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Does an apple a day make our skin more 'attractive' to others? Are case studies the fruit flies of a social scientist's world? Why did so many young people join the Irish Revolution? What can political unions in the past usefully tell us about modern politics?Four major new research studies, co-ordinated by the British Academy and funded by the Wolfson Foundation, are to be unveiled today at a special event in London. The British Academy Wolfson Professorships, each at the level of £150,000 over three years, recognise the most outstanding scholars in the UK, enabling them to concentrate on a...
17 Dec 2009
New research has revealed the negative impact ‘bride price’ is having on women’s lives in Uganda. The report, funded by the British Academy, uncovers the domestic violence and impoverishment which is being fuelled by this common practice in African countries whereby material goods or money are paid by a groom to a bride’s family upon their marriage. The study is the first of its kind.Although bride-price operated beneficially in the past to give formal recognition to marriages and to stabilise partnerships, key findings from the research identify the serious effect the tradition is having on gender equality, early or forced...
17 Dec 2009
The British Academy has today (3 December 2009) welcomed the emphasis on peer review in the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)'s proposals for the new Research Excellence Framework (REF) but urges it to make the assessment of 'impact' conditional on the overriding quality of the work.In its response to the HEFCE consultation, the Academy accepts there is a legitimate public interest in the impact of research, but warns that the proposed methods of measurement are untested and will need to take into account the multiplicity and individuality of disciplines within the humanities and social sciences.With ways of assessing...
3 Dec 2009
British Academy event explores the necessity of anthropology in the current global discourse on rightsNotes In 2009, Muslim feminists from both 'East' and 'West' launched two well-funded global initiatives to advance women’s human rights. They were inspired by the idea that women's rights should come through interpreting Islamic texts and reforming Islamic family law, not just enforcing or extending standard national and international rights law.Does the different dialect of rights these Muslim feminists use, or the new transnational circuits for rights work they forge, resolve the dilemmas that critics of other forms of human rights practice have pointed out? Do...
10 Nov 2009
Event at the British Academy exposes the global effects of affirmative action for the first time Women only shortlists; the numbers of working class children admitted to Oxbridge; ethnic minorities in the Met - the debates around affirmative action policies in the UK have continued unabated in recent times.Yet the long term effects of such proposals remain unknown, as British policymakers have rarely sought advice from other countries with long experience in such matters, from the USA to Malaysia. For the first time ever, in an event hosted by the British Academy, and convened by leading sociologist, Anthony Heath and...
29 Oct 2009
Charles Dance, Kenneth Cranham and Elizabeth McGovern light up the stage in British Academy event The Josephine Hart Poetry Hour attracts well-known faces from stage and screen, and the special version to be hosted by the British Academy next week will be no exception, with three leading actors taking to the stage to bring vividly to life classic and lesser known examples of some of the finest poetry ever written for the stage. The event is free to the public. Announced today, Charles Dance (The Jewel in the Crown, Gosford Park), Kenneth Cranham (Shine on Harvey Moon, Layer Cake, Hot...
22 Oct 2009
Universities must show leadership on language decline, says British Academy In response to the publication of the HEFCE Modern Languages Review on 21 October 2009, Robin Jackson, Chief Executive and Secretary of the British Academy, said: 'The sharp decline in foreign language learning is something that the UK cannot afford to ignore. The British Academy report Language Matters in June raised the same alarm bells – that language learning is more, not less important, as research and business become increasingly global. 'We therefore warmly welcome this report and look forward to seeing both Government and universities taking decisive action to...
21 Oct 2009
Shakespeare mystery unravelled by new plagiarism technology Leading English literature scholar and Fellow of the British Academy, Sir Brian Vickers, has solved a 400-year-old theatrical mystery with the help of state-of-the-art technology, normally used to identify student plagiarism. The software, developed at the University of Maastricht, has enabled Sir Brian to uncover the true authorship of a play initially attributed to Shakespeare in the 18th century, but much debated ever since. The findings will be revealed for the first time at an event during the British Academy’s Literature Week (19-22 October). Ever since Edward Capell reprinted it in 1760, as...
10 Oct 2009
Outstanding researchers in psychology, archaeology, law, classics, literature, and history have been recognised by the British Academy in its annual Medals and Prizes ceremony. Positive psychologist and bestselling author, Martin Seligman, Syriac scholar Sebastian Brock, landscape archaeologist Tony Wilkinson, Welsh law specialist Dafydd Jenkins and critics Frances Wilson and Molly Mahood are some of the influential figures to be honoured by the Academy at a special ceremony this evening. British Academy medals and prizes have been awarded annually for a hundred years. Prizewinners are selected by expert groups within the distinguished fellowship of the Academy. The prizes will be awarded...
30 Sep 2009
The second round of Newton International Fellowships has been awarded jointly by the UK’s national research academies – the British Academy, The Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. The Fellowships are part of a £13 million pound government initiative to ensure that the UK engages with the world’s most promising academics. The Newton International Fellowships provide an opportunity for some of the most talented early career post-doctoral researchers working overseas to carry out world class research in UK institutions across all disciplines of humanities, engineering, and natural and social sciences.Fellows will receive support in the region of £100,000...
2 Sep 2009
Applying for funding for social science and humanities research began a new chapter in August, as the British Academy launched its electronic grants system, e-GAP2. The first schemes to benefit from the new application process were the International Partnerships Scheme and the UK-Latin America and the Caribbean Link Programme. Both schemes are flagship initiatives of the Academy. The International Partnerships Scheme enables scholars to develop links between the UK and research centres and institutions in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia across the humanities and social sciences. The UK-Latin America and the Caribbean Link Programme encourages interaction between scholars...
20 Aug 2009
The British Academy has written a letter to Her Majesty The Queen to expose the diverse ingredients which together resulted in the global financial crisis. The letter was in response to Her Majesty’s question on why no one had noticed the credit crunch was about to happen. British Academy Fellows, Professors Tim Besley and Peter Hennessy drafted the ‘unofficial command paper’ following the Global Financial Crisis – Why Didn’t Anybody Notice? forum held by the Academy in June. The event brought together a unique group of academics, politicians, senior civil servants and other experts to apply understanding and insight to...
10 Aug 2009
The British Academy has joined forces with a number of leading cultural heritage organisations to call on the Committee of Inquiry into Iraq to include the problems faced by British forces in safeguarding cultural heritage in Iraq in their investigation. In a letter to the Chair of the Inquiry, Sir John Chilcot, the organisations expressed their concern over the damage and loss inflicted on museums, libraries, archives and archaeological sites within the country.More information is available in the press release from the United Kingdom Commission for UNESCONOTES TO EDITORSPublished:05 August 2009 The British Academy, established by Royal Charter in 1902,...
5 Aug 2009
In response to the launch of the Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee’s report Putting Science and Engineering at the Heart of Government Policy Robin Jackson, Chief Executive and Secretary of the British Academy said: A narrow definition of science that excludes the humanities and social sciences undermines the UK’s ability to exploit the full range of expertise in its world-class research base.Without a crystal ball, you can’t be sure which discipline will be important for a particular piece of sound policy making. Competitive advantage cannot be based on technological excellence alone, and the major challenges facing the UK will...
23 Jul 2009
The British Academy has written to universities across the UK pressing for action to address the rapid decline in foreign language learning. The move was announced at the Academy's AGM by Baroness Onora O’Neill, as she stepped down from her presidency following a four year term. In her address, she emphasised the urgent need for universities to ‘lead where government policy has failed’ by introducing a foreign language requirement for university study. She also criticised the closing of language departments as ‘short-sighted’ follows the British Academy’s Language Matters report (June 2009) which revealed the effect the fall in modern language...
19 Jul 2009
The British Academy is establishing a new policy centre as part of its plans to play a stronger role in future public debate and policymaking. Speaking at his inauguration at the Academy’s Annual General Meeting, incoming Academy President Sir Adam Roberts pointed to the strength of UK research in humanities and social sciences, and outlined the Academy’s plans to assist Government and public bodies to draw on this wide range of academic expertise. The Academy, which has over 900 Fellows, encompasses psychologists, economists, historians, lawyers, theologians, criminologists and many others. Their expertise can shed light on major topical issues, ranging...
19 Jul 2009
At its Annual General Meeting (16 July 2009), the Academy elected 48 new Fellows, elected for their distinguished achievement in the humanities and social sciences. Coming from all corners of the UK as well as from overseas, these Fellows represent the full range of the Academy's disciplines, including social policy, several branches of law, literature from earliest times in English and other languages, history, international relations, cognitive psychology and economics -see list of elections for full details At the same meeting, Professor Sir Adam Roberts (left) took over from Baroness Onora O'Neill as President of the Academy, and other officers...
19 Jul 2009
A report issued today by the British Academy raises concerns that the future of the UK’s world class research base might be threatened by the decline in modern language learning and calls for a series of measures by Universities and Government bodies to address this danger. The report 'Language Matters' follows a year-long study into the effect the fall in modern language learning is having in research fields, especially in humanities and social sciences disciplines, for which the Academy speaks. It is informed by specially commissioned research into the impact this may already be having in UK universities. The Academy...
2 Jun 2009
During June and July, the British Academy will complete the testing and implementation of its new electronic grant making system, eGAP2 (electronic Grant Administration Processing system). It is anticipated that, pending a successful outcome to the test phase, the system should go live in early August. The software was developed by our sister Academy, the Royal Society, which implemented this second version of the system in spring 2008. Over the past few months, we have made a number of changes to the system and have adapted eGAP2 to better fit the Academy’s needs. The introduction of electronic grant making will...
2 Jun 2009
In its response to the Arts and Humanities Council’s current policy consultation, 'Future Directions', the British Academy has called for the Council to protect and maintain substantial support for responsive mode funding, in order to encourage new approaches. It calls on the Council to make the process of selecting topics for its strategic initiatives subject to wide consultation and peer review, and to ensure that there is an appropriate balance between strategic funding and responsive mode funding. The full response is available online.NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:01 June 2009The British Academy is the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences....
1 Jun 2009
Podcasts are now available of Rescuing the Housing Market, a panel discussion chaired by Professor Susan J Smith, FBA, which examined some imaginative ways of sharing the benefits and mitigating the risks of volatile housing markets, and ‘Civil War and Foreign Intervention in Spain’, a panel discussion chaired by Professor Paul Preston, FBA, on the international dimension to and consequences of the defeat of the Spanish Republic.NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:14 May 2009More information about this and other events organised by the Academy is available from http://www.britac.ac.uk/events/
14 May 2009
The British Academy has joined forces with Wiley-Blackwell, the scientific, technical, medical and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons Inc., to create a major new prize for an outstanding contribution to Psychology. The Academy’s new Wiley Prize in Psychology, worth £5,000, to be awarded annually, will recognise excellence in research in psychology – alternately rewarding lifetime achievement by an outstanding international scholar and promising early career work by a UK-based psychologist. The first award, for 2009, is awarded to one of the world’s leading pioneers of modern psychology – Professor Martin Seligman, currently Albert A Fox Leadership Professor...
23 Apr 2009
Three of the UK’s independent national academies – The Royal Society, the British Academy and the Royal Academy of Engineering – have urged the Government to invest in expanding research capacity and the application of scientific innovation, in order to ensure the country emerges stronger and more resilient after the recession. This will build on the existing strengths of UK research sector which is one of the world’s best. In a joint letter to the Minister for Science and Innovation, Lord Drayson, the three Academy Presidents – Baroness O’Neill (BA), Lord Rees (RS) and Lord Browne (RAEng) – say that...
3 Apr 2009
The British Academy and the Association of Commonwealth Universities argue in their Nairobi Report, to be launched on Friday, 27 March, that it is essential for the humanities and social science research base in African universities to be strengthened so that African scholars can more effectively address African problems. The report – the culmination of a two-year process of dialogue between African and UK scholars - makes three main recommendations: Improve structures, systems and governance Many of the barriers to research are organisational and managerial rather than simply financial. New money for research can only be provided if there is...
24 Mar 2009
The first Newton International Fellowships have been awarded jointly by the UK’s national research academies – the British Academy, The Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society. The Fellowships are part of a £13 million pound government initiative to ensure that the UK engages with the world’s most promising academics. The Newton International Fellowships provide an opportunity for some of the most talented early career post-doctoral researchers working overseas to carry out world class research in UK institutions across all disciplines of humanities, engineering, natural and social sciences.Fellows will receive support in the region of £100,000 each for a...
20 Mar 2009
Professor Peter Hennessy FBA, Baroness O’Neill (President of the British Academy), and Professor David Marquand FBAOn 2 March, a group of leading academics, past and present politicians and civil servants, other policy makers and political journalists met at the British Academy for a round-table discussion of the state of British democracy in the current climate. In a wide-ranging debate, the group discussed the pressures that currently hamper the democratic process. Participants analysed which political forces and trends will emerge in the aftermath of what was described as ‘both market failure and State failure’, and considered how politicians should try to...
19 Mar 2009
The British Academy has responded to Sir Joseph Pilling's Review of the UK Government's Official History Programme by making a series of recommendations on its future direction. Our key recommendations are: that, given its importance to public life, the Programme should continue in some form; that departmental responsibility for the Programme should remain with the Cabinet Office; and that, while oversight arrangements should continue to be light touch, there should be significantly greater involvement with active and distinguished academics in the governance of the Programme. The full text of the response is available to download free of charge. NOTES TO...
17 Mar 2009
The President of the British Academy, Baroness O'Neill, gave oral evidence today (25 February 2009) to the House of Commons Innovation, Universities and Skills Commitee, as part of their enquiry into 'Putting Science and Engineering at the Heart of Government Policy', She talked about the Academy's submission to the Committee, the importance of academics and policy-makers working more closely together, and on the crucial role that the social sciences, in particular, could and should play in Government research and policy making. The evidence from this session has been published on the Committee's website, along with details of other oral and...
15 Mar 2009
HEFCE has announced funding allocations for English universities (5 March), in which the proportion of research funding for STEM (science, technology and medical) disciplines has been specifically ring-fenced. Dr Robin Jackson, Chief Executive of the British Academy, has stressed the importance of strong continuing support for the country’s world-leading research in the humanities and social science as a vital investment in Britain’s economic, social and cultural future. ('Who will win on payday?', Guardian, 3 March 2009). The Guardian has further analysed the impact on humanities, arts and social sciences today ('Arts and language subjects miss out on funding', Guardian, 5...
3 Mar 2009
We are now all too aware of the perils of easy credit being available to whoever wants it in today’s society. But historians are increasingly aware of how important credit was to ordinary villagers – those who made up most of the population – in medieval times too. In a new British Academy publication, Credit and Village Society in Fourteenth-Century England, Dr Chris Briggs has produced the first study devoted to credit in rural England in the middle ages, drawing much of his evidence from lawsuits brought in the local manor courts. He demonstrates that credit was not an indication...
26 Jan 2009
The British Academy has awarded twenty four Conference Support Grants, worth a total of almost £170,000, to UK scholars, which will promote dialogue and exchange within the humanities and social sciences. Birgit Brandt, the Academy's Director of Programmes said: "This scheme underlines the Academy's commitment to supporting high level and innovative academic conferences. We received over 250 proposals for this last round of conference funding - and the number and quality of applications clearly demonstrates the popularity of our scheme among the academic community." In the next eighteen months the Academy will be supporting a wide range of conference subjects,...
20 Jan 2009
Colin Hay, Professor of Political Analysis, Department of Politics, University of Sheffield A British Academy discussion on Thursday 22 January 2009 will mark the 30th anniversary of the first public sector 'day of action' during the Winter of Discontent - on 22 January 1979 an estimated 1.5 million public sector workers took part in Britain's largest single day of industrial action since the General Strike of 1926. The day of action brought the now infamous 'Winter of Discontent' into its final and most bitter phase - the almost inevitable showdown between the public sector trade unions and the government over...
19 Jan 2009
In its response to the IUSS Committee’s inquiry (published 12 January 2008) Putting science and engineering at the heart of Government policy, the Academy calls on Government to correct its failure to draw upon the potential contribution which the UK’s world-class humanities and social science research base could and should be making, alongside the natural sciences, to ensure that public policy makers take into account the wider consequences of their proposals.NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:12 January 2009The full text of the response is available at: http://www.britac.ac.uk/reports/iuss-0109/index.cfm. The British Academy is the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. Its purpose...
12 Jan 2009
Peter Brown and Romila Thapar, both Fellows of the Academy, have shared the $1 million Kluge Prize for Study of Humanity awarded by the US Library of Congress. In the citation, both scholars were commended on bringing 'dramatically new perspectives to understanding vast sweeps of geographical territory and a millennium or more of time in, respectively, Europe and the Middle East, and in the Indian subcontinent. Brown brought conceptual coherence to the field of late antiquity, looking anew at the end of the Roman Empire, the emergence of Christianity, and the rise of Islam within and beyond the Mediterranean world....
5 Jan 2009
The British Academy has announced the award of five major medals and prizes which mark outstanding contributions to national and international scholarship by five eminent practitioners in different fields of the humanities. Baroness Onora O’Neill, President of the British Academy, presented the awards at a special awards ceremony on Thursday, 13 November 2008. This year’s British Academy awards cover English Literature, Italian Studies, Prehistoric Archaeology, Biblical Studies and Numismatics (the study of coins and medals). In the same ceremony the Academy also congratulated six of its Postdoctoral Fellows who have been awarded publishing contracts in the prestigious British Academy Postdoctoral...
14 Nov 2008
Jonathan Powell, former chief of staff to Tony Blair took part in a discussion organised by the British Academy and the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Irish Studies, on 5 November 2008 to mark the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Belfast Agreement. The discussion brought together a panel of experts to discuss the lessons of the Agreement, particularly for conflict resolution in divided societies. The Good Friday Belfast Agreement was a turning point in the Northern Ireland peace process. It was signed on 10 April 1998 by the British and Irish governments and endorsed by most Northern Ireland...
