ICCCR and Professor of History, said: “It is an honour for us to be hosting this conference. The ICCCR is particularly strong in providing historical perspectives in the area of juvenile justice and policing".

The conference will be debating the conclusions of six work packages in preparation for the final report. A short keynote by Professor Emsley will pinpoint some of the problems of understanding crime in contemporary society, notably with governments that cherry-pick research to suit ill-considered policies.

Professor Emsley believes this conference is timely to address sub-standard government spending on crime prevention. “The economic downturn poses a significant threat to the funding of crime research. Whilst the government want quick results, criminologists can’t offer guarantees that their work will begin to solve the crime problem. A conference like this will however bring us a step closer to understanding the problems and offering potential solutions.”

The conference will be webcast live. For more info see: http://www.open.ac.uk/icccr/events.shtml

Please contact Sarah Batt (a.s.c.batt@open.ac.uk) for further information concerning this conference.

Notes:
1. CRIMPREV is an international project funded by the EU through the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) - issues connected with the resolution of conflicts and restoration of peace and justice.

The CRIMPREV consortium is made up of 31 universities and research institutes spread across Europe from 10 European countries. The consortium will continue as a federation of institutions under the umbrella of the Groupe Européen de Recherche sur les Normativités (GERN) based in Paris. This federated body now constitutes an important Europe-wide crime control lobby with a presence at the EU table.

2. The International Centre for Comparative Criminological Research (ICCCR) is an Open University centre of research excellence. It was established in December 2003. It is a unique multi disciplinary and cross faculty initiative drawing on expertise from Social Sciences (social policy & criminology, psychology and sociology), Arts (history), and Health and Social Care (youth justice).

It incorporates the European Centre for the Study of Policing based in Arts and the Rethinking Criminology and Forensic Psychology Research Groups based in Social Sciences.

The ICCCR unites contemporary practice-based research and critical policy analysis in crime, policing and criminal justice with an awareness of historical, psychological and social contexts.

ICCCR has developed three substantive (but inter-related) areas of expertise:
policing
justice, rights and regulation
prisons/penology
Coherence between these subject areas is maintained through a shared interest in comparative methodologies (historical and/or cross-cultural) and in a concern for processes of governance and regulation. Its research is aimed at academic, policy and practitioner audiences, and is disseminated via regular conferences, seminars and publications.

Conference: Echoes of the Past: Women, History and Memory in Fiction and Film

2009-05-21T14:00:00.002+01:00

Newcastle University, June 26-28 2009

Keynote Speakers:

Kate Mosse (best-selling author of Labyrinth and Sepulchre)
Deborah Cartmell (De Montfort University)
Veronica Gregg (City University of New York)
Diana Wallace (University of Glamorgan)

Plus 'Vanessa and Virginia Writing Workshop' with Professor Susan Sellers

A very limited number of places on the workshop are still available for those attending the conference. Early registration is recommended to avoid disappointment. Registration and payment deadline for non-speakers: 29th May 2009

This conference is supported through a generous contribution from the Catherine Cookson Foundation.

Details of the cfp, conference programme and how to register can be found on the conference website at: http://conferences.ncl.ac.uk/echoes

Small grants for Philosophical and Religious Studies

2009-05-21T13:24:00.002+01:00

The Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies are inviting proposals for their latest round of project funding.

Applications are welcomed for the funding of projects designed to:

encourage a culture in which innovative developments in learning, teaching and assessment are valued and acknowledged at a national level;
promote good practice in the development and evaluation of innovative methods of learning, teaching and assessment;
disseminate within the wider community innovative methods or materials originally developed for use within a single institution.

in subject disciplines the Subject Centre covers:

Philosophy
Religious Studies
Theology
History of Science, Technology and Medicine
Philosophy of Science

The Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies is setting aside £15,000 for projects in this tranche; the maximum funding for any single proposal will be £3,000.

Additional funding may be available for major collaborative initiatives - contact the Subject Centre for details. Support is also available for those who would like to submit a proposal.

To find out more:

Visit the website: http://prs.heacademy.ac.uk/view.html/PrsFundingOps/9
Contact the Subject Centre: email enquiries@prs.heacademy.ac.uk, tel. 0113 343 4184

Application deadline: 12 noon, Friday 26 June 2009

Edited from email from Dr. Clare Saunders, Senior Academic Co-ordinator (Philosophy), Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies, School of Humanities, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK URL: http://prs.heacademy.ac.uk

Open University to research religious conflict

2009-05-21T13:00:00.005+01:00

The Open University has received nearly £407,000 jointly by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for research into religious conflict. The three-year project, Protestant-Catholic Conflict: Historical Legacies and Contemporary Realities, will be led by John Wolffe, Professor of Religious History and run from 01 October 2009 to 30 September 2012.

The research will explore how differences between Protestant and Catholic beliefs have been translated into ideas and beliefs about security and insecurity; when and why such ideas led to conflict; and the extent of how Protestant or Catholic religion became labels of political significance. It will also investigate how similar historic conflicts ignited and spread and the circumstances conducive to breaking the cycle. The research programme will include work on attitudes in contemporary Northern Ireland in collaboration with the independent Belfast-based Institute for Conflict Research. It will culminate in a major international conference in Belfast in the summer of 2012.

Professor Wolffe explains: "Had a research programme on ‘global uncertainties' been launched three hundred years ago, an explicit concern with the domestic and international security implications of conflict between Catholics and Protestants would undoubtedly have been very prominent. Even a hundred years ago there was still influential support for the view that the most significant source of confrontation within and between European states was religion.

“While such a perception was eclipsed in the subsequent actual course of twentieth century history, in the context of its revival at the turn of the twenty-first century the longer term historical perspective merits closer examination. Moreover, local and regional tensions between Catholics and Protestants continue to be a matter of contemporary concern, especially in Ireland and the United States.

“The project will explore the long term resolution of regional tensions between Catholics and Protestants to aid understanding and address other contemporary religious conflict. Most notably there will be comparison with the perceived 'clash of civilizations' between Christianity and Islam."

The research will have wide interdisciplinary applications across the Humanities and Social Sciences. Successful development and synthesis of historical work in Protestant-Catholic conflict will provide a valuable resource for those engaging on research on related contemporary issues.

This grant is co-funded between ESRC at 64% and AHRC at 36%. ESRC is administering the grant on behalf of ESRC and AHRC. This ESRC/AHRC fellowship grant forms part of the "RCUK Global Uncertainties: Security for all in a Changing World" Programme.

For press release see: http://www3.open.ac.uk/media/fullstory.aspx?id=16135

AHRC International Strategy 2009-2012

2009-05-19T15:44:00.000+01:00

The AHRC's International Strategy acknowledges that "to be regarded as a world leader in advancing arts and humanities research we must be active internationally."

The AHRC is committed to the implementation of an international research policy addressing the international aspects of the Council's work and responsibilities.

The AHRC International Strategy 2009-2012 is available to download from the AHRC website at http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/About/Policy/Pages/InternationalActivity.aspx

Free Ethic Lectures

2009-05-12T17:35:00.003+01:00

How should ethics be built into our strategies for business, for government and for life?

The downturn has an upside. The current economic turmoil is the perfect opportunity for business, governments, and individuals to rethink their ethical orientations from the bottom up. The Open University would like to invite you to one of the following free lunchtime lectures on 'Integrity in Public Life' to explore some of the most pressing ethical dilemmas.

The lectures are free and open to all, and will be hosted at St Bartholomew the Great, West Smithfield, London from 12.50 - 2pm (see: http://www.greatstbarts.com/Pages/Other/News/lectures.html ) . Places are limited, to book your place please email Marie-Claire Le Roux (m.leroux@open.ac.uk)

20th May - Lord Butler: Integrity and Politics

Lord Butler will draw on his experience as a previous head of the Civil Service, and lead author of the Butler Report, to discuss the ethical pitfalls facing politicians and civil servants, and how to avoid them.

27th May - Professor John Cottingham: Integrity and Fragmentation

Professor Cottingham, the distinguished philosopher from the University of Reading, will argue that we are harmed by living in a compartmentalised culture. Our institutions are manned by specialists who have mastered a particular field, but are not expected to form a view of the whole. Yet the classical ideal of the unity of the virtues suggests that people cannot live well unless their activities are integrated into a meaningful structure, informed not just by narrow technical expertise but by an overall vision of the good for humankind. We need this idea today.

