AHRC Themes: Overview

Adam WalkerStrategy & Development Manager, Languages and Literature

20 January 2012

• Science in Culture

• Digital Transformations

• Care for the Future

• Translating Cultures

• Connected Communities

(with other RCs)

AHRC Strategic Themes

AHRC Strategic Themes: Development

• ‘Future Directions’ consultation (Feb-May 2009)

• Further consultation e.g. with key partners & Subject Associations, institutional visits etc

• Development by Advisory Board & Council

• Knowledge exchange, international, capacity building, public policy, partnership activities

• Larger consorita grants

• Building on previous AHRC programmes & supporting cross-council programmes

Science in Culture• Understanding the interactions between science and arts &

humanities

• Historical evolution of science; creativity, discovery & argumentation in science; science as a system of knowledge

• Impact on values, beliefs & ‘world views’; cultural, religious, ethical and legal dimensions; representation of science in language, literature, art, imagery, museums etc;

• Anticipating & influencing future controversies and enhancing public debates & engagement

• Emerging areas such as medical humanities

Digital Transformations• How digital technologies can transform the arts and

humanities, e.g. analysis & interpretation of historical data & creation of the ‘infinite archive’

• Impact on issues such as privacy, intellectual property, security & identity in the digital age

• Transforming some of the objects/foci of arts and humanities e.g. changing cultures, language & communication, performance etc

• Initial sub-themes: Text: Authority and Power; The Creative & Performing Arts and Technology; Translating Knowledge

Care for the Future• How the past can inform future thinking• Visions of the future, pathways for sustainable communities

& quality of life • Custodianship of cultural heritage for future generations• Future ethical, moral, cultural & social landscapes, changing

civic values, intergenerational equity, notions of ‘care’ and ‘caring’, philanthropy, etc

• Current highlighted sub-themes: cultural notions of the future; changing communities; material cultures of heritage; environmental change and sustainability; global trauma/conflict and transitions to new futures

Translating Cultures• Need for diverse cultures to understand & communicate better with

each other• Role of ‘translation’ & cultural interactions in ensuring that languages,

values, beliefs, histories & narratives can be mutually shared and comprehended

• Cultural understanding in a globalised economy & society: diplomacy, peacekeeping, cultural interactions, business growth, community relations, diverse societies

• Translation not just from one language to another, but from one medium to another, e.g. from verbal to non-verbal art forms

• Experts in specialist non-European languages & language-based area studies

• 4 current questions: international diplomacy & inter-regional relations; contemporary issues; public policy; translation & interpreting

Connected Communities ProgrammeAims to: mobilise the potential for increasingly inter-connected,

culturally diverse, communities to enhance participation, prosperity, sustainability, health & well-being by better connecting research, stakeholders and communities.

www.connectedcommunities.ac.uk

Strategic Themes: Recent Activity• Highlight notices in Networking & Fellowships

• SiC, DT, CfF, TC: – Advisory groups formed

– Development Award calls

– Development of new partnerships & associated calls

• Connected Communities: – Research reviews and scoping studies

– Research Development Workshops (creative economy, health & well being)

– Research Development Awards: community heritage; community, culture & design

– Annual Summits for award holders with follow-up funding

– Joint calls with other Funders (e.g ESRC led community engagement & mobilisation, RSA Fellowships on citizen power in Peterborough)

9

Strategic Themes: Forthcoming Opportunities • Continuation of highlight notices in Networking (July 2012) &

Fellowships (throughout 2012) • Targeted call for leadership fellows • Development of collaborations and partnerships• SiC, DT, CfF, TC:

– Development workshops planned – Calls for longer, larger grants: greater focus on sub-themes – Care for the Future: highlight notice in Research Grants on arts &

humanities approaches to environmental change / values (up to £1.5m)• Connected Communities:

– Research Development Workshop on Communities, Culture, Environment & Sustainability (c. May / June 2012 in Bristol) open call for participants c.March 2012

– Other workshops, associated calls & activities being considered (e.g. on community resilience, & 2013 workshop provisionally on Communities, Culture, Diversity and Cohesion) 10

Thank you!