5 Nov 2008
Jonathan Powell, former chief of staff to Tony Blair took part in a discussion organised by the British Academy and the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Irish Studies, on 5 November 2008 to mark the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Belfast Agreement. The discussion brought together a panel of experts to discuss the lessons of the Agreement, particularly for conflict resolution in divided societies. The Good Friday Belfast Agreement was a turning point in the Northern Ireland peace process. It was signed on 10 April 1998 by the British and Irish governments and endorsed by most Northern Ireland political...
5 Nov 2008
The British Academy is pleased to announce a call for applications for its Visiting Fellowship scheme, and for the joint British Academy, AHRC and ESRC Visiting Fellowships for South Asia and the Middle East. The schemes are intended to enable early-career overseas postdoctoral academics to come to the UK for two to six months in order to carry out research in a British institution, in conjunction with a UK academic. The general scheme is open to application by any scholar from outside the UK, and the British Academy, AHRC and ESRC scheme to scholars from the Middle East and South...
3 Nov 2008
The British Academy has published responses to two national consultations on research policy: DIUS's consultation on 'Science and Society' and RCUK's on a code of conduct and policy on the governance of good research conduct. In its response to DIUS's consultation on Science and Society , the Academy recommended that greater recognition should be given to the role that the humanities and social sciences play in public life and the contribution they make to scientific understanding ; Government and researchers need to make it more feasible for others to place trust in them by showing clearly that scientific work and...
30 Oct 2008
The Newton International Fellowships are funded by the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society and aim to attract the most promising post-doctoral researchers working overseas in the fields of humanities, engineering, natural and social sciences. The Fellowships enable researchers to work for two years with a UK research institution, thus establishing long-term international collaborations. The funding will be distributed in the form of 50 research fellowships, awarded annually, each providing support of up to £100,000 for a two year placement. The scheme is open to post-doctoral (and equivalent) early-career researchers working outside the UK who...
28 Oct 2008
The British Academy has made two major international research awards through the Collaborative Research scheme of its Sponsored Institutes and Societies funding programme (BASIS). The successful projects are: Islam, Trade and Politics across the Indian Ocean: Interaction between Southeast Asia and Turkey and the Ottoman Empire, 16th-20th centuries – a collaboration between the British Institute at Ankara, the Association for South-East Asian Studies UK, and researchers at Suleyman Demirel University, Isparta, Turkey, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore; the International Centre for Aceh and Indian Ocean Studies, Indonesia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (National University of Malaysia), and Otter Gallery, Chichester...
9 Oct 2008
In her 2002 Reith Lecture series, Onora O'Neill criticised the approaches to trust and loss of trust that dominate public debate. Six years on, in her final year as President of the British Academy, she considers why many supposed remedies for mistrust have failed, and whether more intelligible approaches to accountability are needed. Widening the discussion with a particular focus on the role trust plays in the media and in Government are BBC Director-General Mark Thompson, who has faced an unprecedented crisis of public trust in the corporation, and Lord Wilson of Dinton, Cabinet Secretary in the early years of...
5 Oct 2008
Tanzania has moved from widespread conversion to Islam in the early twentieth century to recent bitter disputes over Islamic radicalism. In Becoming Muslim in Tanzania, 1890-2000, Dr Felicitas Becker uses a combination of government, mission and oral records to examine the intellectual and social forces behind these transitions. Giuseppe Mazzini - Italian patriot, humanist and republican - was one of the most celebrated and revered political activists and thinkers of the 19th century. Giuseppe Mazzini and the Globalisation of Democratic Nationalism, 1830-1920, edited by C A Bayly & Eugenio F Biagini, shows for the first time how his thought and...
30 Sep 2008
The British Academy has announced the creation of a new scheme of Research Professorships, each with a fixed value of £150,000 over three years, made possible thanks to the generosity of the Wolfson Foundation. The purpose of these awards is to give an opportunity for extended research leave for three years to a small number of exceptional, outstanding scholars, enabling them to concentrate on a significant research programme, freed from normal teaching and administrative commitments. In selecting the successful candidates, considerable emphasis is being placed by the Academy and the Wolfson Foundation on award-holders’ plans for communicating their research to...
30 Sep 2008
It is vital for the future health of the UK’s social sciences research community that the Economics and Social Research Council (ESRC) strikes the right balance in its funding between strategically directed research in particular areas and supporting open, “response mode” applications. This is one of the principal recommendations, published today, in the British Academy’s submission to the ESRC’s public consultation on its future strategy. The Academy – the UK’s national academy for the social sciences and humanities – acknowledges the major role the ESRC plays supporting and steering the direction of social science research in the UK. However, it...
29 Sep 2008
Government called upon to leverage the academic research base more effectively Humanities and Social Science disciplines are not “punching their weight” in contributing to public policy making as they could and should be. That is the conclusion of a British Academy report launched today (17 September 2008) compiled by an expert working party chaired by Professor Sir Alan Wilson. Sir Alan, a Fellow of the Academy, Chairman of the Arts and Humanities Research Council and former Vice-Chancellor of Leeds University, says in his Preface: “Our findings show that... there remains considerable scope to improve the effectiveness of public policy making...
17 Sep 2008
Research funded by the British Academy Small Research Grants Scheme, and conducted by Dr Daniela Sime and Dr Anne McArthur at the University of Strathclyde, has found that the children of Polish migrants in Scotland need more English language tuition both in and out of school. Local authorities were warned earlier this year that lack of investment in bilingual school staff could trigger an exodus of Polish workers who have become increasingly important to the Scottish economy since restrictions on Eastern European migration were lifted in 2004. Dr Sime said: "Given the increase in the number of Polish families living...
9 Sep 2008
The latest issue of the British Academy Review is now available on the Academy’s website. It includes articles on the credit crunch, passive smoking, the role of the imagination in human interaction, and the challenges faced by museums and galleries today. The full contents list can be found at http://www.britac.ac.uk/pubs/review/11/index.html A modern and a historical take on today’s credit crunch are provided by Geoffrey Hosking and Ross Alloway, respectively. Jérôme Adda & Francesca Cornaglia offer a counter-intuitive perspective on the impact of smoking bans. Robin Dunbar discusses the social significance of the human capacity to live in the virtual world...
21 Jul 2008
The Annual General Meeting of the British Academy has elected Sir Adam Roberts KCMG FBA as its next President for a four-year term. He will succeed Professor O'Neill in July 2009. Sir Adam, formerly Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford, was elected a Fellow of the Academy in 1990, said: "I am delighted and honoured to have been appointed President-elect by the Fellows of the British Academy and look forward to taking up the position in a year's time. Thanks to the excellent work of the President, staff and Fellows, the Academy has today set its strategic...
17 Jul 2008
The Annual General Meeting of the British Academy – the Academy’s 106th – has elected 38 new Fellows, in recognition of the excellence of their academic achievements. They include evolutionary anthropologist Ruth Mace (University College London), philosopher Roger Scruton (University of Oxford and Institute for the Psychological Sciences, Arlington, Virginia), Islamic art historian Robert Hillenbrand (University of Edinburgh), contemporary China specialist Vivienne Shue (University of Oxford) and geographer Susan J Smith (Durham University). The Academy also elected a further ten overseas scholars as Corresponding Fellows, including American philosopher and social commentator, Martha Nussbaum (University of Chicago) and the cinema and...
17 Jul 2008
Baroness Onora O’Neill, President of the British Academy, today called for caution in the use of metrics to assess University research departments, saying there was a risk that it would produce “unintelligent forms of accountability”. Speaking at the Academy’s Annual General Meeting, she reflected “widespread concern in and beyond the Academy” over the proposal to make greater use of metrics in future research assessment exercises, especially in humanities and social science disciplines. Citing a British Academy policy study on Peer Review, published last September, she noted and endorsed its conclusions that metrics had “a tendency to alter behaviour“ and that...
17 Jul 2008
The British Academy, together with other research funders, universities and other stakeholders, launched a revised Concordat to support research careers. The new Concordat provides a framework to support the development of researchers, and outlines the commitments of research funders and universities. Dr Robin Jackson, Chief Execuitive and Secretary, formally signed the Concordat on behalf of the Academy. Further details on the Concordat can be found at www.researchconcordat.ac.ukNOTES TO EDITORSPublished:10 July 2008For further information or hard-copies of the concordat, please contact: Rosie Beales, Research Councils UK
10 Jul 2008
The British Academy has sent to the House of Lords and Commons Joint Committee on Constitutional Renewal the transcript of a specially convened Academy seminar held last month which explored key issues and discussed concerns over the proposed legislation. The seminar, chaired by Professor Peter Hennessy, brought together leading legal and political scholars with front line practitioners to scrutinise aspects of the White Paper and Draft Bill.NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:10 July 2008Thenews release, transcript, and further backgroundon the seminar are available online.
10 Jul 2008
A record 49 outstanding researchers working across the humanities and social sciences are to receive prestigious British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships, it was announced today (18 June 2008). The Fellowships, worth an average of £220,000 over a three year period, allow outstanding early career researchers to strengthen their experience of research in a university environment. Almost 700 researchers who have completed their PhD studies in recent years applied for the Fellowships – also a record. The successful applicants’ proposed areas of study and research cover a wide range of academic and policy issues, from how to induce innovation in tackling climate...
18 Jun 2008
A new multi-million pound initiative to fund research collaborations and improve links between UK and overseas researchers was launched by the Science Minister Ian Pearson on 4 June. The Newton International Fellowships will be overseen by the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society and aim to attract the most promising post-doctoral researchers working overseas in the fields of humanities, engineering, natural and social sciences. The Fellowships will offer researchers funding to work for two years with a UK research institution, thus establishing long term international collaborations. The funding will be distributed in the form of...
2 Jun 2008
A unique collaboration between two contrasting organisations wanting to cast light on the tangled world of copyright permissions and payments bears fruit today (30 April 2008) with the publication of a set of Joint Guidelines on Copyright and Academic Research. The collaborators are the Publishers Association, the leading trade organisation serving book, journal, and electronic publishers in the UK, and the British Academy, which speaks nationally for the humanities and social sciences – the discipline areas where copyright issues have caused most confusion. Designed to clear a path through the complex jungle of copyright legislation, the Joint Guidelines set out...
30 Apr 2008
Eight major new Senior Research fellowships for the academic year 2008/09 were announced today (15 April 2008) by the British Academy. The Academy's Research Fellowships – seven funded by the Leverhulme Trust and one by the Thank-Offering to Britain Fund – allow established scholars to take a full year’s research leave. This enables them to complete a major piece of research while their day-to-day teaching and administrative responsibilities are covered by a full-time replacement. The Awards - each worth around £35,500 – will be supporting research in a diverse range of humanities and social science disciplines, including: Professor Alvin Jackson...
15 Apr 2008
In an initiative developed by the British Academy's South Asia Panel, two awards of up to £10,000 a year for up to three years are available to support the development of ongoing links between UK and South Asia research centres or institutions, within the humanities and social sciences. The link would be built around a specific research theme of mutual interest. This could be carried forward through visits in both directions; workshops; seminars and lecture programmes; collaborative research; and joint publications. The programme might form part of either institution's training programme. Preference might be given to applications where more than...
7 Apr 2008
In an initiative developed by the British Academy's Middle East Panel, two awards of up to £10,000 a year for up to three years are available to support the development of ongoing links between UK and Middle Eastern research centres or institutions, within the humanities and social sciences. The link would be built around a specific research theme of mutual interest. This could be carried forward through visits in both directions; workshops; seminars and lecture programmes; collaborative research; and joint publications. The programme might form part of either institution's training programme and will ideally involve participation from more than one...
7 Apr 2008
Findings from the British Academy's Centenary Research Project: 'Lucy to Language: the Archaeology of the Social Brain', are helping scientists, who have recently been awarded an EU research grant of approximately £2,000,000, to develop advanced communications technology. The Lucy to Language project, co-directed by the evolutionary anthropologist Professor Robin Dunbar, FBA, is exploring how the early hominid brain evolved from its apelike beginnings, around 3-5 million years ago, to its modern human form, and the implications this has for the evolution of modern human sociality. The project is taking a special interest in how human communications and social networks have...
3 Apr 2008
The British Academy has welcomed the “light touch” peer review approach to the humanities and social sciences proposed in the new framework for assessing research excellence in universities. But it urges that the planning timetable be brought forward, in order to avoid disadvantaging the humanities and social sciences. The timetable currently proposed by HEFCE (the Higher Education Funding Council for England) would announce the new framework for science-based disciplines in 2008/09 but not until the end of 2010 for humanities, arts and social science disciplines. The new-style assessments to determine levels of future government funding would take place in 2013....
15 Feb 2008
The British Academy is opposing a proposal from the House of Commons Innovation, Universities and Skills Committee that the Copyright Tribunal should become responsible for granting licences for the use of 'orphan works' i.e. works either by authors whose date of death is unknown, and/or of which the right-holders cannot be traced. The Academy is strongly opposed to any proposal that will require academic researchers to pay to use orphan works when the right-holder has not been identified. Copyright is a vital issue for academic researchers in the humanities and social sciences, because it impacts on the way in which...
24 Jan 2008
The British Academy today expressed concern at reduced funding opportunities to support postgraduate and postdoctoral research in the humanities following announcements from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). In the light of their CSR settlement, the AHRC has announced significant reductions to its present level of awards for postgraduate research studentships and for research grants. Robin Jackson, Chief Executive and Secretary of the British Academy, said: “Investment in the arts and humanities is essential to maintaining the often undervalued contribution these disciplines make to the UK’s economic, social and cultural well-being. Postgraduate awards and research grants are a major...
23 Jan 2008
A British Academy evening public discussion held on 27 November 2007 Professor Pat Thane, FBA, Institute of Historical Research, University of London and convenor of What's wrong with English Local Democracy? Concern is frequently expressed by the government, by the opposition and by voters, about the state of local democracy in England. They point to low levels of voter turn-out, interest and participation ; lack of independence of central government; poor levels of accountability; difficulty in attracting able representatives, especially those who are not white, male or middle class; uneven performance . There is a widespread feeling that, in all...
4 Jan 2008
What’s become of posterity? An outstanding feature of the Enlightenment agenda of progress was obeisance to posterity, in the two-fold sense of one’s immediate progeny and of the future in general. From the mid-18th century on, Western philosophers, poets, statesmen, and scientists increasingly invoked posterity as the prime inspiration of their efforts and creations—not just ‘the resource of those who felt under-appreciated by their contemporaries’, in Gillian Beer’s apt phrase, but as both the cherished heirs and ultimate arbiters of their works. Faith in progress meant forgoing immediate rewards for the benefit of future generations. Posterity hype endures; ‘you never...
18 Dec 2007
The British Academy congratulates Sir Alan Wilson FBA, on his appointment as the new Chair of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). His appointment was announced on 11 December by the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, John Denham. Sir Alan was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1994 and is Professor of Urban and Regional Systems at University College London. He said: “I am very honoured to have been offered this post and am delighted to accept. I believe that research in the arts and humanities underpins the quality of life in the UK...
14 Dec 2007
The Academy is pleased to have been allocated a Grant-in-Aid totalling more than £74m for 2008-2011 triennium, following the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review 2007. The annual allocation for the three years of the CSR period is: 2008-9: £22,539,790 2009-10: £25,061,939 2010-11: £26,447,813 The Academy brings a distinctive approach to the support it gives to research of the highest quality in the humanities and social sciences, and it submitted an ambitious programme of activity to be funded over the next three years through its Grant-in-Aid. The programme identifies as priorities: Support for early career researchers through an expansion of the Academy's...
11 Dec 2007
The British Academy congratulates Professor Roger Lonsdale, FBA, for the award of a prize by the US Modern Language Association for his edition of Samuel Johnson’s The Lives of the Poets, published by Oxford University Press. The MLA's citation for Professor Lonsdale's winning book reads: Roger Lonsdale’s magnificently managed, beautifully produced four-volume edition of Samuel Johnson’s The Lives of the Poets is the first scholarly edition of this major work in over one hundred years. Lonsdale brings fresh editorial work with manuscripts, a book-length introduction at once scholarly and literate, and a wealth of annotation that draws on the last...
5 Dec 2007
On 19 November 2007 Onora O’Neill, President of the British Academy, awarded medals and prizes to seven scholars for outstanding contributions to their fields of study. The ceremony, held at the Academy, also congratulated four early career scholars who have been recently awarded publishing contracts in the prestigious British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship Monograph series. The 2007 Medal and Prizes winners are: Burkitt Medal for Biblical Studies: Professor Alberto Soggin, Professor Emeritus of Old Testament, University of Rome - For outstanding service to biblical studies Derek Allen Prize for Musicology: Professor Philip V. Bohlman for The Music of European Nationalism: Cultural...
22 Nov 2007
The British Academy has announced the appointment of three new Directors. The new Directors will join Chief Executive and Secretary Dr Robin Jackson as members of the Academy’s senior management team, working with the elected Officers of the Academy to provide strategic direction and co-ordination and support for the Academy’s staff. Robin Jackson said: “I am delighted to welcome these three new Directors who will help the Academy, its Fellows and its staff deliver our objectives in the future." The Directors will take up their posts in early 2008. Tim Brassell has been appointed as Director of External Relations. Tim...
21 Nov 2007
The Holberg prize is awarded annually for outstanding scholarly work in the fields of the arts and humanities, social sciences, law and theology. The Holberg Prize Academic Committee gave the following citation: “Ronald Dworkin has developed an original and highly influential legal theory grounding law in morality, characterized by a unique ability to tie together abstract philosophical ideas and arguments with concrete everyday concerns in law, morals, and politics. "Dworkin provides a balanced solution to the intractable controversy between the two major legal schools of the 20th century: legal positivism and natural law. He understands the legal system as consisting...