17th June - Baroness O'Neil: Trustworthiness, Accountability and Character

Baroness O'Neill, cross-bench peer and President of the British Academy, focuses on the place of trust in public life, and explores what we should take as evidence of trustworthiness. Character, codes of conduct and formal systems of accountability can all be helpful for judging trustworthiness, but what can we do when they don't provide enough evidence?

This lecture series has been organised by the Open University's Ethics Centre (http://www.open.ac.uk/ethics-centre/). The Open University would like to thank F&C (http://www.fandc.com/new/UK/) for their support of these lectures.

The Research School's latest research related news.

2009-05-12T17:22:00.004+01:00

The Research School have updated the Research Information Alert. The main stories are:

Connecting up Strategy: Are Senior Strategy Directors (SSDs) a missing link?

Postdoctoral Fellowship Community Service-Learning 2009-2010

Times Higher Education Awards

To follow these stories and for other research related news visit the Research Schools Research Alert website at:

http://intranet.open.ac.uk/strategy-unit/research-alerts/info.shtml

New Writing Prize for poetry, fiction and life writing

2009-04-30T11:27:00.004+01:00

As part of their 25th anniversary celebrations, Wasafiri has launched a New Writing Prize for poetry, fiction and life writing. The competition closes for entries on 30 June, and the winner will be announced on 31 October at a day-long programme of events for Wasafiri at the Southbank Centre in London. Judges for the prize include Margaret Busby, Mimi Khalvati, Susheila Nasta and Blake Morrison. The winner of each category will receive £300, and their work will be published in the first issue of Wasafiri in 2010.

Wasafiri, the literary magazine at the forefront of contemporary international writing, celebrates its 25th birthday in 2009. To mark the occasion, a variety of celebratory events is planned throughout the year.

Since the magazine was first published in 1984 it has continued to champion new writing, celebrating Britain’s diverse cultural heritage together with inspirational writing from around the world. ‘Wasafiri’, the Kiswahili word for ‘travellers’, echoes the magazine’s ethos of writing as a form of cultural travel and its aim to extend the established boundaries of literary culture.

Founded in 1984 by the writer, critic and academic, Susheila Nasta, the magazine has provided a platform for hundreds of writers. Many were struggling to be heard at the outset of their writing careers, and many have since gone on to become world-renowned, award winners.

For further information about the New Writing Prize and forthcoming events, visit the website – www.wasafiri.org

Wasafiri is supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, the Open University and Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

The Books that Made Me

2009-04-30T11:03:00.008+01:00

Boyd Tonkin chairs literary panel at The British Library, in association with Wasafiri magazine and Arts Council England.

Monday 18 May: 6.30-8.00pm

Conference Centre, British Library, 96 Euston Road, London, W1

£6 / £4 concessions

2009 marks the 25th anniversary of Wasafiri magazine, the literary magazine at the forefront of contemporary international writing. To celebrate, the magazine is hosting a literary debate at The British Library, to discuss how literature impacts on some of the leading writers of today.

The panel, chaired by The Independent’s Literary Editor Boyd Tonkin, includes distinguished authors Helen Cross, Diana Evans, Aamer Hussein, Caryl Phillips and Marina Warner. Reflecting on the books that have inspired them, the panel will discuss why some books impact so forcefully on our reading and writing lives, as well as looking at the ways in which we encounter them and in which they return to us.

Wasafiri magazine was founded in 1984 by the writer, critic and academic, Susheila Nasta. Celebrating Britain’s diverse cultural heritage together with inspirational writing from around the world, the magazine champions new writing and has provided a platform for hundreds of writers. The magazine championed early works by Vikram Seth and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and has featured interviews, reviews and new writing by Hari Kunzru, Salman Rushdie, Zadie Smith, Monica Ali, Anita Desai, Linda Grant, Maggie Gee, Michael Horowitz and Catherine O'Flynn. Prestigious contributors to the magazine include V S Naipaul, Nadine Gordimer, Kazuo Ishiguro, Michael Ondaatje, Ben Okri and Chinua Achebe.

Tickets for ‘The Books that Made Me’ are now on sale at http://boxoffice.bl.uk, by telephone on 01937 546546 (Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm) or in person at The British Library Information Desk.

For more information on this event and for a full list of anniversary activity throughout 2009, go to www.wasafiri.org.

Wasafiri is supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, the Open University and Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Profiles of chair and speakers:
The Chair, Boyd Tonkin, studied English and French literature at Cambridge University. He taught literature in higher and adult education before becoming an award-winning magazine journalist, a feature writer and features editor of the weekly magazine for social services professionals, Community Care. Already a freelance writer and interviewer for The Observer, he became social policy editor of the New Statesman, and then Literary Editor, before moving to The Independent as Literary Editor. In addition to working as organiser and judge on the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize since 2000, he has judged the Booker Prize, the Whitbread biography award, the Commonwealth Writers Prize and (in 2007) the David Cohen Prize for a lifetime's achievement in literature. He has reported on literary and artistic issues from more than 20 countries on four continents, and his cultural essays have been published widely; most recently, in the British Council anthology New Writing 15 (Granta).
Helen Cross is the author of The Secrets She Keeps and My Summer of Love, which won a Betty Trask Prize and was made into an award-winning film. Helen's second novel, The Secrets She Keeps is now available in paperback, and her third novel, Spilt Milk, Black Coffee is published by Bloomsbury in May 2009. She lives in Birmingham.
Diana Evans was a dancer before she became a writer and critic. Her first novel, 26a, received a Betty Trask award, a nomination for the Guardian First Book Award and was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel of the Year Award. It was also the inaugural winner of the Orange Award for New Writers. She lives in London.
Aamer Hussein is the author of the short story collections, This Other Salt, Turquoise and Insomnia. His first novel, Another Gulmohar Tree, will be published by Telegram on 7 May 2009.
Caryl Phillips has written for television, radio, theatre and cinema and is the author of twelve works of fiction and non-fiction. Crossing the River was shortlisted for the 1993 Booker Prize and Caryl Phillips has won the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, as well as being named the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year 1992 and one of the Best of Young British Writers 1993. A Distant Shore won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 2004 and Dancing in the Dark was shortlisted in 2006. His next book, In the Falling Snow, will be published in June 2009.
Marina Warner has an international reputation as a critic, historian and a novelist. Her recent non-fiction works include The Beast to the Blonde, No Go the Bogeyman and Fantastic Metamorphoses, while her fiction includes the novels The Lost Father (shortlisted for the Booker Prize), Indigo and The Leto Bundle, and most recently a short-story collection, Murderers I Have Known.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Re-imagining postcolonial futures: knowledge transactions and contests of culture in the African present.

2009-04-30T09:42:00.006+01:00

The Centre for Humanities Research of the University of the Western Cape and The Ferguson Centre for African and Asian Studies of the Open University are calling for papers for their conference:

Re-imagining postcolonial futures:
knowledge transactions and contests
of culture in the African present.
9-11 July 2009
at Centre for Humanities Research,
University of the Western Cape

Call for Papers:
At a time of intensified political shifts and realignments, and renewed appeals to culture and indigenous knowledge, the re-imagining of the nation and society in South Africa poses challenges to the scripts of postcolonial studies. These contests and issues in debate are being felt at every level in public culture. They are also part of an emergent sense of uncertainty in many societies around the world that at the same time hold out new possibilities for redefinition and reconstitution. What are the new scripts for daily life? How might the postcolony be rendered liveable? What are the boundaries of the new nation? What are the markers of time in the African present and how is expertise being reconstituted in the humanities? Is it possible to imagine different ethical relations between knowledge projects and lived experience? And how might knowledge unravel the histories of violence in the postcolony?

This conference seeks to create a platform for ideas, engagements and analyses that are alert to the new complexities and nuances that underlie the seemingly banal expressions of politics in public life. South African scholarship needs to be placed in a critical relation to other postcolonial projects because of the danger of South African exceptionalism.

The challenges of rethinking knowledge have given rise to a substantial rearrangement of academic inquiry. Museum studies, heritage, indigenous knowledge and archival platforms are emerging as critical sites for new engagements in the humanities. The very organisation of research is being called into question as universities worldwide strive to establish research centres alongside discipline-based knowledge processes. At the same time the scripts of expertise and service to the community are increasingly called into question.

