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The Royal Society and the British Academy invite you to a UK Town Hall Meeting on Friday 21 June 2013 for researchers and stakeholders to discover more about the new Future Earth initiative led by the International Council for Science (ICSU) in collaboration with the International Social Science Council.
Future Earth is a 10-year international research venture that will develop the knowledge for responding effectively to the risks and opportunities of global environmental change and for supporting transformation towards global sustainability in the coming decades. In addressing this challenge, Future Earth seeks to develop the knowledge required for societies worldwide to face challenges posed by global environmental change and to identify and implement solutions and opportunities for a transition to global sustainability. Future Earth must answer fundamental questions about how and why the global environment is changing, what are likely future changes, what are the implications for humans and other species, and what are the opportunities that reduce risks and vulnerabilities, enhance resilience, and create prosperous and equitable futures.
Future Earth’s draft initial design report and its draft executive summary and overview have just both been published to inform the discussions at the meeting.
This one-day meeting will enable members of the UK’s research and stakeholder communities to find out more about Future Earth from Dr Steven Wilson (Executive Director, ICSU) and Professor Rik Leemans (Future Earth Transition Team).
Guest speakers Professor Georgina Mace, Professor Richard Wilkinson and Professor Corinne Le Quéré will introduce the research themes and give their perspectives on the opportunities that they represent for the UK research and stakeholder communities.
Following lunch, breakout sessions will enable attendees to understand the initiative in more depth and provide an opportunity for feedback to ICSU and the Future Earth team.
As spaces will be limited and we are keen to ensure a good balance of disciplines and stakeholder groups, please register your interest in attending the meeting by Wednesday 29 May. Please note that spaces are limited and that registering your interest therefore does not guarantee the acceptance of your application. We will let you know if your application has been approved by Wednesday 5 June.
Why South Asia? Conference
Date: Friday 17 May, 9.45am-5.30pm
Location: British Academy
The Why South Asia? Conference seeks to assess the wider relevance and value of South Asian Studies today. Speakers include Jo Beall (British Council); Gita Dharampal-Frick (Heidelberg University); Amita Batra (JNU, Delhi); Lucy Rhymer (Cambridge University Press) and Penny Brook (British Library).
The conference is free and open to all but prior registration is essential. To register or for more information, please contact Debbie Soothill (d.soothill@britac.ac.uk)
Rebirth and Revolution: The Story of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina
The British Academy is proud to announce that Ismail Serageldin, Director of the Library of Alexandria and its affiliated research institutes and museums, will give a talk at the Academy entitled:
Rebirth and Revolution: The Story of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Date: Tuesday 28 May from 6pm-8pm.
Location: The British Academy, Carlton House Terrace, SW1Y 5AH
The Rebirth and Revolution: The Story of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina event is free to attend, but registration is advised. To find out more email Debbie Soothill d.soothill@britac.ac.uk.
A British Academy event, with support from the Egyptian Embassy and the British Egyptian Society.
27 March 2013, Good Friday Agreement: 15 Years On
In the third of the British Academy's International Forum Series academics, politicians, diplomats and business leaders from the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain came together in order to discuss the successes and failures of the Good Friday Agreement 15 Years after it was first signed. Fellow of the British Academy, Professor Marianne Elliott, chaired the discussion, providing an overview from a previous British Academy event of the Good Friday Agreement 10 years on.
Roadmap For Embedding the Social Sciences and Humanities in Horizon 2020
All European Academies (ALLEA), which brings together 52 Academies in more than 40 countries, has today published a roadmap for embedding the social sciences and humanities in Horizon 2020, the EU’s research and innovation programme from 2014-2020.
The roadmap sets out the key value of the social sciences and humanities in the realisation of Horizon 2020’s goals whilst making four key recommendations:
- The introduction of specific quotas for the representation of the social sciences and humanities within Expert Advisory Groups and Programme Committees across all three pillars and societal challenges of Horizon 2020
- The allocation of individual quotas within the aforementioned structures for the social sciences, and for the humanities. Both areas cover a vast disciplinary range and an extraordinary breadth of perspectives. One cannot be substituted for the other.
- Adequate social science and humanities representation amongst the evaluators of bids to Horizon 2020 Calls to support the realisation of the interdisciplinary goals Horizon 2020 has set itself.
- Development of a new enhanced and dedicated unit for the social sciences and humanities and their embedding within DG Research & Innovation.
The roadmap was developed out of a meeting of ALLEA’s Social Sciences and Humanities Working Group, which the British Academy chairs, on Wednesday 6 February.