19 Nov 2007
The Academy wishes to promote the dissemination of advanced research. Conference convenors may apply for any combination of the following: (a) financial assistance, whether for bringing key speakers to the UK (or other location if the event is to be held abroad), or for a wider range of expenses; (b) use of the British Academy as a venue; (c) organisational assistance from the Academy’s conference team; (d) subsequent publication of proceedings by the Academy. (Please note that applications will not be entertained for (d) alone.) This scheme also provides an opportunity for a conference to be adopted into the Academy’s...
16 Nov 2007
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, which was funded by the British Academy from 1992 to 2004, has been awarded one of the Queen's Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education it was announced yesterday, Thursday 15 November. The Oxford DNB is a collection of 56,000 biographies of the men and women who influenced all aspects of national life from the earliest times to the present day. In addition to being an extensive biographical work, the Dictionary includes more than 10,000 portrait illustrations, researched in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery. Queen’s Anniversary Prizes are awarded biennially to institutions of...
16 Nov 2007
5.30pm, Wednesday, 21st November The British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AH Professor Clive Holes, FBA Khalid bin 'Abdullah Al-Sa'ud Professor for the Study of the Contemporary Arab World, The Oriental Institute, University of Oxford Arabic popular poetry, that is, poetry composed in the spoken dialects of Arabic rather than in the Classical language, is an ancient but little studied art form. In the modern Arab world, it is an art which has reinvented itself in order to express opinions, often in the form of satire, on both domestic and international issues which do not conform to the...
9 Nov 2007
On 8 November 1957, Britain became a thermonuclear power as it exploded its first megaton H-Bomb off Christmas Island. On 7 November 2007, a British Academy book is launched that shows that the issues being debated as part of the current Trident upgrade have changed very little over the years. Cabinets and the Bomb publishes declassified Cabinet, Cabinet Committee, Chiefs of Staff and Intelligence documents - as well as papers from the Prime Minister's Office - revealing the private briefings and debates which went into the making of British nuclear weapons policy since the early 1940s. The documents, drawn from...
7 Nov 2007
In an initiative developed by the British Academy's Africa Panel, two awards of up to £10,000 a year for up to three years are available to support the development of ongoing links between UK and African research centres or institutions, within the humanities and social sciences. The link would be built around a specific research theme of mutual interest. This could be carried forward through visits in both directions; workshops; seminars and lecture programmes; collaborative research; and joint publications. The programme might form part of either institution's training programme and will ideally involve participation from more than one African institution,...
31 Oct 2007
In an initiative developed by the British Academy's Latin America and the Caribbean Panel, two awards of up to £20,000 each are available to support a programme of seminars involving UK and Latin American and Caribbean scholars on a topic of mutual interest within the humanities and social sciences. The Academy encourages applications that bring together scholars from a number of distinct institutions within the UK and across Latin America and the Caribbean. The seminar programme should encompass at least two seminars, one in the UK and one in Latin America or the Caribbean. Aim of the award The scheme...
31 Oct 2007
Questions of toleration, and especially of religious toleration, are prominent in modern society. There has also been an alarming increase in acts of violence and of terrorism which are (or seem to be) religiously motivated. In societies characterised by cultural and religious diversity, we need to know what justifies toleration, and what its proper limits are. These problems are not new: they were central to 17th-century politics and philosophy. On 8 October 2007, a British Academy discussion meeting re-visited the 17th-century debates about toleration, to see how they might cast light on the problems of our own age. Chair and...
31 Oct 2007
Research conducted by John Chalcraft, LSE, into Syrian migrant workers in Lebanon shows that host-community hostility to migrants comes and goes according to a variety of geopolitical, political, economic and social factors - it does not depend on the fixed cultural characteristics of either the migrants or the hosts as is commonly thought. Dr Chalcraft's findings will be presented on Thursday, 15 November 2007 at a British Academy conference entitled 'Evolving Societies' which will highlight the Academy's support for overseas research into community, identity and environment. Speaking ahead of the conference John Chalcraft said: "The experience of Syrian migrants tells...
30 Oct 2007
A joint statement by the British Academy and the Association of Commonwealth Universities Collaboration between academics in Africa and the UK would be vastly improved by a far greater understanding of the difficulties faced by staff in African universities, better cooperation between research funding organisations and a more flexible attitude to the modes and purposes for which funding may be used. These are the main findings of a report, commissioned by the British Academy from the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), which surveyed academic staff and administrators in a range of African universities. According to the report, the first to...
26 Oct 2007
Professor Maskin was elected a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy in 2003. He was awarded the prize (together with Leonid Hurwicz and Roger Myerson) for his work on "the foundations of mechanism design theory". Mechanism design theory has helped economists identify efficient trading mechanisms, regulation schemes and voting procedures. Mechanism design theory plays a central role in many areas of economics and political science. Professor Maskin was born in 1950. Baroness O'Neill, President of the British Academy said : "This is a fitting recognition of Professor Maskin's work as an economist. He is one of the most wide-ranging and...
16 Oct 2007
This British Academy panel discussion formed part of the British Association for the Advancement of Science's 2007 Festival of Science, hosted by the University of York. The discussion took place on 13 September 2007. Chair and discussion convenor: Wyn Grant, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick Discussion summary from Wyn Grant | Speakers and Presentations NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:16 October 2007The British Academy is the National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Established by Royal Charter in 1902, the British Academy is an independent learned society promoting the humanities and social sciences. It is composed of Fellows...
16 Oct 2007
The British Academy invites applications for this year's round of Visiting Fellowships. The scheme enables early-career overseas postdoctoral academics to come to the UK for at least two months in order to carry out research at a British institution, in conjunction with a UK academic. The scheme is open to any scholar from outside the UK who has obtained a PhD after January 2002, or who is of equivalent status. Applications must be made with a UK-based academic sponsor whose home institution is willing to host the visit (UK institutions can apply to the Academy for the full economic cost...
10 Oct 2007
On 5 September, the latest British Academy report, Peer Review: the challenges for the humanities and social sciences, will be launched at an event attended by leading representatives from national institutions and the research community. Those who judge research into humanities and social sciences are under increasing pressure to assess its quality whilst receiving little, if any, incentive to do so, says the Academy report which calls for a series of changes by those responsible for research policy. The British Academy, the national academy for the humanities and social sciences, produced the report in response to concerns about the peer...
5 Sep 2007
Dame Rosalyn Higgins, FBA, President of the International Court of Justice, has been awarded one of the four Balzan prizes for 2007. The prize was awarded for her contributions to the study of international law since 1945. Luzius Wildhabar, a member of the judging committee and former President of the European Court of Human Rights congratulated Rosalyn Higgins “for her clear, constructive as well as innovative and groundbreaking books, writings, articles and court decisions in defence of the rule of law and human rights; for her leading role in strengthening and enlarging modern international law”. Each year the International Balzan...
4 Sep 2007
The timetable for applications for British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships has been brought forward in order to provide for earlier announcements, to give universities more time to plan to integrate Postdoctoral Fellows into departmental teaching and other programmes. The process will be conducted over two stages instead of one, in order to reduce the burden on HEIs. The deadline for outline submissions is 15 October 2007 for awards to be taken up from September 2008. Institutions are required to countersign outline applications but need provide no further information at this stage. Applicants will be notified of the outcome in December 2007,...
8 Aug 2007
To judge from letters to the press, Parliament is always in decline. Critics of Parliament hark back to a golden age, when oppressive and over-powerful governments were held in check by a vigorous and independent House of Commons. How different, say the critics from the present age when the Commons is packed with "career politicians" always looking apprehensively to the next government reshuffle, and afraid to speak up or vote against abuses. Like most golden ages, that of Parliament is more of a mirage than a reality. The Executive, or government, say the critics, is too strong, and puts the...
8 Aug 2007
The British Academy congratulates Professor Andrew Whiten, FBA, University of St Andrews, on the award of the Rivers Memorial Medal 2007 by the Royal Anthropological Institute. This medal is awarded for work that makes a significant contributions to anthropology or archaeology. The medal has been awarded annually since 1924, and recipients include many Fellows of the British Academy. Professor Whiten is cited for his interdisciplinary contributions to anthropology: "He has pioneered new approaches to the comparative and evolutionary study of the origins of culture, revealing the complex traditions of wild chimpanzees and other primates, and the minds that make this...
26 Jul 2007
On Thursday, 19 July the British Academy, the national Academy for the humanities and social sciences, elected forty-eight new scholars into the Fellowship for their academic achievements. Thirty-eight UK based academics have been elected and a further ten overseas scholars have been elected as Corresponding Fellows. Robin Jackson, Chief Executive and Secretary of the British Academy, said: "Election to Fellowship is the principal way in which the Academy recognises scholarly excellence. It comes as the culmination of a rigorous selection process in which each of the Academy's eighteen Sections, organised by academic discipline, is involved. This year we are pleased...
19 Jul 2007
As the Government announces plans to address low voter turn-out and participation by devolving more power to local communities, a British Academy workshop, convened by Professor Pat Thane, FBA, on Monday 9th July will explore whether lessons from the past can help to revive local democracy. There is a widespread perception that English local government functions less effectively than it ‘used to’, so did the Victorians get local democracy right or were the 1930s and ‘40s the ‘golden age’ for town halls? As the Prime Minister initiates a national debate on democracy and the constitution, what role should local government...
6 Jul 2007
This British Academy public, discussion evening took place on 7 June 2007 and was convened and chaired by Professor Marian Hobson. Speakers Katherine Astbury, University of Warwick Bob Gillan, University of Manchester Will McMorran, Queen Mary, University of London Caroline Warman, University of Oxford Thomas Wynn, University of Exeter. Respondents Philippe Roger, Ecole des Hautes Etudes Sociales, Paris SveinEirik Fauskevåg, Norwegian University of Science and Technology Papers are available at the end of this report The Marquis de Sade, long-term prisoner and pornographer, was never a member of the literary establishment of his own time, even though he undoubtedly wished...
6 Jul 2007
For more than twenty years the British Academy has made clear its opposition to academic boycotts. It supports free academic interchange, global collaboration and participation in scholarly activity, without regard to race, religion, political philosophy, ethnic origin, citizenship, language and sex. The Academy, as a member of the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies (IHRNASS), indicates its full support of the Network’s statement published in the scientific journal Nature on 13 June 2002. The text of the statement includes the following: "The International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies was created to address grave issues...
11 Jun 2007
Introduction The Government’s decision to make language learning optional from 2004 onwards for pupils aged 14+ exacerbated, rather than addressed, the decline that was already evident in the number of pupils taking a language at GCSE level. In the period from 1994 to 1996, the proportion of all pupils taking a language at GCSE fell from 68 to 51 per cent. The decision has therefore not only damaged life and work opportunities for many pupils, but also threatens the UK’s ability to compete effectively in a global market, and UK research risks becoming increasingly insular in outlook. The British Academy...
8 Jun 2007
A British Academy discussion 'A Different Sade: Food for Thought'', at 6pm on Thursday, 7 June 2007, chaired by Marian Hobson, FBA, Queen Mary, University of London, will ask if we need to reassess the Marquis de Sade. A panel of five young British scholars and two international specialists on Sade will ask if we can view Sade's diverse literary works without reference to his debauchery, imprisonment and madness. Should we view him as an experimental writer of the French Enlightenment, or perhaps follow the Surrealists and proclaim 'Votez Sade', thereby confirming him as safely subversive? What place does this...
31 May 2007
On Thursday 17 May 2007, Professor Noël O'Sullivan delivered the Elie Kedourie Memorial Lecture, on 'Visions of European Unity since 1945'. The French and Dutch referenda on the draft European constitution exposed the lack of clarity about the kind of European identity that the integration project aims to create. Europhile elites have avoided public debate about this subject, relying on pragmatism in order to avoid provoking resistance to the project. Yet there has in fact been a wide-ranging debate about the nature of European unity ever since the Second World War. Professor O'Sullivan analyses five visions of European unity, and...
22 May 2007
Onora O'Neill, President of the British Academy and Professor of Philosophy, University of Cambridge, has been elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a major award - the Royal Society does not elect more than one Honorary Fellow each year, and it is rarely given to a scholar from the humanities and social sciences. She joins such well known figures as David Attenborough and Stephen Hawking. Baroness O’Neill was elected in recognition of her outstanding contribution to philosophy and her analyses of ethical issues in science, particularly in the biosciences. Onora O'Neill said: "It is a...
18 May 2007
Modern liberal societies contain people of many different religious beliefs, and those different religious beliefs often dictate different understandings of the proper scope of politics, and of the relationship between religious belief and political power. Is it legitimate for people to wear religious symbols such as a crucifix or a headscarf at school? Should we ban, or restrict, literature that criticizes a religious faith such as Islam? Does Jewish and Islamic dietary law justify exemption from the laws governing the slaughter of animals? All these questions arise as a result of the pluralist character of modern societies, and all draw...
26 Apr 2007
At a ceremony held on 24 April 2007, Professor Peter Hennessy, a Fellow of the British Academy, was awarded the 2006 Orwell Prize for his book Having it So Good: Britain in the Fifties (Allen Lane). The judges noted : "Hennessey re-invents historical writing in an utterly Orwellian way. His book weaves politics into the fabric of the nation’s life – all in his inimitable, delightful, shrewd yet generous style. Impeccably researched and with a view of the nation’s life in the round.” Peter Hennessy said: "It's a special treat to win the Orwell Prize because ever since I read...
25 Apr 2007
The British Academy has a strong record in the promotion of collaborative, infrastructural, and often international research. The programme of Academy Research Projects currently gives academic recognition and modest financial support to about 40 projects, and the Academy is now looking to expand this programme with the adoption of a small number of new projects. This programme does not offer the kind of major funding currently available via the AHRC or ESRC, and it is expected that any project supported under the scheme will need to be able to demonstrate that it is independently financially viable. Academy Research Projects typically...
24 Apr 2007
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the British Academy have today announced the results of the new joint scheme to fund Visiting Fellowships from South Asia and the Middle East. The aim of the Visiting Fellowships is to attract early-career researchers particularly from South Asia and the Middle East to collaborate on research. In total 19 fellowships, which will be a minimum of two months in duration, have been awarded, 12 from the Middle East and 7 from South Asia. It is also hoped that through these Visiting Fellowships longer term plans for collaborative research could be developed....
18 Apr 2007
Anthropology is not Ethnography Radcliffe-Brown Lecture in Social Anthropology 14 March 2007 Anthropology has been shrinking. Once an inclusive inquiry into the conditions of human life, it has increasingly turned inwards on itself. One reason for this shrinkage lies in the identification of anthropology with ethnography. Such identification leads us to think of observation as a means to the end of description. The lecturer will aim to show, to the contrary, how description not just literary but graphic and performative - can be re-embedded in observation. Overturning the relation between observation and description will enhance anthropology's potential to engage with...
12 Apr 2007
The British Academy welcomes the announcement in the Chancellor’s budget speech of sustained Government commitment to investing in research. The President of the British Academy, Baroness O’Neill, said “It is good to see that the Government will continue to build up its investment in research, and the additional funding will be welcome. The early announcement of the Comprehensive Spending Review settlement for the science and research budget will help planning for the longer term. The British Academy will seek to ensure that a fair proportion of funding flows to the humanities and social sciences, where the UK has demonstrable research...
22 Mar 2007
The British Academy notes with pleasure that Professor Charles Taylor, FBA, Professor of Philosophy at McGill University, Montreal, is the winner of the Templeton Prize 2007. The prize is awarded by the John Templeton Foundation in Philadelphia, USA, which funds scientific research and scholarship on a wide range of themes. The prize is officially known as the “Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries About Spiritual Realities”, and at a value of £800,000 is believed to be the world’s largest annual monetary award given to any individual. Professor Taylor has an international reputation as an influential political philosopher. The...
14 Mar 2007
The British Academy welcomes the publication of Lord Dearing’s report on language study in schools in England, which was set up in response to concerns about the low take-up of modern languages at GSCE following the Government’s decision in 2003 to make language learning optional from the age of 14. In its submission to Lord Dearing, the Academy argued for greater investment in teachers, because the current shortage had helped to contribute to the fall in student numbers at every stage of study from GCSE to PhD, which in turn had had a disastrous impact on the supply not only...
13 Mar 2007
A major public debate on the creation of knowledge will take place at Queen’s University Belfast on Wednesday 14 March. The School of Geography, in partnership with the British Academy, will host the panel discussion entitled: “Who’s creating knowledge? The challenge of non-university researchers” from 6.00-7.30pm in the Great Hall at Queen’s. The event forms part of the 2007 Festival of Social Science organised by the Economic and Social Research Council, which runs from 9-18 March. The discussion will focus on the apparent contradiction arising from the fact that it is universities that are so often pictured as the prime...
9 Mar 2007
On 9 February 2007 the ESRC and the British Academy held an Information Day about the opportunities available for social science research in the European Commission’s Framework Programme 7. The slides presented by the speakers are now available online NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:07 March 2007The British Academy is the National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Established by Royal Charter in 1902, the British Academy is an independent learned society promoting the humanities and social sciences. It is composed of Fellows elected in recognition of their distinction as scholars in the humanities and social sciences. More information about the Academy...
7 Mar 2007
The British Academy and the AHRC Research Centre for Studies in Intellectual Property and Technology Law (“the AHRC Centre”) at the University of Edinburgh are holding a joint conference on 'Copyright and Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences'.The conference will take place on Friday 30th March 2007 at the Playfair Library Hall, Old College, University of Edinburgh, South Bridge, Edinburgh EH8 The conference follows the Academy’s Review of Copyright and Research and its subsequent publication of a set of Guidelines by Professor Hector MacQueen of the AHRC Research Centre. Recent developments in technology, legislation and practice have meant that...