This conference will take place at the Centre for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape with support from the office of the Dean of Arts. It is made possible through a partnership with and generous funding from the Ferguson Centre for African and Asian Studies at the Open University in UK. The conference heralds a new partnership between the CHR and the Ferguson Centre in promoting cutting-edge research in the humanities. This is an initiative in research development. We wish to bring together senior and junior scholars as well as promising graduate students. Papers are invited on the following themes:

War and the everyday
Heritage politics, cultural production and aesthetics
Postcolonial memorial complexes
Pitfalls of indigenous reworkings
New networks and mobilities in the postcolonial city
Forced migrations and the biopolitics of statehood
Spirituality and the religious idiom
Nationalism and its neo-liberal moulds

Abstracts of 150 – 200 words are due on 15 May 2009 and should be sent to Ms Lameez Lalkhen at llalkhen@uwc.ac.za, the Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape. Enquiries to Premesh Lalu, plalu@uwc.ac.za or Dennis Walder, d.j.walder@open.ac.uk

Edited from email from Heather Scott, Research Centre Secretary, The Ferguson Centre for African and Asian Studies, Faculty of Arts, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA

Please visit the Ferguson Centre website at: www.open.ac.uk/arts/ferguson-centre

Report available on feasibility study for a national shared digital research data service

2009-04-30T09:22:00.002+01:00

UK Research Data Service (UKRDS) is a joint project between RLUK (the Consortium of Research Libraries in the UK and Ireland), and RUGIT (the Russell Group IT Directors Group).

It is funded by HEFCE (the Higher Education Funding Council for England) under its Shared Services programme, with support from JISC (the Joint Information Systems Committee).

The objective of the UKRDS study is to assess the feasibility and costs of developing and maintaining a national shared digital research data service for UK Higher Education sector. Such a research data service is seen by the project sponsors as forming a crucial component of the UK's e-infrastructure for research and innovation, and one which will add significantly to the UK's global competitiveness.

HEFCE has agreed that the full UKRDS Feasibility Study can be made public. It can be found on the UKRDS website. See http://www.ukrds.ac.uk where the link is in the left hand column marked "The Project's Final Report".

The UKRDS project management board has continued to meet and there are discussions under way with HEFCE and JISC as to the next steps in this project. The likelihood is that there will be some funding available for a further interim phase, to work with some case study universities and their researchers and with some of the existing providers in the research data spectrum, leading to a more detailed proposal for the Pathfinder phase towards end 2009/early 2010.

Edited from an email from Jean Sykes, Librarian and Director of IT Services, London School of Economics and Political Science (29/04/09) and the UKRDS website.

Reading Experience Database 1450-1945

2009-04-28T13:38:00.003+01:00

Version 3 of the Reading Experience Database (RED) is planned for release in summer 2009.

RED was launched in 1996 at the UK Open University. Its mission is to accumulate as much data as possible about the reading experiences of readers of all nationalities in Britain and those of British subjects abroad from 1450 to 1945.

RED currently contains approximately 17,000 records, the majority of which have been verified, edited and released for searching. More entries are contributed and released every day and thus return visits to the database should yield new results each time.

Anyone can contribute information to the database and help to make this resource usefully and fully searchable by providing details of whatever evidence you have of a relevant Reading Experience.

RED is also looking for volunteers to work their way systematically through such materials in order to record evidence of reading.If you are interested in becoming a volunteer see: http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/RED/volunteers.html

What is a ‘reading experience’?
‘Reading’ can mean many things, from reading a book aloud or silently, to the critical ‘reading’ of a text (including dramatic and cinematic texts) in an academic sense, or (metaphorically) ‘reading’ a face, a social situation, or the symbolic value of a text. But in the interests of clarity and manageability the RED has had to exclude certain of these ‘reading experiences’ as outside their remit. For the purposes of the database, a ‘reading experience’ means a recorded engagement with a written or printed text - beyond the mere fact of possession. A database containing as much information as possible about what British people read, where and when they read it and what they thought of it will form an invaluable resource for researchers of book history, cultural studies, sociology and family history, to name but a few.

For more information see: http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/RED/

Seminar: ‘The Role of South Asian Sailors in the 1919 Port Riots’

2009-04-28T09:41:00.003+01:00

Tuesday 5 May 17.30 - 19.00
Venue: NG15, North Block, Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E

All are welcome; booking is not required.

Jacqueline Jenkinson is Lecturer in History at Stirling University. Her two main research interests are the social history of medicine, on which she has written several books – the most recent being Scotland’s Health: 1919–1948 (Peter Lang, 2002) – and the history of minority ethnic populations in Britain. She has published several articles on the 1919 port riots; the most recent, on the riot in Glasgow, appeared in the journal Twentieth Century British History in January 2008. Her book on the riots, Black 1919: Riots, Racism and Resistance in Post-Colonial Britain, is published by Liverpool University Press in March 2009.

This seminar series has developed from the AHRC-funded project 'Making Britain: South Asian Visions of Home and Abroad, 1870-1950'. Complicating the common perception that a homogeneous British culture only began to diversify after the Second World War, the project examines how an early South Asian diasporic population impacted on Britain's literary, cultural and political life.

'Making Britain' is led by Professor Susheila Nasta (Open University), in collaboration with Professor Elleke Boehmer (University of Oxford) and Dr Ruvani Ranasinha (King's College London), and Research Assistants Dr Sumita Mukherjee (Oxford), Dr Rehana Ahmed (Open) and Dr Florian Stadtler (Open).

Please visit the project website for more details and information about other forthcoming workshops and events: http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/south-asians-making-britain

This series of seminars coordinated by Dr Sumita Mukherjee and Dr Rehana Ahmed will be addressing various forms of resistance by South Asians in Britain during this period. It forms part of the regular series organized by the Open University Postcolonial Research Group in association with the Institute of English Studies.

Digital Economy Research in the Wild

2009-04-27T15:33:00.002+01:00

The Digital Economy Programme invites applicants to apply for short-term funding to perform their ‘Research in the Wild’. This call is about allowing researchers in the Digital Economy to expose and test their research ideas with potential beneficiaries – for example, the individual, business and/or society – in order to get closer to achieving a viable proposition with potential for transformational impact.

Projects are limited to up to 18 months in duration and this call will be open for 12 months after which it will be subject to review.

Proposals will go through an Expression of Interest stage before full proposals are invited. Expressions of interest will be assessed internally on a quarterly basis. Deadlines for Expressions of Interest are:

15 May 2009
14 August 2009
13 November 2009

New round of AHRC Fellowships in the Creative and Performing Arts closing September 2009

2009-04-27T15:06:00.002+01:00

As well as the 14 May deadline for the pilot Fellowships in the Creative and Performing Arts mentioned in our earlier blog posting, there will be another round of with a closing date of 24 September 2009.

This scheme aims to support artists - by which they are referring to visual artists, performers, musicians, creative writers, poets, and other producers of original creative work - as research fellows within a research environment. Details of the scheme should be available by late June 2009. Please check the AHRC website for details.

Museums Blog - A directory of museum-related blogs

2009-04-25T15:29:00.003+01:00

Museum Blogs is a directory of museum and museum-related blogs and aggregator. Like its companion site Museum Podcasts, the purpose of this site is to raise awareness and increase the authority of sites focusing on museum issues. At the time of writing there were 331 blogs included on the site.

The Directory
A moderated directory provides a central website for listings to museum and museum-related blogs.

The Blog
All of the posts are from the RSS feeds of the blogs included in the directory.

Policies
This site is run as a public service and encourages community participation. The site does not accept advertising.

Link:

New Knowledge Transfer Fellowship awards in the Creative Industries.

2009-04-24T11:28:00.008+01:00

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) are collaborating to support a number of exciting Knowledge Transfer Fellowship awards in the Creative Industries.

Ring-fenced funding is available to support cutting-edge projects which involve a KT Fellow working with the Creative Industries in the South West region.

