New Chief Executive arrives at the Arts and Humanities Research Council

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

Digital Humanities Project in Classics

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.

Deadlines for Digital Economy Research in the Wild

(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

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

‘Building on History: The Church in London’ Project

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

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

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

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

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 University to research religious conflict

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

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

Digital Economy Research in the Wild

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

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.

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

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.

New Knowledge Transfer Fellowship awards in the Creative Industries.

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.

AHRC Religion and Society Small Grants

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

AHRC and BT Research Networking Pilot Funding Call

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

New "Impact Requirements" for AHRC & ESRC grant applications

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.

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

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