7 Mar 2007
Following a successful pilot, Sir David King, Government Chief Scientific Adviser and Head of the Office of Science and Innovation, will be issuing a challenge to the wider scientific community to adopt Rigour, Respect and Responsibility - a Universal Ethical Code for Scientists. Part of National Science and Engineering Week 2007, Sir David's talk will be of interest to those involved in science at all levels: education, research and science-based industry. NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:02 March 2007The British Academy is the National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Established by Royal Charter in 1902, the British Academy is an independent...
2 Mar 2007
The British Academy offers awards for postdoctoral research in the humanities and social sciences. Applications are invited for the following schemes. The next deadline is 15 April 2007. Small Research Grants (up to £7,500) Grants are available for collaborative or individual research projects. www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/srg.html British Conference Grants (up to £2,000) Grants are available for bringing key speakers to conferences held in the UK. www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/bcg.html Overseas Conference Grants (up to £800) Grants are available for travel expenses of a scholar delivering a paper at a conference overseas. www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/ocg.html Contact: Research Grants Department 020 7969 5217 or email grants@britac.ac.ukNOTES TO EDITORSPublished:01 March...
1 Mar 2007
The British Academy warns in its response to Lord Dearing's interim report on language policy that the decline in language study at secondary school is now harming UK scholarship. A decline in the number of GSCE language students reduces the number of A Level and degree students, which in turn depletes the supply both of language teachers for primary and secondary schools, and also of linguistically competent researchers in all subject areas. Onora O'Neill, President of the British Academy, said that: "We are deeply concerned about the effect that a decline in language learning is having upon UK scholarship -...
7 Feb 2007
This one-day British Academy workshop, convened by Professor Antony Duff and Dr Claire Grant on 13 January 2007, tackled some crucial questions about the proper role and limits of the criminal law in a liberal democracy. The workshop was attended by about 60 people, including academics drawn from philosophy, law, politics and other related disciplines, practitioners and policy makers. This produced a series of lively cross-disciplinary discussions. Among the issues that emerged from the papers and the discussions were questions about the morally problematic character of criminal law, as a practice involving the infliction of punishment, and how it can...
6 Feb 2007
Joint ESRC and British Academy Information Day 10am-3.30pm, Friday, 9 February 2007 British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH The newly launched Seventh Framework Programme offers good opportunities for social scientists if they know where to look. A joint ESRC and British Academy Information Day is intended to highlight opportunities for Social Scientists throughout the different parts of the Framework Programme, particularly in the dedicated programme for Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities, but also as part of multi-disciplinary projects in other collaborative research programmes, and in different parts of the Capacities programme. There will also be an important early...
24 Jan 2007
The Repatriation, Restitution and Reparations discussion on 8 December attracted an interactive audience of eighty. Chaired by Tiffany Jenkins (University of Kent at Canterbury), the session opened with talks by Professor David Lowenthal FBA (University College London), Christopher Price(former chair, House of Commons Select Committee on Education, Science and the Arts; former Principal, Leeds Metropolitan University), and Professor John Torpey (City University of New York). Reactions to Torpey’s new book On Reparations Politics (Harvard), to Tony Blair’s expression of sorrow for Britain’s role in the slave trade and of bicentenary pride in its abolition, and to the dubious provenance of...
17 Jan 2007
Lost works of the Greek mathematician Archimedes have brought new interest to his scientific achievements since their recent recovery from a prayer-book dating from AD 1229. About 1500 years after he wrote these treatises, vellum leaves from a tenth-century copy of them were cleaned and over-written to make the prayer book, and so now survive. The palimpsest passed through different hands over the centuries; it was eventually sold to a collector in the United States in 1998. Since then, it has been subject to conservation, imaging and scholarly research based at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, but involving experts...
10 Jan 2007
The British Academy welcomes the publication of the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property. The intellectual property regime is crucial for the development of, and access to, knowledge. In particular it impacts on the way in which researchers in the humanities and social sciences are able to use research material. We are pleased that the Gowers Review has recognised that the UK copyright system should be more flexible in its application, and endorses the principle 'that "fair uses" of copyright can create economic value without damaging the interests of copyright owners'. These arguments were made powerfully by the Academy both in...
18 Dec 2006
The British Academy offers awards for postdoctoral research in the humanities and social sciences. Applications are invited for the following schemes. The next deadline is 15 January 2007. Small Research Grants (up to £7,500) Grants are available for collaborative or individual research projects. www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/srg.html British Conference Grants (up to £2,000) Grants are available for bringing key speakers to conferences held in the UK. www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/bcg.html Overseas Conference Grants (up to £800) Grants are available for travel expenses of a scholar delivering a paper at a conference overseas. www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/ocg.html Contact: Research Grants Department 020 7969 5217 or email grants@britac.ac.ukNOTES TO EDITORSPublished:13 December...
13 Dec 2006
The Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme is designed to enable outstanding early career researchers to strengthen their experience of research and teaching in a university environment, which will develop their curriculum vitae and improve their prospects of obtaining permanent lecturing posts by the end of the Fellowship. Applicants are expected to be at an early stage of their career, either without postdoctoral experience (moving directly from the award of a doctorate) or who have held no more than one postdoctoral appointment (temporary lectureship, postdoctoral fellowship, research assistantship) to date. The other main changes to the scheme for 2007 include the provision of...
12 Dec 2006
In an initiative developed by the British Academy's Latin America and the Caribbean Panel, two awards of up to £20,000 each are available to support a programme of seminars involving UK and Latin American and Caribbean scholars on a topic of mutual interest within the humanities and social sciences. The Academy encourages applications that bring together scholars from a number of distinct institutions within the UK and across Latin America and the Caribbean. The seminar programme should encompass at least two seminars, one in the UK and one in Latin America or the Caribbean. Aim of the award The scheme...
6 Dec 2006
The British Academy, in its response to Lord Dearing's review of language policy, believes that urgent action must be taken to address the extreme, and growing shortage of qualified linguists. The numbers of students pursuing the study of a foreign language to GCSE have fallen precipitately, especially since the removal of the requirement at Key Stage 4. This has the potential to severely undermine the nation’s capacity to compete internationally in face of the global challenge, to support research on international topics and to promote social cohesion. In the short-term the Academy favours a return to compulsion at GCSE or...
29 Nov 2006
At a ceremony held at the British Academy on 22 November 2006, Onora O'Neill, President of the Academy, awarded medals and prizes to six scholars for outstanding contributions in their fields of study. The President said: 'It was a great pleasure to recognise excellence in such varying fields of scholarship and research". The 2006 winners are: Burkitt Medal for Biblical Studies Professor Graham Stanton Lady Margaret’s Professor of Divinity, and Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge Derek Allen Prize for Celtic Studies Mr Daniel Huws Formerly Keeper of Manuscripts & Records, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth Rose Mary Crawshay...
23 Nov 2006
In an initiative developed by the British Academy's Africa Panel, two awards of up to £10,000 a year for up to three years are available to support the development of ongoing links between UK and African research centres or institutions, within the humanities and social sciences. The link would be built around a specific research theme of mutual interest. This could be carried forward through visits in both directions; workshops; seminars and lecture programmes; collaborative research; and joint publications. The programme might form part of either institution's training programme and will ideally involve participation from more than one African institution,...
20 Nov 2006
The British Academy welcomes the opportunity to comment on some of the key conclusions and findings arising from the AHRC's review of its postgraduate funding mechanisms. In general, the Academy shares many of the concerns about the current system noted in the report. We agree that the current funding mechanism is administratively burdensome, and we are also aware of concerns within the academic community that the best applicants do not always get funded and that there can be delays in informing applicants about award decisions. The Academy hopes the proposed new system will address these concerns, and that sufficient safeguards...
2 Nov 2006
On Tuesday, 24 October, Professor Neil MacCormick, QC, University of Edinburgh delivered the British Academy's Law Lecture 'Judicial Independence: Who Cares?' In his lecture Professor MacCormick, a Fellow of the Academy, observed that: 'Recently we have witnessed a disturbing growth of parliamentary and governmental critique of judicial decisions in individual cases. But perhaps decisions concerning anti-terrorism laws have illegitimately prioritised judicial discretion over the ministerial responsibility for the public safety? Meanwhile, changes in the court structure and the governance of the court systems in Scotland as well as England and Wales have generated new proposals for statutory definitions of the...
30 Oct 2006
The government has an opportunity to deliver a fair, sustainable pensions system, but the White Paper risks perpetuating a century-old cycle of complex and muddled reforms, argue the editors of a new British Academy book, launched today. Sixty years after the National Insurance Act laid the foundations for Britain's state pension system, the Government is proposing reforms it claims will be "the biggest renewal of our pension system since the Beveridge reforms." This claim is challenged in Britain's Pensions Crisis: History and Policy, launched on Wednesday 18 October at an event organised by the British Academy and History and Policy....
18 Oct 2006
In its response to the DfES consultation on the reform of higher education research assessment and funding, the British Academy argues that research assessment needs to be slimmed down and made less bureaucratic and burdensome, but that a hasty move to metrics would be ill-advised. Onora O'Neill, President of the Academy, commented that “Quantitative indicators can play a greater part in future in informing and supporting expert judgment and the identification of excellence, but in the humanities and social sciences metrics alone are no substitute for expert judgment of research outputs.” The Academy's new Secretary and Chief Executive Robin Jackson...
11 Oct 2006
This question will be explored at a British Academy discussion to take place on Wednesday, 4th October between the epidemiologist Michael Marmot and economist Richard Layard. Both speakers have written extensively on this controversial subject at the interface of medicine/well-being and the social sciences. Michael Marmot, Director of the International Institute for Society and Health at University College London, comments that 'We have remarkably good health in the rich countries of the world. Malaria is long gone from Europe and the USA. Parasitic diseases do not wreak havoc with our lives. Infant mortality is below one in a hundred. Yet...
4 Oct 2006
On 18 September, the latest British Academy Review, ‘Copyright and research in the humanities and social sciences’, was launched at an event in the Academy attended by leading representatives from national institutions and the research community. Onora O’Neill, the President of the British Academy, chaired the launch event and welcomed the report. “From the national point of view,” she said, “it is timely and provides a helpful contribution to the current debate about whether the UK’s intellectual property framework is fit for purpose. The report shows that the copyright system may in important respects be impeding, rather than stimulating, the...
19 Sep 2006
A report from the British Academy, launched on 18 September, expresses fears that the copyright system may in important respects be impeding, rather than stimulating, the production of new ideas and new scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. It is in the nature of creative activity and scholarship that original material builds on what has gone before – ‘if I have seen further, it is because I had stood on the shoulders of giants’ – therefore provisions that are overly protective of the rights of existing ideas may inhibit the development of new ones. Existing UK law provides exemption...
18 Sep 2006
Why is trust in government so low? A British Academy discussion between leading academics tried to answer this question and explore why moves towards more open government has not made things better. The discussion was held to launch a new British Academy book, Transparency: The Key to Better Governance?, edited by Christopher Hood and David Heald. A year after the introduction of the Freedom of Information Act sought to promote transparency in government, the UK Standards Commission has reported that public trust in politicians remains at a ‘worryingly low level’ and indeed has fallen below trust in estate agents. The...
18 Sep 2006
The British Academy and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) have today announced a new joint scheme to fund Visiting Fellowships from South Asia and the Middle East. The fellowships, which will be a minimum of two months in duration, aim to attract early-career researchers particularly from South Asia and the Middle East to collaborate on research. It is also hoped that through these Visiting Fellowships longer term plans for collaborative research could be developed. Chief Executive of the ESRC, Professor Ian Diamond commented “I am delighted that by working together with the British Academy we can facilitate the...
12 Sep 2006
The British Academy offers awards for postdoctoral research in the humanities and social sciences. Applications are invited for the following schemes. The next deadline is 15 October 2006. Larger Research Grants (£15,000 to £100,000 FEC) Grants are available for collaborative or individual research projects. www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/lrg.html Small Research Grants (up to £7,500) Grants are available for collaborative or individual research projects. www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/srg.html British Conference Grants (up to £2,000) Grants are available for bringing key speakers to conferences held in the UK. www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/bcg.html Overseas Conference Grants (up to £800) Grants are available for travel expenses of a scholar delivering a paper at...
11 Sep 2006
Professor Quentin Skinner, a Fellow of the British Academy and Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge, has been awarded one of the four Balzan Prizes for 2006. Each year the International Balzan Foundation, based in Zurich and Milan, recognises outstanding achievements worldwide across the scholarly and scientific spectrum. Professor Skinner's prize was awarded in the category for "humanities, moral sciences and arts" for his contributions to political thought. The judging committee commented upon Professor Skinner's "distinctive methodology for the study of the history of ideas, his major contribution to the history of political thought and his...
6 Sep 2006
See result of consultation of unsuccessful candidates in the 2005-06 competition. The British Academy is currently reviewing the nature and funding of the Research Leave Fellowship scheme in the light of experience of the implications of Full Economic Costing for these awards. (In 2006 it was possible to afford only 7 two-year awards, compared to 14 in 2005). A further announcement about the longer-term future of the scheme will be made at the end of September 2006. The Academy is therefore not proceeding with the advertisement of the next round of competition, which would normally have been issued in July....
1 Sep 2006
Dr Robin Jackson has taken up the position of Chief Executive and Secretary of the British Academy following the retirement of Mr Peter Brown. Dr Jackson commented "I am looking forward with great enthusiasm to working with the Fellows and staff of the British Academy. There is a varied and exciting agenda for us to tackle together."NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:01 September 2006Dr Jackson has degrees from Oxford and Princeton in classics and ancient philosophy (BA Oxon., Lit Hum, 1973; Ph D Princeton, 1982). He taught in the USA and at the University of Melbourne, where he was Seymour Reader in Ancient...
1 Sep 2006
The British Academy is happy to announce the results of the first competitions in two new grant schemes established by its Area Panels for Africa, and for Latin America and the Caribbean, to promote collaboration between the UK and these continents. It had been intended to offer only two awards for each continent, but the strength and number of applications encouraged the Academy to offer eight awards in total. The Latin America and the Caribbean Panel set up the UK-Latin America/Caribbean Link Programme to encourage new collaboration and the development of new research activities between different research communities. Thirty one...
31 Aug 2006
A British Academy Specialist Workshop convened by Professor Peter Hennessy, FBA, Queen Mary and the National Archives 11 February 2006 N.B. These notes are intended to reflect the main points of discussion and represent those issues on which general agreement was reached at the end of the day. Points in Conclusion A Rolling Conversation There was agreement to welcome and accept the Lord Chancellor’s offer of a rolling conversation between Whitehall and the academic community. It was hoped that such an engagement would both inform government officials and provide scholars with a better understanding of FOI legislation and implementation. To...
26 Jul 2006
The British Academy has responded to the European Commission Research Directorate-General’s consultation on Priority 8 of Framework Programme 7. In addition to its response to the general questionnaire, the Academy chose to focus on two specific Activities which it considered of particular importance. The Academy regards the themes addressed by the proposed Activity 3, Major Trends in Society and their Implications, as of central importance for the development in European societies, and encourages better analysis of existing policy, research not only the family but on wider kin, friends, neighbours and neighbourhoods, and a better understanding of long-term trends. The Academy...
21 Jul 2006
The British Academy is currently reviewing the nature and funding of the Research Leave Fellowship scheme in the light of experience of the implications of Full Economic Costing for these awards. (In 2006 it was possible to afford only 7 two-year awards, compared to 14 in 2005). A further announcement about the longer-term future of the scheme will be made at the end of September 2006. The Academy is therefore not proceeding with the advertisement of the next round of competition, which would normally have been issued in July. In the meantime, the Academy continues to offer the Senior Research...
11 Jul 2006
The British Academy is happy to announce the results of its first British Academy Visiting Fellowships competition. A total of 37 awards have been made to enable early-career academics to spend between two and four months in the UK working on a personal research project. The Fellows are all based in UK institutions. The Visiting Fellows’ research areas are diverse, embracing such topics as Middle Kingdom Egypt, the Arab debate on the origins of Islamist terrorism, medieval French literature and environmental management in sub-Saharan Africa. Dr Zhao Jiwei from China is to work on the development of algebra in medieval...
11 Jul 2006
The British Academy held its One Hundred and Fourth Annual General Meeting on 6 July 2006. The President, Baroness O’Neill, was in the Chair. The Academy's Officers for 2006-07 will be Baroness O'Neill, President; Professor R.J.P Kain, Treasurer; Professor D.I.D. Gallie, Foreign Secretary; Dr D.J. McKitterick, Publications Secretary; Revd Professor J.S. Morrill, Chairman of the Communications and Activities Committee; Professor R.J. Bennett, Chairman of the Research Committee; Professor M.G. Fulford, Chairman of the Board for Academy-Sponsored Institutes and Societies; Professor S.J. Broadie, Vice-President (Humanities); and Professor A.J. Kuper, Vice-President (Social Sciences) The following thirty four scholars were elected Fellows of...
7 Jul 2006
The long-term benefits of recycling Nearly eight centuries ago, we are not sure where, a Greek scribe made a copy of a prayer book, using - as scribes quite often did - recycled parchment from several older manuscripts, with the original writing sponged or scraped off and the original folios folded in two to make a smaller format. There is a long story to be pieced together about what happened to this seemingly unprepossessing book in the intervening centuries, but the most dramatic stage in its history until recently was the discovery by the Danish scholar J.L. Heiberg that part...
30 Jun 2006
This lecture, delivered at the British Academy on 24 May 2006, was a critique of the current orthodoxy amongst historians that sees the Third Reich as a 'dictatorship by consent', based on a 'self-policing society'. The lecture traced the development of the historiography of policing and repression since 1945, and argued that while early work in this area over-emphasized the totalitarian control exercised over German society in particular by the Gestapo, recent work has trivialized and neglected the repressive side of Nazism. It examined the various methods of control, from the legal apparatus of courts, police and state prisons to...