The call, which will run alongside the May 2009 round of the standard KT Fellowship competition, will allow businesses in the Creative Industries sector in the South West to work with arts and humanities researchers based anywhere in the UK on a well-defined programme of knowledge exchange and benefit from the application of high-quality research in a practical context. It is expected to reap significant benefits for South West businesses, as well as providing an opportunity to raise the profile of the South West as a centre of excellence in areas where arts and humanities research is utilised by the Creative Industries, especially Digital and Pervasive Media.

As the call sits within the KT Fellowship scheme, all eligibility and assessment criteria and other guidance relating to the main scheme apply, however there are three additional criteria:

Business partners must be based in the South West and operating within the Creative Industries sector.
Proposals to the joint call may have a maximum Full Economic Cost of £125,000. Awards will be paid at 80% of the Full Economic Cost.
Projects can last up to 12 months.

During the Fellowship the academic partner can be located at the partner organisation, or vice-versa the non-academic partner can spend time working within the host HEI or IRO. The jointly-funded call, worth £400k, is expected to fund around four to five projects.

The deadline for applications is 4pm on 14th May 2009. Applications must be submitted by the academic partner through the Research Councils’ joint electronic submission system (Je-S).

Further information on this joint initiative is available here.

The May 2009 round of the standard KT Fellowship scheme competition will not be affected by the additional pilot call.

The 6th round of the standard Knowledge Transfer Fellowship competition is still open for applications until 4pm on 14th May 2009.

The scheme is designed to support academics to undertake a programme of knowledge transfer activity in a flexible way.
KT Fellowship projects

Should be planned around an existing piece of completed arts or humanities research
Should last between 4 months and 3 years
Must involve at least one non-academic project partner
May involve the PI (KT Fellow) on either a full time or part time basis
May involve a PI working alone or supported by an academic team
Can work with project partners in a wide range of sectors e.g. business, heritage, film and media or public policy
Must deliver tangible benefits to non-academic project partner/s (or the audiences served by the project partners) such as economic, cultural or social benefits

The first five rounds of the scheme have already resulted in a number of awards which are now underway: further information on these awards can be found on the AHRC website. The existing awards demonstrate the breadth of activity that can be supported through the scheme, with academics collaborating with a wide range of project partners.

Projects must utilise completed high-quality research within the arts and humanities subject domain. This does not necessarily need to have been funded by the AHRC. The Knowledge Transfer Fellowship scheme will not support individuals or teams to conduct research. For further information, guidance and contacts please visit the AHRC website.

Applications must be submitted via the Je-S system by 4pm on Thursday 14th May 2009.

Beyond the PhD - A Career Resource for Arts and Humanities PhD Researchers

2009-04-23T09:27:00.002+01:00

Beyond the PhD is a website which provides the opportunity to listen in on the experiences of a range of different people from different backgrounds, ages and stages of life who have been through the PhD in an arts and humanities discipline and made the transition into a variety of work beyond it. The site has audio and video clips and articles relevant to development for early career researchers.

Beyond the PhD has been developed by Shauna Concannon, Julia Horn, Jessica March, Finbar Mulholland, Catherine Reynolds and Rachel Stewart at the Centre for Career Management Skills (CCMS) a HEFCE funded Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Reading. Others closely involved in the development of this site include: Glued, the CCMS postgraduate Group, Cindy Becker, Janet Metcalfe at Vitae, Jo Moyle and Sally Pawlik. The development of the web site was contributed to through surveys, focus groups and user-testing by postgraduate researchers at the University of Reading and the University of Sussex.

Link to the site: http://www.beyondthephd.co.uk/

Get the most out of the library - short training sessions for OU staff

2009-04-16T14:32:00.007+01:00

The library is offering skills training for any OU staff. The training is taking place in Milton Keynes.

These are short generic training sessions to develop skills in using the types of online resources available via the Open University Library. They may be of use to new staff to familiarise themselves with these resources for the first time, or as a refresher for staff who have not used them for a while.

Further details of all these sessions are available at http://library.open.ac.uk/services/libcourses/ (need to logon with OU account) and can be booked via the Staff-LMS.

Finding your way around the Library website
Thursday 30th April, 3pm – 4pm
Information Literacy Suite (trainer: Geri Smith)

Be aware of key information sources provided through the library web pages.
Understand how to locate information for your subject on the library web pages.
Know how to find out what library services there are for staff and students.

Finding full-text materials
Tuesday 5th May, 10am – 11.30am
Information Literacy Suite (trainer: Sam Thomas)

Be aware of appropriate sources of full text materials.
Be able to search for references to material by author, subject etc.
Be able to browse the contents of the latest issues of a journal.
Be able to manage search results.

Effective Internet Searching
Thursday 14th May, 10.30am – Noon
Information Literacy Suite (trainer: Katharine Reedy)

Understand the basic concepts of searching the internet.
Know how to use Boolean logic and any specialised search techniques of some of the popular search engines.
Be aware of ways to search the internet without search engines.
Understand the process of evaluating web sites.

Keeping Your Research Up To Date
Thursday 21st May, 2pm – 3.30pm
Information Literacy Suite (trainer: Christine Tucker)

Be aware of the resources that you can use to find out about recently published books, journals and websites.
Be aware of ways in which to find out about research before it is published. Be aware of a range of alerting services.

Adapted from email from Matthew Taylor, Library Assistant (Weds - Fri), Information Literacy Unit, Open University Library

Free Lectures - Integrity in Public Life

2009-04-15T09:02:00.004+01:00

How should ethics be built into our strategies for business, for government and for life?

The downturn has an upside. The current economic turmoil is the perfect opportunity for business, governments, and individuals to rethink their ethical orientations from the bottom up. The Open University would like to invite you to one of the following free lunchtime lectures on 'Integrity in Public Life' to explore some of the most pressing ethical dilemmas.

The lectures are free and open to all, and will be hosted at St Bartholomew the Great, West Smithfield, London from 12.50 - 2pm. Places are limited, to book your place please email Marie-Claire Le Roux

6th May - Dr John Githongo: The Paradox of Two Recessions

John Githongo, the Kenyan anti-corruption campaigner now working as Senior Advisor - Advocacy, World Vision UK, will consider some of the scandals that have come to light as the economic tide has gone out in European business. He will compare the apparent paradox whereby economic upturn and democratic recession have gone together in Africa.

20th May - Lord Butler: Integrity and Politics

Lord Butler will draw on his experience as a previous head of the Civil Service, and lead author of the Butler Report, to discuss the ethical pitfalls facing politicians and civil servants, and how to avoid them.

27th May - Professor John Cottingham: Integrity and Fragmentation

Professor Cottingham, the distinguished philosopher from the University of Reading, will argue that we are harmed by living in a compartmentalised culture. Our institutions are manned by specialists who have mastered a particular field, but are not expected to form a view of the whole. Yet the classical ideal of the unity of the virtues suggests that people cannot live well unless their activities are integrated into a meaningful structure, informed not just by narrow technical expertise but by an overall vision of the good for humankind. We need this idea today.

17th June - Baroness O'Neil: Trustworthiness, Accountability and Character

Baroness O'Neill, cross-bench peer and President of the British Academy, focuses on the place of trust in public life, and explores what we should take as evidence of trustworthiness. Character, codes of conduct and formal systems of accountability can all be helpful for judging trustworthiness, but what can we do when they don't provide enough evidence?

This lecture series has been organised by the Open University's Ethics Centre. The Open University would like to thank F&C for their support of these lectures.

AHRC Religion and Society Small Grants

2009-03-31T10:24:00.000+01:00

The Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Religion and Society Programme is offering approximately eight Small Research Grants. These grants will support projects from less established as well as established senior scholars, and from those wishing to undertake small scale innovative or short projects of up to one year.

The project can be for between £20,000 and £100,000 Full Economic Cost (fEC).

The recently introduced requirements of Impact Summary, Academic Beneficiaries and Impact Plan are compulsory for proposals submitted for this scheme.

The closing date for the receipt of applications is 4pm on the 30th April 2009.

For more information see: http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Pages/ReligionandSociety-SmallGrants.aspx

EU Launches Call for Proposals to Promote International University Cooperation (UK)

2009-03-30T15:38:00.003+01:00

The European Commission has launched a new call for proposals under its new Tempus IV Programme (2007 – 13). The aim of Tempus IV is to support projects that facilitate cooperation in the field of higher education among Member States of the European Union (EU) and partner countries in the surrounding area. Tempus support two types of actions:

Joint Projects, which are based on multilateral partnerships between higher education institutions in the EU and the partner countries. They can develop, modernise and disseminate new curricula, teaching methods or materials, boost a quality assurance culture, and modernise the management and governance of higher education institutions.
Structural Measures, which contribute to the development and reform of higher education institutions and systems in partner countries, to enhance their quality and relevance, and increase their convergence with EU developments.

