The AHRC, ESRC, and the British Academy recently held an event to debate the challenges and opportunities facing the arts, humanities and social sciences. A summary of the event, provided by Professor Jane Chapman from the Lincoln School of Journalism can be found below:
The event:
On Thursday 7th April the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and the British Academy (BA) held an event to debate the challenges and opportunities facing the arts, humanities and social sciences.
The AHRC, ESRC and the BA represent half of the active researchers and academic disciplines in the UK. This event provided a good opportunity since the science and research budget allocations to hear at firsthand the priorities of the three national bodies responsible for supporting research across the arts, humanities and social sciences- even if few surprises emerged. The three Chief Executives, Professor Rick Rylance (AHRC), Professor Paul Boyle (ESRC), and Dr Robin Jackson (BA) discussed their delivery plans and their overall priorities over the next four years. The presentations were followed by a debate session and questions.
The messages:
Despite a 12 % cut in real terms for the both ESRC and AHRC themselves- they expected worse – the main message to individual universities was not to panic over cuts, but instead to think long term. In that longer term scenario, collaboration will be essential – particularly for less research-intensive institutions. This will happen within a framework that is becoming more sharply focused on bigger projects and is also becoming more clearly defined when it comes to content themes, emphasis on inter-disciplinarity, application criteria and demand management. All 3 councils re-stated their definitive commitment to quality, impact and independence, leaving those present to conclude for themselves how these criteria translate into the main budget heads and themes for research.
The subject priorities:
ESRC has set priority areas of global economic performance, a vibrant and fair society, influencing behaviour and informing intervention, but promises to re-visit aspects of these core questions annually. AHRC- still allocating 40% of its budget to post graduates- prioritises modern languages, design, cultural heritage, and the geographic areas of Europe, North America and South Asia. The British Academy stressed its niche role with only £15 million for programmes, compared to AHRC’s £100 million, for instance. They are developing international leadership as a priority. Nevertheless, with a success rate of only 10 % for mid-career fellowships, for example, the BA will also need to address demand management.
The implications for applicants:
From the applicant’s point of view, the streamlining of procedures brings mixed benefits: on the one hand demand management means 3 failures, and you’re out – at least for a while! On the other hand, those who get close to an award will be invited to re-submit (with changes). To encourage innovation, ESRC will be giving initial money to try an idea, then more later if it works. They also want further business/private sector involvement in projects, and for all the research councils, ‘impact’ is clearly here to stay.
At this point in the game of research council funding, the good news is that the thinking behind the funding priorities is clearly focused, and procedures are becoming better streamlined. There are some well defined ways forward for those who want to take this route. The messages that are emerging, such as quality, impact, collaboration, inter-disciplinarity may not be new ones, but for applicants seeking a road map they underpin the route.
The future for Lincoln:
Demand management will also mean greater self-analysis by individual researchers (of project, experience and process) and more editorial guidance by institutions in the support they provide. It’s a tough culture, but one that- even with more private ‘near market funding’ we can’t completely avoid. Research councils provide the national benchmark: the enormous attendance at this event –mainly by Professors, not administrators- proved that everyone else is still very much in the game.
The presentations from the speakers can be downloaded from the AHRC website.