7 Jun 2006
The British Academy is pleased to announce the result of the 2006 competition for Research Leave Fellowships, Senior Research Fellowships and the Thank-Offering to Britain Fellowship. These awards were decided by the Academy in January 2006, and will be taken up by the award-holders from this autumn. 173 applicants submitted a total of 208 applications in the two competitions (the highest numbers since 1999). 134 applications were submitted for the Research Leave Fellowships scheme and 74 for the Senior Research Fellowships and Thank-Offering to Britain Fellowship. The Research Leave Fellowship scheme was the first of the Academy’s Posts competitions to...
26 May 2006
The British Academy workshop Working Together Across Disciplines: Challenges for the Natural and Social Sciences, convened by Professor Wyn Grant on 12 May 2006, explored the many challenges that interdisciplinary research faces in a university environment. The idea of interdisciplinary research attracts much interest and support, not least from government, but actually undertaking it is more difficult. One common theme during the day was whether multi-disciplinarity was enough or whether interdisciplinarity or even post-disciplinarity should be the objective. The view that emerged was that, while multi-disciplinary teams might be able to address specific real world problems through short-term collaborations, longer-term...
18 May 2006
This lecture is a critique of the current orthodoxy amongst historians that sees the Third Reich as a 'dictatorship by consent', based on a 'self-policing society'. The lecture will trace the development of the historiography of policing and repression since 1945, and argue that while early work in this area over-emphasized the totalitarian control exercised over German society in particular by the Gestapo, recent work has trivialized and neglected the repressive side of Nazism. It will examine the various methods of control, from the legal apparatus of courts, police and state prisons to low-level enforcement agencies such as Block Wardens,...
9 May 2006
On Tuesday 11 April 2006, Professor Ian Hacking delivered the tenth British Academy Lecture, on 'Kinds of People: Moving Targets'. Genius, obesity, autism: these are among the innumerable classifications of human beings that we would like to understand, either to help individuals, as in the case of autistic children, or perhaps to emulate them, as in the case of geniuses. But these characteristics are not stable ways to be a human being. People classified react to and interact with what is known about them. There is a 'looping effect' between the classifications and the classified. What does this mean for...
13 Apr 2006
This British Academy workshop, convened by Professor Adam Kuper on 7th April 2006, addressed the structure of scholarly publishing, emphasising, in John Thompson's keynote, the role of different types of content; intellectual property and the economics of publishing; and libraries, archives and database resources. Common themes, identified in the concluding discussion, included IT's radical and relocating effects, its 'can do' takeup by researchers but also technical demands on IT professionals; the challenge of long-term archiving for everyone; and the need for simple approaches to resource interfaces that are easy to learn to use and to adapt over time, and that...
12 Apr 2006
Though the literary careers of Shakespeare and Ben Jonson were closely related, the pathways they followed and styles they adopted as professional writers differed significantly. Jonson assertively fashioned for himself a public role as 'author' that derived in part from classical precedent, but also strikingly anticipated later practice. Shakespeare's more reticent mode of self-presentation generated notorious mysteries concerning the nature of his personal life and, for some, a radical doubt concerning his very identity. Yet in the combined practice ofthese two writers, the modern notion of the author was born. Further details are available from the Royal Society of Edinburgh...
5 Apr 2006
The British Academy is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Robin Jackson as its next Chief Executive and Secretary with effect from 1 September 2006. Dr Jackson will succeed Mr Peter Brown, CBE, who has headed the Academy’s staff since 1983 and is retiring at the end of the summer. The British Academy was established by Royal Charter in 1902, and is the national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It is an independent, self-governing fellowship of more than 800 scholars, elected for distinction and achievement in one or more branches of the academic disciplines that make...
3 Apr 2006
Two awards of up to £20,000 each are available to support a programme of seminars involving UK and Latin American and Caribbean scholars on a topic of mutual interest within the humanities and social sciences. The Academy encourages applications that bring together scholars from a number of distinct institutions within the UK and across Latin America and the Caribbean. The seminar programme should encompass at least two seminars, one in the UK and one in Latin America or the Caribbean. Aim of the award The scheme is intended to encourage interaction between scholars from the UK and Latin America and/...
21 Mar 2006
The British Academy offers awards for postdoctoral research in the humanities and social sciences. Applications are invited for the following schemes: Small Research Grants (up to £7,500) Grants are available for collaborative or individual research projects Next deadline: 15 April 2006 British Conference Grants (up to £2,000) Grants are available for bringing key speakers to conferences held in the UK. Next deadline: 15 April 2006 Overseas Conference Grants (up to £800) Grants are available for travel expenses of a scholar delivering a paper at a conference overseas. Next deadline: 15 April 2006 Contact: Research Grants Department 020 7969 5217 or...
8 Mar 2006
Dame Marilyn Strathern, FBA delivers 'Useful Knowledge', a repeat of the Academy's 2005 Isaiah Berlin Lecture at University of Manchester, on 1 March 2006 The Times Higher recently linked student plagiarism to the erosion of value placed on knowledge for its own sake. From BBC Radio 4 comes a lament about the decreasing numbers of students taking A-level physics - natural science must be made more relevant to their lives. In an evidence-based era, policy makers tell themselves that knowledge that cannot be communicated is useless knowledge. You do not have to be anthropologist to suspect that there could be...
1 Mar 2006
Council for British Archaeology Winter General Meeting 2006 Thursday, 9 March 2006 The British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH Archaeology and Geography: time, brains and bodies Prof Clive Gamble, Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London The disciplines of archaeology and geography have much in common. They have a shared past in imperial discovery and exploration that contributed to a distinctive British identity. Today this past is a challenging legacy that has to be frequently addressed as the disciplines continue to re-define themselves. Such continual re-definition is necessary because outreach is a central concern to the...
24 Feb 2006
In his opening speech the Lord Chancellor welcomed the idea of a rolling conversation with scholars about how best to make maximum and most fruitful use of the new Freedom of Information (FOI) regime. Earlier in a conversation with myself on BBC Radio Four’s Today Programme he said much the same and indicated that a spirit of partnership was what he wanted. He recognised too that amidst the inevitable bumping and grinding of year one of FOI, the needs of scholars may have been somewhat overwhelmed by spectacular and politically partisan arguments about some of the more politically sensitive documentary...
13 Feb 2006
N.A.M Rodger is the winner of the 2005 British Academy Book Prize, for The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815, published by Allen Lane, Penguin Books. The Academy’s Book Prize celebrates scholarly works within the humanities and social sciences that will also appeal to the non-specialist general reader. At an award ceremony held at the Academy on 12 December, Professor Alan Ryan, (Warden of New College, Oxford and Chairman of the Judging Panel) commented that N.A.M Rodgers’ book 'securely anchors the Royal Navy on the bedrock of the nation, instead of leaving it to drift in...
13 Dec 2005
Applications are now being invited for the 2006 British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships. These three-year research fellowships are designed as early career opportunities for recently postdoctoral scholars to develop experience of research and teaching in the university environment. Eligible applicants are expected to have a prior connection with the UK academic community, and to be recently postdoctoral (having had a viva voce examination on or after 1 July 2004). Full details are available from the Academy’s website at http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/pdfells.html The closing date for applications is 28 February 2006. No late applications will be accepted. Contact: Research Posts Department tel: 020 7969...
9 Dec 2005
The British Academy offers awards for postdoctoral research in the humanities and social sciences. Applications are invited for the following schemes. The next deadline is 15 January 2006. Small Research Grants (up to £7,500) Grants are available for collaborative or individual research projects. http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/srg.html British Conference Grants (up to £2,000) Grants are available for bringing key speakers to conferences held in the UK. http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/bcg.html Overseas Conference Grants (up to £800) Grants are available for travel expenses of a scholar delivering a paper at a conference overseas. http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/ocg.html Contact: Research Grants Department 020 7969 5217 or email grants@britac.ac.ukNOTES TO EDITORSPublished:01 December...
1 Dec 2005
The 2005 medals and prize winners are: Rev. Professor Pierre-Maurice Bogaert, OSB Professor Emeritus of Divinity, University of Louvain-la-Neuve The Burkitt Medal for Biblical Studies Dr Judith Farr with Mrs Louise Carter for The Gardens of Emily Dickinson (Harvard University Press, 2004); and Dr Claire Preston, University of Cambridge for Thomas Browne and the Writing of Early Modern Science, (Cambridge University Press, 2004) The Rose Mary Crawshay Prizes for English Literature Professor Philip Grierson, FBA Professor Emeritus of Numismatics, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge The Derek Allen Prize (numismatics) Mr Ronald Lightbown Art Historian and formerly Keeper of Metalwork Victoria...
21 Nov 2005
A high-level international event to showcase British and European social science research was held at the British Academy on November 3 to mark the UK Presidency of the EU. The conference, which was attended by over 120 senior policymakers, politicians, civil servants, academics and media representatives, heard presentations from leading researchers from a number of EU countries about the contribution of social science to the development of evidence-based policy. Download conference report "Europe: Addressing the Socio-Economic Agenda" (http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/Images/europe_socio-economic_20051103_tcm6-13014.pdf")NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:17 November 2005 For further details please contact The ESRC’s Press Manager, Alexandra Saxon alexandra.saxon@esrc.ac.uk/01793 413032 or Will Godwin will.godwin@esrc.ac.uk/ 01793...
17 Nov 2005
The following titles have been short listed for the 2005 British Academy Book Prize - further details are available from http://www.britac.ac.uk/bookprize/index.html David Crystal Stories of English Allen Lane/Penguin Press Nicola Lacey A Life of H. L. A. Hart: The Nightmare and the Noble Dream Oxford University Press Rana Mitter A Bitter Revolution Oxford University Press N A M Rodger The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815 Allen Lane/Penguin Press Paul Seabright The Company of Strangers: A Natural History of Economic Life Princeton University Press Peter Wiseman Myths of Rome University of Exeter Press NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:14...
14 Nov 2005
On Thursday 27 October, Rt Hon Lord Bingham of Cornhill delivered the 2005 Maccabaean Lecture in Jurisprudence, on 'The Judges: Active or Passive?', at Cardiff Law School, Cardiff University. Should the judges, when giving their legal rulings, seek to develop and modernise the law? Or should they confine themselves to declaring the law as they find it to be, leaving it to the democratically-elected legislature to make any changes thought to be necessary? Lord Bingham's lecture touches on the constitutional implications of this choice. The text of the lecture is available from the Academy's website.NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:28 October 2005 Rt...
28 Oct 2005
Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, joined Peter Hennessy, Quentin Skinner, and Baroness O’Neill, to consider the ‘Influence of History in Public Life’ from ethical, scholarly, sociological, and political perspectives. The seminar, organised by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and the British Academy, reflected on the role of individual and collective historical consciousness in forming public attitudes and values, and in informing political decisions. Questions discussed included: Does history have enough of a role in our public discourse? Is history misunderstood more dangerous to our culture than historical amnesia? What is the place of myth for national cohesion?...
20 Oct 2005
Dr Claire Valier, Birkbeck, University of London, spoke on Radio Four's Start the Week about the role of the bystander: should we intervene when we witness a crime or anti-social behavior? Dr Valier's contributions can be heard via the Radio Four website http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/starttheweek.shtml Dr Valier is co-convenor with Professor Antony Duff, FBA of the Academy's Philosophical Analysis and the Criminal Law conference which takes place 21-22 October. The conference examines questions about the foundations and limits of the criminal law, about the conditions of criminal responsibility, and about the meaning and justification of criminal punishment. The symposium’s overarching aim is...
17 Oct 2005
Professor Wendy Davies, FBA awards the 2005 Sir Israel Gollancz Prize to Professor Patrick P. O'Neill Professor Patrick O'Neill, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was awarded the Sir Israel Gollancz Prize at a British Academy-Royal Irish Academy joint symposium on 12 October 2005 for King Alfred’s Old English Prose Translation of the First Fifty Psalms (Medieval Academy of America, 2001). The Sir Israel Gollancz Prize, endowed in 1924 in honour of the first Secretary of the British Academy, is awarded biennially by the Academy for published work or original investigations on subjects connected with medieval English studies, both...
14 Oct 2005
Social science research has an important contribution to make to international security policy a conference audience will be told in the British Academy in London on 3 November. Sir Lawrence Freedman will be the principal speaker at the security session which is part of ‘Europe: Addressing the Socio-Economic Agenda’ - a conference marking the UK’s EU Presidency which will be attended by senior policymakers, politicians, civil servants, academics, and media representatives. The conference, jointly organised by the British Academy and Economic and Social Research Council, and supported by the DTI and the Cabinet Office, will bring together as speakers leading...
12 Oct 2005
The Academy has organised a follow-up meeting to the publication of its review of the current status, and likely development and needs, of electronic resources for UK research in the Humanities and Social Sciences. NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:06 October 2005 This meeting will take place on Wednesday 9 November 2005 at the Arts Tower, Lecture Theatre 3, University of Sheffield The Review is available online from the Academy's website. Established by Royal Charter in 1902, the British Academy is an independent learned society promoting the humanities and social sciences. It is composed of Fellows elected in recognition of their distinction as...
6 Oct 2005
Published September 2005, a new British Academy volume completes the publication of one of the most important sources of information on medieval England. The English poll taxes of 1377, 1379 and 1381 taxed householders, wives, dependants and servants individually. The tax records therefore provide information about people who are rarely, if ever, mentioned in other documents - frequently including details of occupations and relationships. The Poll Taxes of 1377, 1379 and 1381, Part 3: Wiltshire-Yorkshire edited by Carolyn C Fenwick (Records of Social and Economic History, New Series 37) 808 pages; ISBN 0-19-726336-4 The widely varying documents associated with the...
3 Oct 2005
On Tuesday 20 September, Professor Stephen Nickell delivered the 2005 Keynes Lecture in Economics, on 'Practical Issues in UK Monetary Policy, 2000-2005'. He considered three topics. First, the rise in household debt and its implications for monetary policy. Second, the role of asset prices in monetary policy and the UK housing boom. Third, the implications of the switch in the inflation target at the end of 2003. The text of the lecture is available from the Academy's websiteNOTES TO EDITORSPublished:21 September 2005 Stephen Nickell was appointed to the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee on a part-time basis with effect...
21 Sep 2005
The British Academy offers awards for postdoctoral research in the humanities and social sciences. Applications are invited for the following schemes: Research Leave Fellowships and Senior Research Fellowships Awards provide two-year or one-year research leave, for established scholars to undertake or complete a programme of sustained research. www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/readfell.html Research Grants Small Research Grants and Larger Research Grants are available for collaborative or individual research projects. www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/research.html Conference Grants Grants are available for bringing key speakers to conferences held in the UK; and individual travel grants to overseas conferences. www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/conferences.html International Activities The Academy has a number of special schemes with...
18 Aug 2005
The British Academy is delighted to announce that the members of the 2005 Book Prize Judging Panel will be: Professor Alan Ryan, FBA, Warden, New College, Oxford and Chair of this year’s Panel Professor Stefan Collini, FBA Celina Fox Selina Hastings Professor Heather Joshi, FBA Professor Susan Mendus, FBA Biographical details and photographs are available from http://www.britac.ac.uk/bookprize/judges05.html This year's short-list will be announced on 14 November 2005NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:18 August 2005 The British Academy Book Prize is for a UK published book in the humanities or the social sciences that is both academically outstanding and appealing to the general reader....
18 Aug 2005
The British Academy held its One Hundred and Third Annual General Meeting on 29 July 2005. The President, Lord Runciman, was in the Chair. The Academy's Officers for 2005-06 will be Baroness O'Neill, President, who succeeds Lord Runciman; Professor R.J.P Kain, Treasurer; Professor C.N.J. Mann, Foreign Secretary; Dr D.J. McKitterick, Publications Secretary; Revd Professor J.S. Morrill, Chairman of the Communications and Activities Committee; Professor R.J. Bennett, Chairman of the Research Committee; Professor M.G. Fulford, Chairman of the Board for Academy-Sponsored Institutes and Societies; Professor R.D. Ashton, Vice-President (Humanities); and Professor D.I.D. Gallie, Vice-President (Social Sciences). The following thirty-five scholars were...
8 Jul 2005
Christopher Bayly The Birth of the Modern World, 1780-1914 Blackwell Publishing Nicholas Boyle Sacred and Secular Scriptures: A Catholic Approach to Literature Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd Paula Byrne Perdita - The Life of Mary Robinson Harper Collins Patricia Crone Medieval Islamic Political Thought Edinburgh University Press David Crystal Stories of English Allen Lane Judith Dunn Children's Friendships: The beginning of intimacy Blakewall Publishing David Hand Measurement: theory and practice Hodder Arnold George & Isabel Henderson, The Art of the Picts: Sculpture and Metalwork in Early Medieval Scotland Thames & Hudson Nicola Lacey A Life of H L A Hart:...
5 Jul 2005
Professor Fred Halliday, FBA and Professor Adam Kuper, FBA will be speaking at a British Academy symposium '"A Question of Culture?" Europe and Islam' on Monday, June 20, 2005 to take place at Bilkent University, Ankara. The symposium will examine a number of contentious contemporary themes relating to religion, cultural identity, politics and international conflict. Professor Jytte Klausen, a Visiting British Academy Fellow, will also be speaking about the experience of Muslim minorities in a number of European countries. Professor Kuper commented that "I am delighted to be chairing such an important discussion in Turkey. Culture seems to explain everything...
17 Jun 2005
With effect from 1 April 2005, the British Academy, together with the new Arts and Humanities Research Council, became the responsibility of the Office of Science and Technology, following transfer from the Department for Education and Skills. In May 2005, the Office for Science and Technology announced its science budget allocations for the period 2005-6 to 2007-8. The grant to the Academy is £14.050m in financial year 2005-6, £18.085m for 2006-7 and £21.385m for 2007-8 (the 2006-7 and 2007-8 figures include allowances for FEC). In the light of this announcement, the Academy has now published its Operating Plan for 2005-6,...