Institutions and organisations which may participate in the Tempus Programme range from higher education institutions and organisations through to non-academic institutions and organisations such as non-governmental organisations, companies, industries and public authorities. The total amount of funding available for this call for proposals is €53 million and the financial contribution from the Commission cannot exceed 90% of the total eligible direct costs.

Application form is available from the website – must be submitted electronically.

Deadline: 28th April 2009.

For more information see: http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/tempus/call09_en.html
and http://ec.europa.eu/tempus

AHRC and BT Research Networking Pilot Funding Call

2009-03-27T10:46:00.012Z

Deadline: 4pm, Thursday 21 May 2009

'Digital Heritage: understanding the personal, social and cultural contexts of consumers of cultural heritage'

The AHRC and BT are working together to develop a collaboration to bring together the arts and humanities research community with BT researchers and other stakeholders and partners with an interest in digital heritage to facilitate knowledge exchange and collaborative research. Project proposals to this call should involve BT through for example, provision of staff expertise and/or ‘in-kind’ access to technology and capability. Academic researchers should contact John Seton from BT Research (john.seton@bt.com) to discuss appropriate BT involvement and/or other parties with a potential interest in participating in this call.

The AHRC/BT Pilot Research Networking call is intended to support interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers to explore the theme of ‘Digital Heritage: understanding the personal, social and cultural contexts of consumers of cultural heritage’. The AHRC and BT welcome networks which involve academic colleagues from the arts and humanities and BT staff as well as non academic organisations, businesses and other parties whose interests compliment the aims of the pilot programme.

For more information see:http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Pages/AHRCandBTResearchNetworkingPilotFundingCall.aspx

Times Higher Education Awards - Research Project of the Year

2009-03-26T09:54:00.004Z

Deadline: 5 June 2009

This will be awarded to the individual or team for innovative research that has a far-reaching impact on its field and has caught, or has the potential to catch, the imagination of the public. It is open to individuals or teams in any discipline at a UK institution. Nominations must be endorsed by the applicants' institution.

Explain the background to your project.
Why was the research necessary, and what were its primary objectives?
Describe how the research was funded, what the work involved and what challenges arose.
What did the results reveal, and what are the potential wider benefits to society?
Has it led to other projects or new avenues of exploration?
Judges will look for evidence of significant or novel results, creative collaborations and imaginative communication of research results.

The awards will recognise achievements in the 2008/2009 academic year and entries will be accepted between 26 February 2009 and 5 June 2009. Judging will take place in June and the shortlist will be announced in July. The winners will be announced at a dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London on 15 October 2009.

For more information and online application form see: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/hybrid.asp?typeCode=352&;pubCode=1&;navcode=98

Fellowship Program Research in Germany for PhD Student - Travel and living costs

2009-03-24T09:48:00.001Z

The Gottlieb Daimler und Karl Benz-Foundation offer awards of up to £2,300 to enable PhD students working towards a dissertation to undertake a research stay in a German host institution.

A period of study or traineeship at a foreign research institution is likely to represent an important milestone in the career of a young researcher. With its fellowship program the foundation offers both German and foreign PhD students the chance to get acquainted with a different scholastic system and to pave the way, through successful academic cooperation, for long-lasting relationships.

The program is open to all disciplines, subjects and countries. Germans wishing to pursue a research stay abroad and foreign students intending to work in Germany in connection with their PhD may apply. The support provided by the Foundation is for a maximum period of 2 years.

Applicants should not be older than 30, and must have been awarded their most recent academic degree (Master’s degree or Diploma degree) within the last year at the time of the application deadline.

Fellowships are granted for the sole purpose of covering living costs in the host country. The Foundation does not fund tuition fees, materials, supporting staff, stays in the candidate’s home country or outside of the host institution, or travel costs within the research project. Max award £2,300.

Closing date: 1st October 2009 (Two deadlines each year 1 March and 1 October)

For more information see: http://www.daimler-benz-stiftung.de/home/fellowship/en/start.html

EU funding for training and career development of researchers

2009-03-23T09:37:00.001Z

The European Commission's Directorate-General for Research has published three calls for proposals under the 'People' programme of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).

Intended to provide support for training and career development of researchers, the calls include:

Intra-European Fellowships (IEF);
International Outgoing Fellowships (IOF);
International Incoming Fellowships (IIF).

The Intra-European Fellowship scheme targets experienced researchers seeking to enhance their individual competence and acquire new skills at an interdisciplinary level.

International Outgoing Fellowships aim to reinforce the international dimension of European researchers by giving them the opportunity to work in a high-level research organisation in a third country.

By contrast, the International Incoming Fellowship scheme is addressed at top-class researchers active in third countries, who would like to work on research projects and share their knowledge with colleagues in Europe. Ultimately, the goal is to develop mutually beneficial research cooperation between Europe and third countries.

To see the full details of the call, please consult the following web address: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/calls/

The deadline for all 3 calls is 18th August 2009

The ESF is inviting Proposals for new EUROCORES Themes

2009-03-19T12:01:00.001Z

The European Science Foundation (ESF) European Collaborative Research (EUROCORES) Programmes offer a flexible framework for researchers from Europe to work on questions which are best addressed in larger scale collaborative research programmes. The EUROCORES Programmes allow excellent researchers from different participating countries to collaborate in research projects ‘at the bench’. They also allow, when appropriate, colleagues from non-European countries, for example the US, to participate. The Programmes encourage and foresee networking and collaboration of researchers to achieve synthesis of scientific results across the programme, to link to related programmes, and to disseminate results.

EUROCORES Themes are "bottom-up" proposals for the creation of new collaborative research programmes dealing with broad and complex topics which are best addressed through multinational cooperation. Through its annual call for theme proposals, ESF solicits new ideas from the scientific community with a view to creating large-scale European Collaborative Research (EUROCORES) programmes in and across all scientific domains. In 2008, 6 out of 38 EUROCORES Theme Proposals were invited to be developed into EUROCORES programmes.

Theme Proposals must be submitted online.

Deadline for submission: 29 May 2009 (noon CET).

More information on website: http://www.esf.org/index.php?id=50

Free teaching and learning resource for anyone interested in Welsh history

2009-03-18T16:49:00.003Z

The Open University Arts Faculty has launched a free teaching and learning resource website as part of the OpenLearn initiative. It is aimed at anyone interested in Welsh history. It contains study materials, links to some of the most important institutions that contribute to our understanding of the history of Wales, and a pool of resources that can help you understand Welsh history and the way it is studied.

The site includes videos from the BBC Coast series, audio recordings of seventeen BBC Radio Wales programmes, a case study of David Lloyd George, a glossary of Welsh history and a Welsh history timeline. Some of the material comes from the Open University course, 'Small country, big history: themes in the history of Wales' (A182).

Rob Humphreys, Director of The Open University in Wales said, "This is an open access website available throughout the world. It compliments the Open University’s history of Wales course, and it also fulfils a much wider educational role."

Link to Welsh History and its sources web pages: http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3805

Le Corbusier Open University Study Day at the Barbican

2009-03-18T09:03:00.003Z

Le Corbusier Open University Study Day
21 March 2009 11am-5pm
At the Barbican, Redgrave Suite, Level 4

Tickets: £20/£15 OU concessions

OU staff and students qualify for a reduced price, which includes admission to the Barbican show: Le Corbusier – The Art of Architecture

Le Corbusier repeatedly asserted that his innovations as an architect depended on his passion for the fine arts and his practice as a painter, sculptor and designer. Is this true and what was the nature of the relationship between art and architecture in his work?

Chaired by Tim Benton, Professor Department of Art History, Open University. Speakers include Christopher Green, Professor Emeritus, Courtauld Institute of Art, Stanislaus von Moos, exhibition curator and Professor Emeritus, Department of Art History, University of Zurich, Caroline Maniaque, Associate Professor at the Ecole nationale supérieure d’architecture et de paysage de Lille and artist Simon Starling.

