News from the Academy

FIVE NEW BRITISH ACADEMY RESEARCH PROJECTS ANNOUNCED

The British Academy has announced five new research projects for 2012. The new projects (selected from 33 proposals submitted) have been recognised for the excellence of their scholarship , and the promise and excitement of their programmes. The projects will be funded by the British Academy over the next few years. 

17 May 2012 

NEW REPORT NUDGES TOWARDS CHANGE

New research released today by the British Academy Policy Centre, asks: what really makes people change? In Nudging Citizens Towards Localism? leading academics Peter John (Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University College London) and Liz Richardson (Manchester University) call for more research and evidence to determine whether positive behaviour change is most effectively achieved through central government action, or best decided and implemented at a local level, through the combined efforts of local agencies, the voluntary sector and citizens.

16 May 2012 

BRITISH ACADEMY APPLAUDS LORDS REPORT ON CHIEF SCIENTIFIC ADVISERS

The British Academy is pleased to see that today’s (11 May) report from the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, Science and heritage: a follow up, recommends that DCMS appoint a Chief Scientific Adviser once again. Lord Krebs, speaking on behalf of the committee, said that “For the department to lack a Chief Scientific Adviser for 2 years is inexcusable. DCMS must appoint a CSA and set clear objectives for heritage science. Failure to do so would be to neglect its departmental responsibilities and, as our reports concludes, 'would amount to negligent short-termism'."

11 May 2012 

BRITISH ACADEMY WELCOMES BIS/WILLETTS PLEDGE FOR PARTIAL FUNDING TO STUDY ABROAD

The British Academy welcomes the government's recognition of the value and importance of a period abroad within a degree programme. On 3 May the government announced that the current funding arrangements will continue under the academic years 2012-14 - after which HEIs will receive up to 40% of full fees for students that spend a year abroad.

PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING'S CONTINUED RUDE HEALTH

Today (25 April), the British Academy Policy Centre will publish a comparative overview of public service broadcasting in different parts of the world. The report gives an overview of the various ways in which public service broadcasting is structured and funded, and of the extent to which its output is distinctive, of high quality and capable of making a difference. 

NEW REPORT ARGUES IMPORTANCE OF UK’s MINORITY LEGAL ORDERS

A new report looking at the distinct religious and cultural norms of groups such as Jews, Christians, Muslims, and others whose community-based laws are often misleadingly described as ‘parallel legal systems’, is published by the British Academy and launched on Thursday 19 April 2012.

ACADEMY GOES INSIDE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

The launch took place at the Financial Times on 10 April 2012 of a new British Academy/Oxford University Press book, Inside the Department of Economic Affairs: Samuel Brittan, the Diary of an 'Irregular', 1964-6, edited by Professor Roger Middleton.

The rise and fall of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) parallels the promised but eventually unfulfilled modernization agenda of the 1964-66 Wilson government. The diary kept by Samuel Brittan (in contravention of civil service rules) for the fourteen months in which he served as an 'irregular' (now known as special advisers) in the DEA provides a unique source for understanding the growth ambitions of the new government and why they quickly ran into the sands. Published here in full, with extensive notes, the diary sheds light on the Wilson government more broadly, giving insights into the 'great reappraisal' of economic policy, the reform of government institutions and the personalities of those involved.

Pictured from left: Lionel Barber (Editor, Financial Times), Sir Samuel Brittan, veteran economics columnist at the FT since 1966, and Professor Roger Middleton (University of Bristol)

10 April 2012