2 Jun 2005
On 20 May 2005, the latest British Academy Review, ‘E-resources for research in the humanities and social sciences’, was launched at an event in the Academy attended by leading representatives from national institutions and the research community. Sir Brian Follett, who led the UK's Research Support Libraries Group which has led to the creation of the Research Libraries Network, chaired the launch event and welcomed the report. From the national point of view, he says, 'It is timely and provides a valuable contribution to the current debate as to how the UK provides, in this electronic age, for improved access...
25 May 2005
The Academy's new Visiting Fellowship scheme enables early-career scholars from overseas to apply directly to the Academy, in conjunction with their UK hosts, for research visits to the UK of between two and four months. The main purpose of the visit should be to enable the visitor to pursue research. The UK host must be resident in the UK, and must undertake to make all the necessary practical and administrative arrangements for the visit. The Academy grants the title of British Academy Visiting Fellow and awards a sum of money towards travel and maintenance costs, which will be administered by...
16 May 2005
The British Academy report on E-resources for research in the humanities and social sciences will be launched at the Academy on Friday 20 May, 1.45-3.45pm. Last year, the Academy initiated a review to investigate the provision of, and access to, research e-resources in the humanities and social sciences, and to identify the national policies and mechanisms that may be needed in order to enable researchers in these disciplines to take full advantage of electronic developments. The review found that many individual researchers are actively exploiting e-resources and that some valuable initiatives in the provision of such resources are under way...
20 Apr 2005
The British Academy most warmly welcomes the establishment of the Arts and Humanities Research Council and congratulates it on coming into formal existence on 1 April 2005. The Academy has long lobbied for such a body, and took the initiative in April 1994 to launch with its own funds the Humanities Research Board of the British Academy, and four years later was co-founder with HEFCE of the Arts and Humanities Research Board, the new Research Council’s fore-runners. The Academy looks forward to maintaining close links with the fully-fledged Arts and Humanities Research Council and wishes it well in its vital...
1 Apr 2005
On 26 April 2005, 27 speakers will make short presentations about aspects of the research for which they were awarded British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships. The talks will cover the full range of Humanities and Social Sciences, including Ancient and Modern History, English Literature, Linguistics, Philosophy and Psychology.NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:10 March 2005 The British Academy is the National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Established by Royal Charter in 1902, the British Academy is an independent learned society promoting the humanities and social sciences. It is composed of Fellows elected in recognition of their distinction as scholars in the humanities...
10 Mar 2005
The British Academy offers awards for postdoctoral research in the humanities and social sciences. Applications are invited for the following schemes. The next deadline is 15 April 2005. Small Research Grants (up to £7,500) Grants are available for collaborative or individual research projects. British Conference Grants (up to £2,000) Grants are available for bringing key speakers to conferences held in the UK. Overseas Conference Grants (up to £800) Grants are available for travel expenses of a scholar delivering a paper at a conference overseas. Contact: Research Grants Department 020 7969 5217 or email grants@britac.ac.ukNOTES TO EDITORSPublished:28 February 2005 For further...
28 Feb 2005
In December 2004 the Academy made 465 awards from the applications it received for 15 October deadline date. The Academy made 199 Small Research Grants, 201 Overseas Conference Grants and 65 British Conference Grants. Further details can be found at http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/awards/index.html.NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:03 February 2005 Requests for further information regarding these schemes should be directed to the Academy's Research Grant's Office, tel: 020 7969 5217, fax: 020 7969 5414, email: grants@britac.ac.uk. The British Academy is the National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Established by Royal Charter in 1902, the British Academy is an independent learned society promoting the...
3 Feb 2005
Recently postdoctoral scholars in the humanities and social sciences are invited to apply for research appointments by 28 February 2005. Up to 37 British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships are offered, tenable for three years from autmn 2005 in a UK university or other institution of higher education. This scheme is designed to enable outstanding scholars who have recently completed their PhDs (or expect to do so by 30 June 2005) to pursue independent research and obtain teaching experience in any field of humanities or social sciences. Further details and application materials are available online. Contact: Research Posts Department 020 7969 5265...
18 Jan 2005
Public services are to be put under the microscope in ESRC-funded research aimed at understanding the key ongoing problems involved in providing essential facilities such as health and education, as opposed to ‘currently fashionable pre-occupations’. Recent years have seen major changes in public services attempted or called for at national and local level, and in the different countries of the UK, with dramatic claims and counter-claims made about the long-term effects. The 'Public Services' programme, launched on January 14, at the British Academy in London, will run for five years. Its Director is Christopher Hood, of the University of Oxford....
14 Jan 2005
Two weeks after new public access rules came in under the UK Freedom of Information Act, precisely what is meant by transparency is still not clear or easily understood, according to leading academics and experts at the launch of the ESRC Public Services Programme at the British Academy. Administrations in other countries - Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland - have failed to deliver on the openness promised with similar legislation, says Alasdair Roberts, a Canadian freedom of information specialist and associate professor at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University in the United States. Instead, they have developed elaborate systems...
14 Jan 2005
Published on Thursday 16 December 2004, this new British Academy publication provides the other half of one of the great economic debates of the 20th century. The documents published in this volume present for the first time the Treasury's counter-arguments during the period when Keynes was developing the ideas that led to the Keynesian revolution in economic policy. Keynes and his Critics: Treasury Responses to the Keynesian Revolution, 1925–1946 edited by G C Peden (Records of Social and Economic History, New Series 36) 390 pages; ISBN 0-19-726322-4 The volume was launched on Tuesday 14 December at a discussion meeting held...
22 Dec 2004
At a ceremony held in the British Academy on 13 December, Professor Alan Ryan (Warden of New College, Oxford and Chairman of the Judges) announced that the winner of the 2004 Academy Book Prize was Diarmaid MacCulloch, for his Reformation: Europe's House Divided 1490-1700, Allen Lane, Penguin Press. The Academy Book Prize established in 2001 celebrates accessible scholarly writing. Professor Ryan said that the judges were looking for a book built on excellent up-to-date scholarship, about a sufficiently large and interesting subject to entice the general reader, treated in as accessible a fashion as a serious treatment of the subject...
14 Dec 2004
The British Academy offers awards for postdoctoral research in the humanities and social sciences. Applications are invited for the following schemes. The next deadline is 15 January 2005. Small Research Grants (up to £7,500) Grants are available for collaborative or individual research projects. British Conference Grants (up to £2,000) Grants are available for bringing key speakers to conferences held in the UK. Overseas Conference Grants (up to £800) Grants are available for travel expenses of a scholar delivering a paper at a conference overseas. Contact: Research Grants Department 020 7969 5217 or email grants@britac.ac.ukNOTES TO EDITORSPublished:11 December 2004 For further...
11 Dec 2004
Professor Mervyn King, FBA, last night delivered the Eighth British Academy Annual Lecture in which he discussed the difficulties of understanding and explaining how luck, fate and uncertainty affect collective decision-making. Taking pensions provision as his principal example, Professor King examined various means which would enable risk to be avoided or shared, and thus reduced for individuals. While not making any recommendations, Professor King also looked at the government’s role in this, both in terms of protecting current pension holders and optimising provision in the future. The full text of the lecture is available from the Academy’s website. NOTES TO...
2 Dec 2004
The British Academy invites applications from scholars in the social sciences and humanities for its 31 December 2004 deadline in the following competitions (applicants should normally be resident in the UK and of postdoctoral status): VISITING PROFESSORSHIPS/FELLOWSHIPS Travel and maintenance grants for distinguished scholars from overseas to be invited to spend 2 to 4 weeks in the UK. EAST EUROPE AND FORMER SOVIET UNION Funds for individual visits, and in connection with collaborative projects, to partner Academies in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. FRANCE Maison des Sciences de l'Homme programme for collaborative projects or invitation of...
1 Dec 2004
The British Academy is delighted to make Margaret Atwood's recent conversation with Dame Gillian Beer available via its website. This wide ranging and informal conversation, held at the Academy on 3 November 2004, examined many aspects of the author's work and touched upon a number of contemporary themes. The evening was completed with questions and comments from the audience. To listen again to this conversation please go to: http://britac.studyserve.com/home/Lecture.asp?ContentContainerID=99 Margaret Atwood is the author of more than forty books of fiction poetry, and, critical essays. Her novels include Oryx and Crake, The Blind Assassin, Alias Grace, The Robber Bride, Cat’s...
1 Dec 2004
The following titles have been shortlisted for the 2004 British Academy Book Prize - further details are available from the prize's website. Stephen Cretney Family Law in the Twentieth Century: A History Oxford University Press Maud Ellmann Elizabeth Bowen Edinburgh University Press R. F Foster W.B.Yeats: A Life, Volume 2 The Arch-Poet Oxford University Press John Landers The Field and the Forge Oxford University Press Diarmaid MacCulloch Reformation, Europe's House Divided 1490-1700 Allen Lane Michael Williams Deforesting the Earth: From Prehistory to Global Crisis University of Chicago PressNOTES TO EDITORSPublished:02 November 2004 The British Academy Book Prize is for a...
2 Nov 2004
In the inaugural British Academy Law Lecture, delivered on 19 October, Mr Justice Edwin Cameron said that creativity and determination were needed to make patent enforcement work for the benefit of the millions in developing countries who have AIDS. Very close to six million poor people are dying of AIDS. Modern medical advances make their deaths unnecessary — yet the medications are not accessible to them. Directly and indirectly, the international enforcement of the patent system has hobbled and inhibited access to life-saving medications in a way that lacks moral warrant. And the 2001 Doha Declaration has not been as...
2 Nov 2004
Within days of Lord Butler reporting, the British Academy brought together a distinguished group of scholars and practitioners to probe the deeper themes at play in the rush of events and inquests following Blair’s decision to go to war. The essays examine the legal issues raised by the manner and content of Lord Hutton’s inquiry; the light both Hutton and Butler shed on the Blair style of Government; and the matter of trust between Government, the governed and the news media. HUTTON AND BUTLER: LIFTING THE LID ON THE WORKINGS OF POWER edited by W G Runciman (A British Academy...
21 Oct 2004
These ten essays are concerned with theoretical and empirical analyses of trust and distrust in post-Communist Europe after the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989. Differences between meanings of trust in countries with democratic traditions and in post-totalitarian countries raise questions about the ways in which history, culture and social psychology shape the nature and development of political phenomena. While political and economic changes can have rapid effects, cultural and psychological changes may linger behind and influence the quality of political trust and representations of democracy. TRUST AND DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION IN POST-COMMUNIST EUROPE edited by Ivana Marková (Proceedings of...
20 Oct 2004
Five of the British Academy's most elite medals and prizes have been awarded at a ceremony today in London. The winners are: Professor Morna D Hooker (Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity, Emerita Professor and Fellow of Robinson College, Cambridge) The Burkitt Medal for Biblical Studies Professor Colin Timms for Polymath of the Baroque: Agostino Steffani and his Music (Oxford University Press New York, 2003) The Derek Allen Prize Professor Barrington W Cunliffe, CBE, FBA The Graham Clark Medal Dr Maud Ellmann for Elizabeth Bowen: The Shadow Across the Page (Edinburgh University Press, 2003) and Dr Anne Stott for Hannah More:...
4 Oct 2004
The Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS) is holding workshops in London and Manchester in the autumn 2004 for scholars involved in the development of digital resources. Applicants planning to seek research support from the Academy, or those in receipt of British Academy research awards, may be interested in attending. Further details are available from the AHDS website.NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:07 September 2004 Further details on the workshops are available from the AHDS. The British Academy has agreements with both the Arts and Humanities Data Service (for the arts and humanities) and the Economic and Social Data Service (for the social...
7 Sep 2004
The British Academy is delighted to announce that the members of the 2004 Book Prize Judging Panel will be: Professor Alan Ryan, FBA, Warden, New College, Oxford and Chair of this year’s Panel Antony Beevor Professor Marilyn Butler, FBA , Rector, Exeter College, Cambridge Professor Eda Sagarra, pro-Chancellor, Dublin University Lord Skidelsky, FBA, University of Warwick Marina Warner Biographical details and photographs are available from the book prize website. This year's short-list will be announced on 2 November 2004.NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:20 August 2004 The British Academy Book Prize is for a UK published book in the humanities or the social...
20 Aug 2004
The British Academy welcomes the principal finding of the National Audit Office report on the Centenary Research Project competition, that there was 'no evidence of bias on the part of the Academy in its handling or consideration of the applications or that ethnic origin or gender had influenced the decisions relating to the award'. The Academy regards this as clear endorsement of its view that the kinds of bias which were alleged in a sustained and vexatious campaign by the complainants were without foundation. The report consistently stresses the Academy’s good faith throughout the selection process. The Academy accepts the...
29 Jul 2004
To mark its centenary in 2002 the British Academy organised a programme of lectures on the current state of various disciplines and their future prospects. This is an intriguing collection of highly personal reflections on the stability and instability of the ways in which we organise knowledge, and on how far the academic community can and should be involved in the shaping of public policy. THE PROMOTION OF KNOWLEDGE Lectures to mark the Centenary of the British Academy, 1902-2002 edited by John Morrill (Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 122) 224 pages; ISBN 0-19-726312-7NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:27 July 2004 John Morrill...
27 Jul 2004
The Academy has established a Working Group to review the current status, and likely development and needs, of electronic resources for UK research in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The Group expects to report by the end of 2004, and welcomes input from interested parties, whether by completing a survey questionnaire or by particular comments. The terms of reference for the Policy Study are given below. Survey of researchers The Academy is contacting a sample of researchers directly. Any UK researcher who has not received a direct request to complete the Academy's questionnaire is invited to do so and return...
23 Jul 2004
The British Academy’s subject Sections have announced this year’s long-list of fourteen titles – full details are given below. This year’s Judging Panel, chaired by Professor Alan Ryan, FBA, Warden, New College, Oxford will consider the long-listed books over the summer and autumn before announcing the short-list of six titles in early November. The 2004 winner will be announced at a ceremony to be held at the Academy on Monday, 13 December. The 2004 long-list Michelle P Brown The Lindisfarne Gospels: Society, Spirituality and the Scribe British Library Stephen Cretney Law in the Twentieth Century: A History Oxford University Press...
21 Jul 2004
The Academy is running a second round of its special scheme of small grants intended to help British scholars planning to submit an application to the European Union’s Sixth Frame Programme. The scheme is for those wishing to make closer contact with colleagues in other countries and develop research plans prior to submitting an application to the EU. It is expected that most applications will fall within the remit of Priority 7, Citizens and Governance in a knowledge based society, but requests in respect of appropriate work in the social sciences and humanities relating to other Priority areas would be...
13 Jul 2004
The British Academy has signed two new Agreements, with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), and the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC) in Spain. Both schemes support collaborative projects in the humanities and social sciences. Japanese Agreement Up to three projects a year. Each project to last for up to two years. Grants of £5,000 per annum will be available from the Academy together with matching funding from the JSPS. Spanish Agreement Up to two projects a year. Each project to last for up to two years. Grants of £2,500 per annum will be available from...
13 Jul 2004
The British Academy is pleased to announce the result of the 2004 competition for Research Readerships, Senior Research Fellowships and the Thank-Offering to Britain Fellowship. These awards were decided earlier in the year, and will be taken up by the award-holders from this autumn. 143 applicants submitted a total of 158 applications in the competition: 107 for Research Readerships and 51 for the Senior Research Fellowships and Thank-Offering to Britain Fellowship. The Academy was able to fund 14 Readerships, 7 Senior Research Fellowships (for which financial backing is generously provided by the Leverhulme Trust), and 1 Thank-Offering to Britain Fellowship...
6 Jul 2004
On 1 July Lord Sainsbury, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Science and Innovation), launched the British Academy's latest Review 'That full complement of riches' - the contributions of the arts, humanities and social sciences to the nation's wealth at a ceremony in the Academy attended by leading representatives of the scholarly community. In his opening address Lord Sainsbury welcomed the Review and commented that this report 'highlights the contribution of arts, humanities and social sciences to the nation's wealth. It provides a helpful framework for analysing the many different ways in which the arts, the humanities and the social sciences -...
5 Jul 2004
The British Academy held its One Hundred and Second Annual General Meeting on 1 July 2004. The President, Lord Runciman, was in the Chair. The Academy's Officers for 2004-05 will be Lord Runciman, President; Professor R.J.P. Kain, Treasurer; Professor C.N.J. Mann, Foreign Secretary; Dr D.J. McKitterick, Publications Secretary; Revd Professor J.S. Morrill, Chairman of the Communications and Activities Committee; Professor R.J. Bennett, Chairman of the Research Committee; Professor W.E. Davies, Vice-President and Chair of the Board for Academy-Sponsored Institutes and Societies; Professor D.I.D. Gallie, Vice-President. The following thirty-five scholars were elected Fellows of the British Academy: Professor P. Allott (University...
2 Jul 2004
The British Academy has been conducting a review of its programmes in support of research. As a result, there are changes to the scope of the research and conference grants schemes for 2004-05. The upper limit for Small Research Grants has been increased from £5,000 to £7,500. The minimum level of Larger Research Grants has been raised from £5,000 to £7,500, while the upper limit remains unchanged at £20,000. The scope of both research grant schemes has been expanded to cover a wider range of activity than in the past: they now incorporate the Joint Activities and Networks schemes, which...
29 Jun 2004
This first scholarly survey of the British constitution in the twentieth century is now available in paperback from Oxford University Press. Edited by Professor Vernon Bogdanor FBA, this volume has already established itself as the authoritative interpretation of the constitution during the last hundred years. ‘Every chapter is richly informative.’ Ferdinand Mount, Times Literary Supplement THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY edited by Vernon Bogdanor (British Academy Centenary Monograph) 812 pages; ISBN 0-19-726319-4NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:18 June 2004 This is one in a select series of monographs published in connection with the British Academy’s Centenary. The British Academy is the...