This event is open to all and the ticket price includes entry to the exhibition.

Part of Le Corbusier: Schools and Families
Part of Le Corbusier: The Art of Architecture

Tickets can be booked on-line.

For more information about Le Corbusier at the Barbican see: http://www.barbican.org.uk/lecorbusier

Art History Study Day at Tate Modern - Constructivism and the Art of Everyday Life

2009-03-17T17:14:00.001Z

Saturday 28 March 2009, 11.00–17.00

This study day explores some of the issues raised by the Rodchenko and Popova exhibition, including the relationship between art and every day life in post-war Russian constructivist art. Contributors investigate the languages of 'construction' and the move from abstraction in art to social forms in every day life, architecture, theatre, product and graphic design.

Speakers will consider debates about different modes of production in art and design, their role in the construction of social space, and the continuing relevance of many of these themes to the work of contemporary artists.

Speakers include curator Margarita Tupitsyn, art historians Christina Lodder, Brandon Taylor, Steve Edwards, Alexander Lavrentiev and artist Dave Mabb.

In collaboration with The Open University and the Research Forum, Courtauld Institute of Art

Tate Modern Starr Auditorium
£15 (£12 concessions), booking recommended
Price includes entry to the exhibition

For tickets book online or call 020 7887 8888

Research Funding Bidding Training

2009-03-16T09:16:00.003Z

Bidding for Funding Workshop: The Ongoing Bidding Process
Facilitators: Mike Stewart, Department of Life Sciences and ANO
Venue: Research Meeting Room, 2nd floor, Library
Date: Thursday 2 April 2009
Time: 10.00 am to 2.00 pm (tbc)

The workshop for OU staff will cover topics as diverse as:

What makes a good bid;
Building up and managing your bid portfolio;
What stops you bidding;
Building a support structure;

The target audience is Early Career Researchers, and all other researchers looking to build up their bid portfolio.

To register:
If you would like to attend, you can enrol directly by using the Staff Learning Management System (LMS): http://staff-lms.open.ac.uk/staff-lms/

Click on View my own Learning and Development.
Click on Search and register for scheduled learning events and waiting lists
Click on Strategy Unit classes.
Click on search
Look for code: SU/R/BID Date: 2/04/09
Title: Bidding for Funding : The Ongoing Bidding Process

Or alternatively please contact research-training-development@open.ac.uk.

The Bidding for Funding Workshop Series
The 2008-09 series of eight Bidding for Funding workshops will provide information and advice on grant writing to researchers at the OU. Each event is stand-alone, and the series will include sessions on the bidding process, identifying sources of funding, the writing process, Fellowships, and collaborative bids.

ESF Exploratory Workshop call open - deadline 30 April 2009

2009-03-09T12:04:00.001Z

Each year, the European Science Foundation (ESF) supports approximately 50 Exploratory Workshops across all scientific domains.

These small, interactive group sessions are aimed at opening up new directions in research to explore new fields with a potential impact on developments in science. The workshops, which usually last 1-3 days, have a wide participation from across Europe and involve mature scientists as well as young, independent researchers and scholars with leadership potential. The relatively small scale (in terms of people involved) provides an ideal platform for focus on the topic and for all participants to contribute to discussions and plan follow-up collaborative work. Interdisciplinary topics are greatly encouraged.

Awards will be up to a maximum value of 15000 EUR.

Exploratory workshop awards are for events with a maximum number of 30 participants (including speakers and convenors).

ESF funds are intended to cover the costs of workshop activities and travel, accommodation and subsistence for participants.

For workshops to be held in 2010 - Deadline on 30 April 2009 (16:00 CET).

For details of how to apply see ESF website: http://www.esf.org/activities/exploratory-workshops/ew-call-for-proposals/ew-call-for-proposals-submission-details-and-procedure.html

Prof. Giovanni Giuriati presents Performing a Carnival tarantella. A case study from Montemarano

2009-03-09T09:29:00.002Z

MUSIC DEPARTMENT RESEARCH SEMINAR
2pm on 18 March 2009
in Howard Recital Room, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes
Prof. Giovanni Giuriati (Sapienza Universita’ di Roma)
Performing a Carnival tarantella. A case study from Montemarano, Southern Italy

All OU Staff/Students Welcome

The Seminar will deal with a processional tarantella performed by clarinet, accordion and frame drum in Montemarano, a village in the mountains near Naples. I will draw a comparison between an analysis of an improvisational process based only on the musical text (that I have done some years ago) and a recent analysis that takes into account the moment of the performance showing how the two differ widely in methods and results.

While the first model yielded significant results, in unveiling what I have termed a kaleidoscopic process of improvisation, this kind of analysis lacks several contextual elements that relate in various ways to the act of performance. Among such elements to be taken into account are: interaction among musicians, interaction between musicians, dancers, and the audience, musical composition and stylistic differentiation among performers, relationship with space, micro and macro time scales, physical effort, rivalry and emulation, musical borrowing and reference to external models such as “ballo liscio” and world music, processes of musical and social change.

Such a complex and dynamic kind of analysis, that should not be intended in a normative way, but rather as a reference and a list of variables rather than a self-confined model, and that must take into account both the contextual elements, and the participant observation of the researcher, allows to better interpret the textual elements of the music.

During the Seminar some sound and video examples will be presented to illustrate the case study.

From email from Dr Laura Leante 08/03/09

Small grants to promote research links between UK and Japan

2009-03-05T12:22:00.004Z

Daiwa Foundation (UK)
The Daiwa Foundation is a grant giving charity which aims to promote links between the UK and Japan. The Foundation awards grants to individuals and institutions in the UK and Japan in all areas of the visual and performing arts, the humanities, the social sciences, science and engineering, mathematics, business studies, and education. A range of organisations can apply including schools and universities, and grass roots and professional groups.

There are a number of grants programmes available. The most relevant to researchers in the Open University are:

Daiwa Foundation Awards - Awards of £5,000-£15,000 are available for collaborative projects that enable British and Japanese partners to work together, preferably in the context of an institutional relationship
The Royal Society Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation Joint Project Grants -These grants support travel, subsistence and research for collaborative projects between British and Japanese researchers in the field of science. The grants available can cover all fields of activity, including educational and grassroots exchanges, research travel, the organisation of conferences, exhibitions, collaborative projects between British and Japanese researchers in the field of science and other projects and events that fulfil the objectives of the Foundation.

Next closing date: 31st March 2009

For more information and application form see website: http://www.dajf.org.uk/

New "Impact Requirements" for AHRC & ESRC grant applications

2009-02-19T14:34:00.010Z

From 23rd March 2009, applicants for Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) research and fellowship grant proposals are required to include a description in the application of the impact that their research will have on society and the economy.

If you have already been working on an application form on the Je-S system you will find that since 17th February a new section has automatically been added for an impact summary, which has a 4,000 character limit, including spaces and returns. If you are submitting a bid before 23rd March, you need to put in this box the words "Not applicable" and also add an Impact Plan in the attachments section that is a page also just saying "Impact Plan not applicable."

To find the specific guidance for AHRC and ESRC bids, if you click on "edit attachments" in your Je-S form, and then the help link in the top right corner, you will be taken to the attachment page of that councils help text. For ease here are links to the pages for AHRC and ESRC:

AHRC: Click here
ESRC: Click here

Click here for the Je-S Help guidance page which gives the summary information on the requirements.

The impact summary on the Proposal Form should address the following questions:

Who will benefit from this research?
How will they benefit from this research?
What will be done to ensure that they have the opportunity to benefit from this research?

Peer reviewers for research grant proposals will be asked to consider:

Whether the plans to increase impact are appropriate and justified, given the nature of the proposed research

Note: The impact summary may be published to demonstrate potential impact of Research Council funded research. Please ensure confidential information is not included in this section.

The Case for Support (and/or attached Impact Plan where required) should expand on the information contained in the impact summary and describe what will be done to increase the scale or likelihood of impact. In making your case, you should consider and describe any potential impacts of the research on society and the economy.

Article updated on 24/02/09 after additional email guidance from AHRC.