18 Jun 2004
The British Academy has published a response to the European Commission’s Communication on Europe and Basic Research. The Academy welcomes the proposal to establish a European Research Council (ERC) to provide dedicated funding for fundamental research. Fundamental research provides a springboard from which later applied developments may result. The Academy argues that an ERC should: be an independent organisation, primarily run by the scientific and scholarly community, free of pressure to meet short-term policy needs make its decisions on the basic of scientific or scholarly excellence cover all scientific and scholarly disciplines: the natural sciences, the social sciences and the...
4 Jun 2004
Medieval stained glass is a precious, beautiful and fragile part of Britain's heritage. It has survived destruction at the hands of Reformation zealots and Civil War marauders, but now faces more modern enemies - pollution, neglect and ignorance. The British branch of the international survey of medieval stained glass, the Corpus Vitrearum Medi Aevii (CVMA), is a British Academy Research Project hosted by the Courtauld Institute of Art, London University. The British CVMA has recently successfully completed a three-year digitization project supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Board, and on 22 June 2004, the British Academy, in conjunction with...
13 May 2004
In a ceremony on Thursday 6 May the British Academy renewed its Agreement on academic cooperation with the Polish Academy of Sciences, during a visit by a delegation led by the President of the Polish Academy, Professor Andrzej Legocki. Professor Legocki welcomed the new Agreement, expressing the hope that the collaboration between UK and Polish scholars would be increased as a result of Poland’s accession to the European Union. Lord Runciman, President of the British Academy, and Professor Nicholas Mann, Foreign Secretary, recalled the long-standing relations between the two Academies: during the Cold War years the Agreement provided one of...
7 May 2004
There are at present three vacancies on BASIS, and indications of interest in serving are invited. BASIS (Board for Academy-Sponsored Institutes and Societies) is responsible for overseeing the work of the Overseas British Institutes and Societies and the Council for British Archaeology which are sponsored by the Academy, with particular reference to those of their activities supported from public funds. It administers sums allocated by the Council of the Academy for the support of the following institutions: The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara The British School at Athens The British Institute in Eastern Africa The British School of Archaeology...
29 Mar 2004
The British Academy offers grants for postdoctoral scholars in the humanities and social sciences, based in the UK. The next deadline for the following grants is 15 April 2004: Small Research Grants (up to £5,000): Grants available for travel, maintenance, consumables relating to an individual research project British Conference Grants (up to £2,000): Grants available for the costs of bringing keynote speakers from the UK or abroad to UK conference Overseas Conference Grants (fare only): Grants available for travel costs for UK scholars to deliver a paper at a conference abroad NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:22 March 2004 Results are issued approximately...
22 Mar 2004
The British Academy invites applications from scholars in the social sciences and humanities for its upcoming deadlines in the following competitions (applicants should be normally resident in the UK, and of postdoctoral or equivalent status): East Europe and FSU Individual visits to partner Academies in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union Joint projects with partner Academies in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union South East Europe Joint Project Programmes Elisabeth Barker Fund (for projects on the history of central and eastern Europe) Japan Individual research visits to Japan Japan Society for the Promotion of...
22 Mar 2004
All the lectures below begin at 5.30pm and take place in the British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH. Lectures are free and are open to all. For further information and abstracts please go to http://www.britac.ac.uk/events/ 23 April 2004 Shakespeare Lecture Barnardine's Straw: The Devil in Shakespeare’s Detail Mr Michael Pennington Chair: Professor Jonathan Bate, FBA 27 April 2004 Albert Reckitt Archaeological Lecture Archaeology in Mesopotamia: Digging Deeper at Tell Brak Dr Joan Oates, The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research Chair: Professor M G Fulford, FBA 11 May 2004 Warton Lecture on English Poetry Dulness and Pope Professor...
22 Mar 2004
The British Academy offers grants for postdoctoral scholars in the humanities and social sciences, based in the UK. The next deadline for the following competitions is 28 February 2004. China: Sino-British Fellowship Trust: funding for individual or cooperatvie research projects with China Individual visits to partner Academies in China Joint projects with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Taiwan: BA/Academia Sinica Agreement for individual research visitsNOTES TO EDITORSPublished:23 January 2004 Applications for these schemes must be received by 28 February 2004. Further information regarding these schemes is available from the Academy's online Guide to Awards. Enquiries should be directed to...
23 Jan 2004
Recently postdoctoral scholars are invited to apply for fellowships in the following competitions: Postdoctoral Fellowships in the Humanities and Social Sciences This scheme is designed to enable outstanding scholars who have recently completed their doctorates to pursue independent research and to obtain teaching experience in any field of the humanities and social sciences. Around 30 Fellowships will be offered, tenable for three years from autumn 2004 in a UK university or other institution of higher education. Applicants should note that the application materials have changed substantially for the 2004 competition, and should ensure that they use the most up-to-date version....
15 Jan 2004
The British Academy offers grants for postdoctoral scholars in the humanities and social sciences, based in the UK. The next deadline for the following grants is 15 January 2004: Small research grants: up to £5,000 for travel, maintenance, consumables relating to an individual research project British conference grants: up to £2,000 towards the costs of bringing keynote speakers from the UK or abroad to a UK conference Overseas conference grants: travel costs (fare only) for UK scholars to deliver a paper at a conference abroad NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:16 December 2003 Results are issued approximately three months after the deadline. Requests...
16 Dec 2003
The British Academy invites applications from scholars in the social sciences and humanities for its 31 December 2003 deadline in the following competitions (applicants should be normally resident in the UK and of postdoctoral or equivalent status): Visiting Professorships/Fellowships Travel and maintenance grants to enable distinguished scholars from overseas to be invited to spend 2 to 4 weeks in the UK. East Europe and the Former Soviet Union Funds for individual visits, and in connection with collaborative projects, to partner Academies in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. See also Elisabeth Barker Fund: Grants for individual, collective...
9 Dec 2003
After months of reading and debate by this years judging panel, the winner of the 2003 British Academy Book Prize was announced at a ceremony on Friday, 28 November: Elizabeth Cowling (Reader in History of Art, School of Arts, Culture and Environment, Edinburgh University): Picasso: Style and Meaning (Phaidon Press) Dame Gillian Beer (Fellow and former Vice-President of the British Academy, Emeritus Professor of English, Cambridge University) chair of this year's judging panel, commented upon the extensive and rigorous process involved in reaching a final decision. She noted that any of the six shortlisted titles would made a worthy winner...
2 Dec 2003
The British Academy is honoured to be named as the recipient of a grant of £415,000 over three years from the Packard Humanities Institute for the Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources. This project, based in the Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford, has long been supported by the British Academy and, more recently, by the Arts and Humanities Research Board as well. This major research grant will enable work on the Dictionary, soon to publish the letter 'O', to progress at a much faster rate by paying for additional editorial staff to be employed. Announcing the grant to...
24 Nov 2003
The short list of six books for the 2003 British Academy Book Prize is announced today, Tuesday, 4 November: Timothy Blanning The Culture of Power and the Power of Culture Oxford University Press Janet Browne Charles Darwin Volume II: The Power of Place Jonathan Cape John Butt Playing with History: The Historical Approach to Musical Performance Cambridge University Press Elizabeth Cowling Picasso: Style and Meaning Phaidon Press Robert Gildea Marianne in Chains: In Search of German Occupation, 1940 – 1945 Pan MacMillan Peter Spufford Power and Profit: The Merchant in Medieval Europe Thames and Hudson NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:04 November 2003...
4 Nov 2003
In recent issues of the THES there have been articles about the British Academy in connection with its Centenary Research Projects scheme. These arise from complaints by an unsuccessful applicant. In its issue of 22 August the paper ran a story under a headline 'Ministers to probe BA's "old-boy bias"'. The THES has now agreed to publish a letter from the Academy which may be accessed in PDF by clicking on the image below: On 21 August the THES’s sister paper, The Times, published an article under the heading 'Academy accused of favouring its fellows'. The Times published the Academy's...
28 Aug 2003
To mark the 400th anniversary of the Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland in 1603, the Royal Society of Edinburgh is holding a conference on relations between the two nations since 1914, with a particular emphasis on the lead up to, and future of, devolution in Scotland. Speakers include Professor Anthony Heath FBA and Professor Sir Ian MacCormick FBA, FRSE, MEP. The event, which forms the second session of a two-part conference, is convened by Professor Christopher Smout, FBA, FRSE, Historiographer Royal in Scotland and Professor David Cannadine, FBA, Formerly Director, Institute of Historical Research. NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:21...
21 Aug 2003
The British Academy runs two schemes for the award of postdoctoral research posts. The main British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships are open to recently postdoctoral scholars in any field of the humanities and social sciences. In addition, the Academy offers the Reckitt Travelling Fellowships in Archaeology to enable recently postdoctoral scholars working in archaeology to broaden their expertise through travel abroad for a year. British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships The Academy is pleased to announce the results of the 2003 Postdoctoral Fellowship Competition. This year, the competition attracted 476 applications, from which 32 were selected for an award. The recipients are: Dr...
13 Aug 2003
The longlist for the 2003 British Academy Book Prize is announced today, Monday, 4 August. Sixteen books have been selected to go before the Judging Panel, which is responsible for drawing up a Shortlist. The Shortlist, which is to be announced in early November, will be made up of six titles and the £2,500 award winner will be revealed by the Panel on 28 November. The British Academy Book Prize, now in its third year, aims to increase the public appreciation of the humanities and social sciences by celebrating scholarly works that are accessible to the non-specialist. The winning book...
4 Aug 2003
In the light of the strategy review which the British Academy is at present conducting, it has been decided that the open competition for the new initiatives scheme, operated by the Board for Academy-Sponsored Institutes and Societies which has been run in the past two years, will this year be suspended. However, projects that were successful in last year's competition, and which are mid-term, are being invited to submit applications this year for the continuation of their funding, which will be subject to satisfactory progress. Background Since 2002, BASIS has been able to reserve a sum of about £250,000 each...
14 Jul 2003
For the following schemes Small Research Grants British Conference Grants Overseas Conference Grants (individual and block) Worldwide Congress Grants the closing dates for receipt of applications will be 15 October 2003, 15 January 2004, and 15 April 2004 Results will be issued approximately three months after the closing date. For the Larger Research Grants scheme, the closing date for receipt of applications will be 15 October 2003 Results will be issued approximately six months after the closing date. The application forms for all the schemes listed above are currently being updated, and will be posted on this web site in...
10 Jul 2003
The British Academy held its One Hundred and First Annual General Meeting on 3 July 2003. The President, Lord Runciman, was in the Chair. The Academy's Officers for 2003-04 will be Lord Runciman, President; Professor R.J.P. Kain, Treasurer; Professor C.N.J. Mann, Foreign Secretary; Dr D.J. McKitterick, Publications Secretary; Professor R.J. Bennett, Chairman of the Research Committee. The following thirty-five scholars were elected Fellows of the British Academy: Professor R.C. Allen (University of Oxford), Economic History Professor I. Armstrong (Birkbeck, University of London), Literature Professor K. Barber (University of Birmingham), African Studies Professor E. Boa (University of Nottingham), German Literature Professor...
3 Jul 2003
The British Academy is pleased to announce the publication of a major scholarly survey of The British Constitution in the Twentieth Century. This volume, edited by the distinguished academic and commentator, Vernon Bogdanor, is a product of interdisciplinary collaboration by a distinguished group of constitutional lawyers, historians and political scientists. It is the most significant study since Dicey's Law of the Constitution. The publication of the volume was marked by a lively and well-attended discussion meeting held at the British Academy on Wednesday 18 June, entitled 'The British Constitution - Can We Learn from History?'. The discussion, coming only a...
24 Jun 2003
The British Academy is pleased to announce that the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland (http://www.crsbi.ac.uk) is now generally accessible. The CRSBI is a searchable database of images of Romanesque sculpture from ecclesiastical and domestic buildings dating from the golden age of high-quality building following the Norman Conquest. It is envisaged that the database, which will eventually contain over 100,000 images from more than 6,000 sites, will be an important research tool for art and architectural historians and archaeologists in universities, heritage bodies and museums. The Academy has funded this project since it was adopted as an Academy...
13 Jun 2003
The British Academy has announced a £1M research grant to explore how our social lives have influenced our evolutionary success and to redefine what it means to be human. The grant has been awarded to From Lucy to Language - a proposal from a team of psychologists and archaeologists from the Universities of Liverpool and Southampton. The project will, for the first time, bring together archaeologists, evolutionary psychologists, social anthropologists, sociologists and linguists to reconstruct our ancestors' social lives and behaviour from the archaeological evidence of bones and tools. New models developed for understanding primate behaviour can now be applied...
13 Jun 2003
The British Academy is pleased to announce the result of the 2002 Research Professorships, Research Readerships, Senior Research Fellowships, and Thank-Offering to Britain competitions. Research Professorships The Academy's prestigious Research Professorships are awarded to distinguished senior academics in the humanities and social sciences to enable them to concentrate their efforts on an extended piece of research, while freed from their normal teaching and administrative duties. The recipients of these awards are: Professor Robin Dennell, University of Sheffield Professor Robin I M Dunbar, University of Liverpool Professor Avi Shlaim, University of Oxford Research Readerships This year, 15 Research Readerships were awarded...
1 May 2003
Do fundamental differences divide the Roman Empire from Late Antiquity? A symposium to be held at the British Academy on 'The Transition to Late Antiquity' will address this question, looking at the nature of urbanism, the organisation of the army, and the socio-economic character of the rural landscape. The symposium will be based on the excavations on the site of the ancient city of Nicopolis ad Istrum (1985-92) and the urban hinterland programme (1996-2001) which involved the large-scale excavations at Dichin (a 5th to 6th century fortress) together with site-specific field survey in the hinterland of the Danubian frontier. The...
1 May 2003
On 24 March, an invited audience of over one hundred met at the British Academy to mark the 400th anniversary of the Union of the English and Scottish Crowns. Dr Jenny Wormald, Fellow and Tutor in modern history at St Hilda's College, Oxford, delivered a lecture entitled 'O Brave New World? The Union of Scotland and England in 1603', in which she looked at the Union and English and Scottish reactions to it. The meeting was organised jointly by the British Academy and the Royal Society of Edinburgh and their respective Presidents, Lords Runciman and Sutherland, introduced and concluded the...
1 Apr 2003
The British Academy runs a number of schemes to support international collaboration between postdoctoral researchers. The next deadline for the following schemes is 30 April. East Europe and FSU Individual visits to partner Academies in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union Joint projects with partner Academies in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union South East Europe Joint Project Programmes Elisabeth Barker Fund (for projects on the history of central and eastern Europe) Japan Individual research visits to Japan Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellowships France BA/Maison des Sciences de l'Homme programme...
28 Mar 2003
The British Academy runs a number of schemes to support international collaboration between postdoctoral researchers. Unless stated otherwise, the next deadline for the following schemes is 30 April. East Europe and FSU Individual visits to partner Academies in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union Joint projects with partner Academies in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union South East Europe Joint Project Programmes Elisabeth Barker Fund (for projects on the history of central and eastern Europe) Japan Individual research visits to Japan Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellowships Commonwealth Countries BA/Association of...
28 Mar 2003
The British Academy offers grants for postdoctoral scholars in the humanities and social sciences, based in the UK. The next deadline for the following grants is 30 April 2003: SMALL RESEARCH GRANTS (up to £5,000) Grants available for travel, maintenance, consumables and other direct costs relating to an individual research project BRITISH CONFERENCE GRANTS (up to £2,000) Grants available to contribute towards the costs of bringing keynote speakers to UK conferences OVERSEAS CONFERENCE GRANTS (fare only) Grants available for travel costs for UK scholars to deliver a paper at a conference abroad Results are issued approximately three months after the...
24 Mar 2003
The British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH 5.30pm, Monday 24 March 2003 The 400th Anniversary of the Union of the English and Scottish Crowns when James V1 of Scotland became James 1 of England will be marked by a lecture by Dr Jenny Wormald on 24 March at the British Academy in London. The Special Lecture, jointly sponsored by the British Academy and The Royal Society of Edinburgh, forms part of a series of joint meetings during the year. Lecturer Dr Jenny Wormald says: '24 March 1603 witnessed a stunning event: James VI became James VI and...
26 Feb 2003
The British Academy offers grants for postdoctoral scholars in the humanities and social sciences, based in the UK. The next deadline for the following grants is 28 February 2003: SMALL RESEARCH GRANTS (up to £5,000) Grants available for travel, maintenance, consumables relating to an individual research project BRITISH CONFERENCE GRANTS (up to £2,000) Grants available for the costs of bringing keynote speakers from the UK or abroad to UK conference OVERSEAS CONFERENCE GRANTS (fare only) Grants available for travel costs for UK scholars to deliver a paper at a conference abroad Results are issued approximately three months after the deadline....
22 Jan 2003
6.30-8.00pm Tuesday, 18 February 2003 British Academy and The Philosophers' Magazine The British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH The event aims to present a learned and accessible discussion on the practical benefits of philosophy. Some high-profile popular philosophy books have presented the subject as a form of unrigorous self-help. This event aims to present a more authentic face and brings together a panel of leading philosophers. The speakers on the panel are: Professor Edward Craig FBA (Chairman) - Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy, University of Cambridge and author of Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction. Rt Hon Oliver Letwin...
20 Jan 2003
UK-resident scholars who have recently completed their PhD are invited to apply for research appointments by 28 February for the following 2 competitions: POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS IN THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES 30 British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships are offered, tenable for three years from autumn 2003 in a UK university or other institution of higher education. The scheme is designed to enable outstanding scholars who have recently completed their PhDs to pursue independent research and obtain teaching experience in any field of humanities or social sciences. RECKITT TRAVELLING FELLOWSHIPS IN ARCHAEOLOGY Recent postdoctoral scholars of archaeology are invited to apply for...