Small grants for Arts, Humanities and Social Science research on Iraq and neighbouring countries

2009-02-19T09:40:00.001Z

The British Institute for the Study of Iraq (formerly the British School of Archaeology in Iraq) (BISI) promotes, supports and undertakes research on Iraq and neighbouring countries. Its academic coverage includes anthropology, archaeology, geography, history, language and related disciplines within the arts, humanities, and social sciences from the earliest times until the present.

Development Grants
Grants are available to support development events and projects, such as lectures, study days and popular publications, that relate to Iraq and neighbouring countries and to the areas of interest covered by BISI. A Development Grant will normally be for an amount up to £500, although more substantial grants may be made if merited.

BISI considers applications for Development Grants twice yearly. The deadlines for applications and references are 15 April and 15 October. BISI will let applicants know the decision concerning their application by early July or early January respectively.

Research and Conference Grants
The Institute invites funding applications twice a year for grants in aid of research or for the organisation of academic conferences. All applications and references must be received by 31 January or 31 October in any given year. Awards will normally fall within a limit of £4,000, though more substantial awards may be made.

Applicants must be residents of the UK or, exceptionally, other individuals whose academic research closely coincides with that of the BISI.

For more information see: http://www.britac.ac.uk/INSTITUTES/IRAQ/grants.htm

Keeping up with the techie trends – Twitter

2009-02-18T12:35:00.002Z

I am guessing that not many people are following this blog yet, but if you are, you may also be curious about Twitter, which seems to be the new craze set to take over from Facebook. Always keen to try out new things, we have also set up a Twitter account and if you become a ‘follower’ we’ll post messages to alert you that the blog has new information. If you have a Twitter account and an application on a mobile device such as phone or iPod do a search for “OUArtsFunding” or have a look here.

Christian Trust Fund - possible small grants for research

2009-02-18T11:54:00.002Z

The Sir Halley Stewart Trust funds two areas that may be of relevance to researchers in the Arts faculty (and/or possibly for inter-faculty collaboration), but this is a very long shot and is only included in this blog as reference information rather than encouragement to apply. The two areas are:

Research focussing on developments in medical ethics (under their 'Medical' priority)
Innovative projects which aim to facilitate a better understanding between faiths (under their 'Religion' priority)

Types of grant given: Grants are normally given in the form of a salary. The Trustees prefer to support innovative and imaginative people - often early in their research career - with whom they can develop a direct relationship. Applications should be submitted by those directly involved in the work - not development offices or paid fundraisers. (However, if any OU academic were to apply to this Trust they would need to follow OU procedures and receive RED Form approval). Sometimes a contribution towards the expenses of a project are given.

Grants are normally limited to 2 or 3 years, but are sometimes extended. They are paid to or through registered UK charities.

More information about this Trust and examples of projects and research that they have funded in the past can be found on their website at: http://www.sirhalleystewart.org.uk/index.html

Small research grants to study conflict phenomena and peace strategies

2009-02-16T10:48:00.000Z

The International Peace Research Association (IPRA) Foundation provides small research grants (up to $3000) to support systematic observation or study of conflict phenomena and peace strategies. For more information please see: http://www.iprafoundation.org/application.shtml

Royal Historical Society Small Research Grants for Postgraduates

2009-02-16T10:38:00.003Z

Royal Historical Society awards are intended principally for postgraduate students registered for a research degree at United Kingdom institutions of higher education (full-time and part-time); the Society will also consider applications from individuals who have completed doctoral dissertations within the last two years and are not yet in full-time employment.

Grants of between £75 - £500 are offered under four schemes:

for individual travel to conferences
for research expenses within the United Kingdom
for research expenses outside the United Kingdom
for organisers of workshops and conferences to encourage the participation of junior researchers

The average grant is for a sum of £250, and priority will be given to new applicants. All applicants, however, are expected to seek funding from their own institutions in the first instance. Please note that grants cannot be sought retrospectively.

The closing dates for applications in the year 2009 are:
for individual travel to conferences; research expenses within and outside the UK:

27 April 2009
19 June 2009
14 September 2009
16 November 2009

for organisers of workshops and conferences to encourage the participation of junior researchers:

27 April 2009
16 November 2009

For more information see: http://www.royalhistoricalsociety.org/postgraduates.htm

Papers invited on Swinburne for conference in July 2009 - closing date for proposals 28 Feb 2009

2009-02-16T09:53:00.002Z

The Institute of English Studies, Senate House (London) is holding a conference on Friday 10th and Saturday 11th July, 2009 on the works of Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909, poet, dramatist, novelist and critic).

The organizers – Stefano Evangelista (Trinity, Oxford), Catherine Maxwell (Queen Mary, London), and Patricia Pulham (Portsmouth) – welcome papers on all aspects of Swinburne’s life and works (poetry, essays, dramas and novels), but are keen to receive proposals relating to writing produced after 1866.

Possible subject areas include: Swinburne and Classicism, Swinburne and Medievalism, Swinburne and the Arts (painting, music, sculpture), Swinburne and Aestheticism/Decadence, Swinburne and Modernism
Swinburne and France/Italy, Swinburne and Politics, Swinburne and his Influences, Swinburne and his Contemporaries, Swinburne and his Successors
Swinburne, Gender, and Sexuality, Swinburne and the Body/Senses, Swinburne, Style, Form, and/or Metre, Swinburne and Controversy, Swinburne’s Reception

Please email proposals (500 words maximum) for twenty-minute papers to all three organizers at the following addresses, stating your academic institution and status (if applicable) - c.h.maxwell@qmul.ac.uk, Patricia.Pulham@port.ac.uk, stefano-maria.evangelista@trinity.ox.ac.uk

Closing Date for proposals: 28 February 2009

Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909), poet, dramatist, novelist and critic, was late Victorian England’s unofficial Poet Laureate, admired by his contemporaries for his technical brilliance, his facility with classical and medieval forms, and his courage in expressing his sensual, erotic imagination. This international centenary conference aims to reclaim Swinburne’s position as the pre-eminent late nineteenth-century poet, to draw attention to the breadth and diversity of his oeuvre, to re-evaluate his considerable achievements, and to assess his impact on those who came after. In addition to the three distinguished plenary speakers – Jerome McGann, Terry Meyers, and Yopie Prins – the conference aims to attract both those with specialist interests in Swinburne and those keen to extend their knowledge of one of the most exciting literary figures of the Victorian age. It aims to stimulate further academic scholarship on Swinburne, with the specific intention of producing an edited collection of the best papers resulting from the conference. The conference is also timed to allow delegates to attend the joint BAVS/NAVSA conference 13-15 July 2009, Churchill College, Cambridge.

Wellcome Trust History of Medicine Research Fellowships

2009-02-05T10:56:00.009Z

The Wellcome Trust's History of Medicine Research Fellowships scheme supports individuals at all stages of a career not in established academic posts, wishing to undertake a period of research.

Strong preference is given to applicants with a good prospect of achieving an academic career as a specialist in the history of medicine.

The maximum duration is three years.

The awards are full-time but can be tenable on a part-time basis if a case can be made that personal circumstances require this.

Fellowships provide research expenses and a salary, plus appropriate employer's contributions.

Research expenses include travel to libraries and archives or overseas fieldwork, and a set amount for travel to conferences, seminars and other meetings of a scholarly nature.

You are eligible to apply if you are a postdoctoral scholar not in a tenured or otherwise long-term established post (employment on a rolling contract is regarded as tantamount to holding an established post), wishing to carry out an extended period of research on a specific project.

Your application must be sponsored by an established and normally senior member of the department, unit or institute in the UK, Republic of Ireland or The Netherlands in which the award is to be held.

You should have a relevant connection to the European Economic Area.

Applications are considered twice a year. Preliminary applications should be submitted at least six weeks before the full application deadline, as described below.

Full application deadline: 1 August (for Funding Committee review in November)

Full application deadline: 1 December (for Funding Committee review in March)

Interviews for short-listed candidates will be held shortly after the Funding Committee review.

Information from Wellcome Trust website viewed 05/02/2009

Before applying check full details on: http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Funding/Medical-humanities/Grants/History-of-medicine/Fellowships-and-personal-awards/WTD003793.htm

Postdoctoral fellowships for Henry Moore related research

2009-02-05T10:46:00.002Z

The Henry Moore Foundation will offer a small number of one-year post-doctoral fellowships in the field of sculpture studies at a British university from the autumn of 2008, tenable for one year in the first instance, with the possibility to apply for a second year. The awards are primarily to help scholars recently awarded PhDs to prepare a substantial publication. Applicants must show that they have an affiliation with a university department.

One fellowship will be tenable at the University of Leeds, in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, in association with the Henry Moore Institute. Applicants for this fellowship should indicate how their topic would contribute to the research work of the School and that of the Henry Moore Institute, as the fellow will act in a liaising role between these institutions. Candidates may apply specifically for the University of Leeds award, or indicate on their application if they wish additionally to be considered for this post.

Further details are available from:
www.henry-moore-fdn.co.uk

The closing date is 17 April 2009

AHRC Knowledge Transfer Fellowship scheme next closing date 14th May 2009

2009-02-03T14:27:00.001Z

The Knowledge Transfer Fellowship Scheme is designed to support academics to undertake a programme of knowledge transfer activity in a flexible way. The knowledge transfer project should be planned around an existing piece of arts or humanities research which has the potential to make a significant difference beyond the world of academia. KT Fellows may work either on their own or as part of an academic team, to collaborate with, and bring tangible benefits to, non-academic organisations through a process of knowledge exchange. These benefits may be economic, social or cultural in nature.

Researchers can apply to work on the project on either a full time or part time basis for between 4 months and 3 years.

For more information see: http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Pages/KTFellowshipScheme.aspx

HERA Joint Research Programme (HERA JRP) Call Is Now Open: Deadline 7 April 2009, 14:00 CET

2009-02-03T14:12:00.003Z

The HERA Joint Research Programme (HERA JRP) partners have launched a joint call for trans-national Collaborative Research Projects (CRPs) in two humanities research areas: “Cultural Dynamics: Inheritance and Identity” and “Humanities as a Source of Creativity and Innovation”. By launching the first HERA JRP call for proposals, 13 national funding partners want to create collaborative, trans-national research opportunities that will derive new insights from humanities research in order to address major social, cultural, and political challenges facing Europe. In consultation with their national researcher communities, they have jointly defined and developed common research priorities, and created a new trans-national funding mechanism.

The beneficiaries of this Call are eligible scholars located in Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden and United Kingdom, irrespective of their nationality. Successful proposals will require the building of consortia of three or more partners based in three or more different HERA JRP countries. The total amount of funding available for both HERA JRP themes is 12,4 – 16,4 M€.

Deadline 7 April 2009, 14:00 CET

For more information see: http://www.heranet.info/Default.aspx?ID=356

If you are thinking of applying for this funding, you should already have established contacts with European partners to collaborate with.

Edited from http://www.heranet.info/ 03/02/2009

2009 ESRC/AHRC Library of Congress Scholarship Scheme

2009-02-03T13:58:00.002Z

The 2009 ESRC/AHRC Library of Congress (LoC) scholarship scheme is now live. These prestigious scholarships offer ESRC/AHRC funded doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows and research assistants the opportunity to access more than 138 million items housed in the world-class facilities at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. The vast resources at the library cover far more than just American Studies and as such you are invited to apply whatever your research interests. You can view the Library of Congress classification outline at http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/.

The scholarships provide the opportunity for ESRC/AHRC funded doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows and research assistants based in UK universities to spend between three and six months at the Library of Congress, with access to the internationally renowned research collections held there. In addition to any stipend granted in conjunction with your award the LoC scheme offers an additional £500 towards flight costs and £1,000 a month towards accommodation costs.

The closing date for scholarships to take place between 1 October 2009 and 30 September 2010 is 17:00 on 27 February 2009.

For further information visit http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Pages/LibraryofCongress.aspx

Edited from email from Vivien Bacigalupo, Head of Research Degrees (Acting) 02/02/2009

Criminology book prize 2009 - closing date for nominations 2 March

2009-01-22T11:32:00.000Z

The British Society of Criminology invites nominations for its criminology book prize. The prize is designed to encourage and recognise the achievements of new or aspiring members of the criminology profession. Nominated books should show evidence of particular distinction or innovation in methodology or theorising in the general field of criminology, or in the application of criminological theory or research to crime policy or penal practice.

To be eligible, nominated books must have been published between 1 January and 31 December 2008 and be the author's first sole-authored book. Nominated authors, proposers and seconders must be members of the society. The prize includes £100 of books from the Willan publishing list and £500 cash.

More information at:
http://www.britsoccrim.org/othernews.htm#005

Small grants for Roman research

2009-01-22T11:25:00.001Z

The Roman Research Trust invites applications for its grants. This programme supports research projects in the archaeology of the Romano-British period, educational programmes such as museum exhibitions, conferences, summer schools and seminars and publications.

Minor and major grants may be awarded up to twice a year. Minor grants will not normally exceed £5,000 and will be awarded for a one year period with the possibility of renewal for up to two further years.

Deadlines: 15 April and 15 November annually

More information at:
http://rrt.classics.ox.ac.uk/grants.html

The Roman Research Trust was established as a British Registered Charity in January 1990 to support education and research in Romano-British Archaeology.

Small Grants from the Classical Association

2009-01-22T11:00:00.002Z

The Classical Association awards in the region of £50,000 each year to classical projects and conferences, mainly in the UK. Past examples of awards have been in the range £250 to £30,000.

The Association will consider applications for:

Subventions to summer schools and to institutions offering extra-mural courses in Greek, Latin and Classical Civilisation.
Bursaries for teachers attending courses abroad, notably the British School at Athens Easter Course.
Support of Greek and Latin reading competitions arranged by CA branches.
Support of regional Greek or Roman days or of school conferences.
Subventions to academic conferences particularly when of broad appeal and held in major centres, with a view especially to assisting students, teachers and scholars from East European and developing countries.

The Association prefers to give grants in the form of student or other bursaries, and does not normally subsidise the running costs of conferences.

The CA runs its own bursary scheme for students (undergraduate, graduate, PGCE) and teachers attending the annual CA Conference held in April each year. This has been widened to include subventions to individuals.

It is a condition of all grants awarded that the Classical Association's support be recognised in any literature and that a report be provided of how the funds were used, including final accounts where appropriate.

Decisions on grant applications are normally made by Council which meets at the start of April and in mid-November each year.

The deadline for applications for the next Council meeting is 20 March 2009.

More information on the Classical Association website:
http://www.classicalassociation.org/Grants/Grants.html

Applications invited for Philip Leverhulme Prize 2009

2009-01-19T12:46:00.003Z

Philip Leverhulme Prizes are awarded to outstanding scholars or practitioners (normally under the age of 36) who have made a substantial and recognised contribution to their particular field of study, recognised at an international level, and whose future contributions are held to be of correspondingly high promise. Approximately 25 Prizes are available each year across the five topics which are offered.

The Prizes commemorate the contribution to the work of the Trust made by Philip Leverhulme, the Third Viscount Leverhulme and grandson of the Founder.

For the 2009 competition the selected disciplines are:

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Engineering
Geography
Modern European Languages and Literature
Performing and Visual Arts

The disciplines selected are intentionally broad, and nominations will be considered irrespective of a nominee's departmental affiliation.

Each Prize has a value of £70,000; use should be made of the award over a two or three year period. Prizes can be used for any purpose which can advance the Prize holder's research or practice, with the exception of enhancing the Prize holder's salary.

This involves an electronic application form and the deadline for submission is 4pm on 18 May 2009.

For more information see the Leverhulme Trust website: http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/grants_awards/grants/philip_leverhulme_prizes/

Although this is an application for a prize, if you are considering applying for this funding, please contact Arts-REST. You will need to go through the normal RED form approval process.

JISC Funding call for transatlantic humanities digitising projects

2009-01-19T12:26:00.004Z

The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and the National Endowment for Humanities (NEH) invites institutions to submit funding proposals for digitisation projects in the humanities. These grants provide funding for 18 months of development from August 2009. All projects must be completed by the end of March 2011.

Funding of up to £600,000 (approximately $900,000) will be available to support digitisation projects in the humanities that will support international collaboration. Awards for each project will range from £135,000-£200,000 (approximately $200,000 to $300,000) for a period of eighteen months to share between the two project partners.

The deadline for receipt of proposals in response to this call is 12 noon on Thursday 26 March 2009.

Further information can be found on the JISC website at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/fundingopportunities/funding_calls/2008/12/grant1308.aspx.