13 Jan 2003
The British Academy invites applications for its 28 February deadline in the following competitions (applicants should be normally resident in the UK, and of postdoctoral or equivalent status): CHINA Sino-British Fellowship Trust funding for individual or cooperative research projects with China Individual visits to partner Academies in China Joint projects with partner Academies in China TAIWAN BA/Academia Sinica Agreement for individual research visits to Taiwan Further details and information: Telephone: 020 7969 5220 Email: overseas@britac.ac.ukNOTES TO EDITORSPublished:07 January 2003 The British Academy, established by Royal Charter in 1902, is an independent learned society promoting the humanities and social sciences. It...
7 Jan 2003
Stanley Cohen was last night (5 December 2002) named the winner of the prestigious British Academy Book Prize. His book, States of Denial: Knowing About Atrocities and Suffering (Polity Press, £15.99) was chosen from six books on a shortlist to win the £2,500 Prize which, now in its second year, aims to celebrate the best of accessible, academically excellent writing within the humanities and social sciences. Dame Gillian Beer, chair of the judging panel announced the winner at an awards evening held at The British Academy, London. Commenting on the judges' decision, she said: 'This is a powerful analysis of...
6 Dec 2002
The British Academy's response to HEFCE's invitation to contribute to the joint funding bodies' review of research assessment is published today. The Academy's response says that its overriding aim is that research assessment should be rigorous, fair and transparent, and should properly reflect the special interests and nature of research in the humanities and social sciences. It has been concerned that former assessment exercises have been too geared towards research in the natural sciences, where the needs can be very different from those of the humanities and social sciences. Any changes to the assessment of research should, therefore, reflect the...
2 Dec 2002
The British Academy invites applications from scholars in the social sciences and humanities for its 31 December 2002 deadline in the following competitions (applicants should be normally resident in the UK, and of postdoctoral or equivalent status): VISITING PROFESSORSHIPS / FELLOWSHIPS Travel and maintenance grants for distinguished scholars from overseas to be invited to spend 2 to 4 weeks in the UK. VISITING LECTURESHIPS Travel and maintenance grants for overseas scholars to spend between 10 days and 2 weeks in the UK. The main purpose of the visit should be to deliver a lecture or series of lectures within the...
26 Nov 2002
Volumes on multiculturalism, the British working classes, the denial of atrocities, sixteenth century village life, radical enlightenment and the origins of the European economy, form the shortlist for the 2002 British Academy Book Prize, it was announced today. The prize, which aims to celebrate the best of accessible scholarly writing within the humanities and social sciences, has a shortlist of six books: Brian Barry: Culture and Equality (Polity Press) Stanley Cohen States of Denial (Polity Press) Eamon Duffy Voices of Morebath (Yale University Press) Jonathan I Israel Radical Enlightenment (Oxford University Press) Michael McCormick Origins of the European Economy (Cambridge...
7 Nov 2002
Dame Gillian Beer is to chair the judging panel of the second British Academy Book Prize, which aims to celebrate academically excellent and accessible writing within the humanities and social sciences, it was announced today. Dame Gillian, until recently Professor of English Literature in Cambridge, and a former chairman of the judges for the Booker Prize, will lead an eminent panel to find the winner of the non-fiction book prize. The other members of judging panel are: Dr Noel Malcolm: Historian Ms Michèle Roberts: Author & Poet Professor Stephen Rose: Director, Brain and Behaviour Research Group, The Open University Dame...
31 Oct 2002
Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 112 THE EVOLUTION OF CULTURAL ENTITIESedited by Michael Wheeler, John Ziman & Margaret A Boden Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 114 REPRESENTATIONS OF EMPIRE; ROME AND THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD edited by Alan K Bowman, Hannah M Cotton, Martin Goodman & Simon PriceNOTES TO EDITORSPublished:31 October 2002 The British Academy, established by Royal Charter in 1902, is an independent learned society promoting the humanities and social sciences. It is composed of Fellows elected in recognition of their distinction as scholars in the humanities and social sciences.
31 Oct 2002
The British Academy offers grants for postdoctoral scholars in the humanities and social sciences, based in the UK. The next deadline for the following grants is 30 November 2002: SMALL RESEARCH GRANTS (up to £5,000) Grants available for travel, maintenance, consumables relating to an individual research project. BRITISH CONFERENCE GRANTS (up to £2,000) Grants available for the costs of bringing keynote speakers from the UK or abroad to UK conference. OVERSEAS CONFERENCE GRANTS (fare only) Grants available for travel costs for UK scholars to deliver a paper at a conference abroad. For all three of the above competitions there are...
24 Oct 2002
The contribution of the arts and social sciences both to the economy and to society will be examined in a review announced by the British Academy today. Concerns that the arts and social sciences are undervalued and neglected as compared to science and technology triggered the study. The Review aims to quantify the contributions made by these subjects to the UK's knowledge-driven economy, to show that creativity and innovation are not exclusive to science and technology, and that the arts and social sciences make a vigorous input to civil society. The growing inter-relation of science and technology with arts and...
18 Oct 2002
Wellcome Trust Lecture Hall The Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH 6.00 - 8.00pm, Monday 18 November 2002 This public discussion meeting will tackle one of the most pervasive paradoxes of our times: while the concept of truth is often regarded with suspicion, there is still an intense commitment to the idea of truthfulness-in public life, historical understanding, the social and natural sciences. This tension between the distrust of truth and the demand for truthfulness leads to a deepening crisis in intellectual life. The panel involves five of the UK's leading academics from history, philosophy, sociology and...
16 Oct 2002
The 1998 Human Rights Act reduces the risk of Britain committing 'an own goal' when protecting the nation against aggression, terrorism or violent crime according to Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. Delivering the Thank-Offering to Britain Lecture at the British Academy today, established 'as a token of gratitude from the people who had sought refuge in this country from the oppression of the Nazis', Lord Woolf said: 'Today we are confronted by dangers that may be as great or even greater than those which threatened this country in 1939 when we offered succour to those...
15 Oct 2002
Cheltenham Literary Festival Talk Shakespeare's Words Professor David Crystal FBA (Honorary Professor of Linguistics, University of Wales, Bangor) & Ben Crystal (Actor) 4pm, Sunday 19 October. Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham Bookings: 20 free tickets for subscribers of the British Academy E-Bulletin, Tel: 0207 969 5263 CENTENARY LECTURES Throughout 2002, the British Academy is celebrating its first century as the national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. An important part of that celebration is a series of nine lectures spread across the UK and reviewing nine of the disciplines represented in the Academy. The next three Centenary Lectures are below:...
4 Oct 2002
Evidence that the richness of culture in chimpanzees undermines humanity's supposed cultural uniqueness will be examined by a panel of experts at a British Academy/Royal Society meeting in London on 2 October. The meeting will discuss 150 years of data on chimpanzee cultural variation that has been accumulated from long-term research stations in Africa by Professor Andrew Whiten of the University of St. Andrews and his colleagues. As many as 39 cultural variants were found by Professor Whiten's team - covering aspects of tool use, communication and grooming rituals - a testament to the inventiveness of this species. 'This is...
26 Sep 2002
The first member of our species to start on the path to language was a male according to a new theory on the origins of modern Homo sapiens, outlined in a book published by the British Academy today. The conclusion is part of the first genetic theory to describe what makes our species unique. Experts from archaeology, palaeontology, linguistics, psychology, genetics and evolutionary theory outline the evidence that the rise of modern Homo sapiens was crucially defined by our capacity for language. Although women now acquire words faster on average, a male was probably the first member to initiate the...
20 Sep 2002
The British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH In this Royal Society/British Academy discussion, a panel of experts will consider humanity's supposed cultural uniqueness and whether we need to rethink human evolution. The event is at the British Academy on 2 October, 6.30pm – 8.00pm SPEAKERS: Patrick Bateson FRS Vice-President of the Royal Society Caroline Humphrey FBA Professor of Asian Anthropology, University of Cambridge Kenan Malik writer and broadcaster Andrew Whiten FBA, FRSE Professor of Evolutionary and Developmental Psychology in the University of St Andrews CHAIRMAN: Robert Hinde FBA, FRS formerly a Royal Society Research Professor in the...
4 Sep 2002
Proposals are sought by BASIS (the Board for Academy Sponsored Institutes and Societies) for imaginative new initiatives overseas. The scheme is open to existing institutions on the BASIS list, and also to other UK-based groups of scholars, learned societies and associations proposing to sponsor work in geographical regions adjacent to those where the BASIS-funded institutions already operate. A limited number of awards, up to a maximum of £50,00 each, will be allocated for work in the 2003/04 financial year. Applications will be subjected to a process of competitive peer review. Deadline for applications is Friday, 15 November 2002. Further information,...
30 Aug 2002
The British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH The British Academy is the national academy for the promotion of advanced research in the humanities and the social sciences. BASIS (the Board for Academy-Sponsored Institutes and Societies) oversees the work of twelve sponsored institutions, and monitors their performance and expenditure. It also evaluates their plans, financial bids and activities, and advises the Council of the Academy on the resources needed from the Academy's grant-in-aid to support their work. As a result of an increase in grant-in-aid to the Academy from the DfES for 2002/03, the budget for activities supported...
29 Aug 2002
The British Academy offers grants for postdoctoral scholars in the humanities and social sciences, based in the UK. The next deadline for the following small grants is 30 September 2002: Small Research Grants (up to £5,000) Grants available for travel, maintenance, consumables relating to an individual research project. British Conference Grants (up to £2,000) Grants available for the costs of bringing keynote speakers from the UK or abroad to UK conference. Overseas Conference Grants (fare only) Grants available for travel costs for UK scholars to deliver a paper at a conference abroad. Telephone: 020 7969 5217 Fax: 020 7969 5414...
20 Aug 2002
The British Academy is pleased to announce the results of the latest competition for Research Readerships and Senior Research Fellowships and to invite applications for the 2003 competition. This year the overall number of applicants for these awards increased to 160. The Academy was able to offer 13 Research Readerships, 7 Senior Research Fellowships generously funded by the Leverhulme Trust, and the Thank-Offering to Britain Fellowship. A full list of this year's successful applicants is available on the web. These schemes are aimed at established scholars who are in mid-career in United Kingdom universities. The awards are designed to allow...
16 Aug 2002
The Academy is pleased to announce the launch of a Memorandum of Understanding between the British Academy and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore. The Memorandum seeks to promote co-operation between scholars of the United Kingdom and Singapore through the facilitation of research visits in each direction by individual scholars, and the support of projects and conferences of mutual interest to scholars in each country. Each side will use its best endeavours to assist visiting scholars proposed by the partner institution, offering advice on specified research projects or programmes or approved joint activities or conferences,...
13 Aug 2002
The British Academy invites applications for Larger Research Grants from scholars in the social sciences and humanities. Grants are for self-contained projects, e.g. pilot projects, field studies, and the funding of a particular phase of an ongoing research project. Applicants must be at postdoctoral level and ordinarily resident in the UK. Level of award: Over £5,000 up to £20,000. Period of award: Grants are tenable for up to three years. Closing date: 15 October 2002. Further information, including application forms, is available from the Academy's website. Telephone: 020 7969 5217 Fax: 020 7969 5414 Email: grants@britac.ac.ukNOTES TO EDITORSPublished:05 August 2002...
5 Aug 2002
The winners of the latest competition for British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships are announced today. The 2002 competition attracted a record field of 554 applications (compared to 425 in 2001). The selectors faced some very difficult decisions in making just 30 awards, to be held during the period 2002–05. This scheme is designed to enable outstanding recently postdoctoral scholars to obtain experience of research and teaching in the university environment, which will strengthen their curriculum vitae and improve their prospects of obtaining permanent posts by the end of the fellowship. The closing date for the next competition is 28 February 2003....
5 Aug 2002
The British Academy invites applications from scholars in the social sciences and humanities for its 30 September 2002 deadline in the following competitions: NETWORKS Travel and maintenance grants of up to £5,000 per year to support small networks of scholars from different countries, meeting over a period of three to five years to work on particular issues or questions of methodology JOINT ACTIVITIES Travel and maintenance grants of up to £2,500 per year for up to 3 years to support collaborative research between British and foreign academics in one or possibly two other countries. EAST EUROPE and FORMER SOVIET UNION...
1 Aug 2002
Master-Mind Lecture Freud? by Dr Adam Phillips (Principal Child Psychotherapist, Wolverton Gardens Child and Family Consultation Centre) Tuesday 1 October 2002 Thank-Offering to Britain Lecture Human Rights - Have the Public Benefited? by Rt Hon Lord Woolf (Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales) Tuesday 15 October 2002 Elsley Zeitlyn Lecture on Chinese Archaeology and Culture Cultural Interaction between China and Central Asia during the Bronze and Early Iron Ages by Dr Jianjun Mei (Tokyo National Museum) Thursday 24 October 2002 Chatterton Lecture on Poetry Robert Burns and British Poetry by Professor Murray Pittock (University of Strathclyde) Tuesday 29 October...
26 Jul 2002
The British Academy invites applications for research grants relating to China and Taiwan. Deadline for receipt of applications: 31 August 2002 CHINA: SINO-BRITISH FELLOWSHIP TRUST Funding for individual or cooperative research projects. Research may be conducted either in Britain or in China, or in both countries, and must involve person-to-person contacts between UK and China-based academics. INDIVIDUAL VISITS TO PARTNER ACADEMIES IN CHINA Grants cover travel and maintenance for travel to China in connection with individual research projects. JOINT PROJECTS WITH THE CHINESE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES (CASS) Visits in connection with joint projects may include attendance at joint seminars,...
10 Jul 2002
The British Academy held its One Hundredth Annual General Meeting on 5 July 2002. The President, Lord Runciman, was in the Chair. The Academy's Officers for 2002-03 will be: Lord Runciman, President; The Revd Professor J.S. Morrill, Humanities Vice-President; Professor H.G. Genn, Social Sciences Vice-President; Professor R.J.P. Kain, Treasurer; Professor C.N.J. Mann, Foreign Secretary; Dr D.J. McKitterick, Publications Secretary; Professor R.J. Bennett, Chairman of the Research Committee. The following thirty-five scholars were elected Fellows of the British Academy: Professor S.W. Blackburn (University of Cambridge), Philosophy The Revd Canon Professor D.W. Brown (University of Durham), Theology Professor M.S. Butler (University of...
6 Jul 2002
President of the British Academy Lord Runciman and Royal Society President Lord May will call for an end to the divide between the humanities and social sciences on one side and the biological and physical sciences on the other in speeches to be given at a dinner to celebrate the Centenary of the British Academy. It is 43 years since C P Snow delivered the Rede Lecture on 'The Two Cultures' in Cambridge that famously deplored a widening gap between scientists and arts scholars. But Lord Runciman describes Snow's lecture as 'intellectually crass, politically naïve, historically short-sighted, and rhetorically inept'....
4 Jul 2002
The British Academy is today opening PORTAL, its directory of online resources for researchers in the humanities and social sciences. The PORTAL launch marks the Academy's Centenary with a new, modern service for scholars and researchers. PORTAL offers scholars easy access to online information about research resources in all areas of the humanities and social sciences. PORTAL is intended primarily for post-graduate or post-doctoral workers, but covers resources of interest to a wider community. PORTAL resource sites are selected for their high quality and potential utility to the academic community, responsible ownership and up-to-date state. 'This website will be an...
1 Jul 2002
The British Academy has submitted a detailed paper to Government expressing alarm regarding a proposal outlined in the Government's Green Paper on the reform of the 14 to 19 school curriculum for secondary schools: languages should no longer be a core subject on the secondary school curriculum for England. This will seriously damage foreign language learning and teaching in this country, and it will have a far-reaching impact on society and the economy. The full text of the response to the Green Paper is available on the web.NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:28 June 2002 The British Academy, established by Royal Charter in...
28 Jun 2002
Nicholas Crafts and Joseph Stiglitz will be the principal speakers to discuss the history and future of globalisation at a conference chaired by Amartya Sen at the British Museum on 3 July to mark the Centenary of the British Academy. Sudhir Anand and Jane Humphries from Oxford University will be commentators at the conference. Professor Nicholas Crafts of the London School of Economics is a leading economic historian and has published widely in the fields of economic growth and decline. Columbia University Professor Joseph Stiglitz was the former Chief Economist at the World Bank and former Chairman of the US...
20 Jun 2002
6.30-8.00pm, Thursday 27 June 2002 Do We Need To Reclaim Literature From The Academic Critics? Martin Amis joins journalists and academics to discuss why a chasm of misunderstanding has grown between academic literary critics and the media, at a meeting on 27 June at the British Academy, London. The event, entitled Reclaiming Literature, is organised by the Institute of Contemporary Arts and the British Academy. The speakers are: Martin Amis whose most recent book is The War Against Cliché: Essays and Reviews 1971-2000 Jonathan Dollimore Professor Of English, University Of York, whose latest book is Sex, Literature and Censorship Geoffrey...
6 Jun 2002
Venue: British Academy, London. The discussion meeting aims to examine the relationship between academic literary criticism and criticism in the media. The event is part of the British Academy's public understanding programme. Speakers: MARTIN AMIS (Author) JONATHAN DOLLIMORE (Professor of English, University of York) GEOFFREY WHEATCROFT (Journalist and Author) MARY-KAY WILMERS (Editor, London Review of Books). Chair: DAME GILLIAN BEER, FBA (King Edward VII Professor of English Literature, Cambridge University and judge for the 2002 Orange Prize for Fiction) Organised by the ICA, British Academy and Dr Robert Eaglestone, Department of English, Royal Holloway. NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:24 May 2002 The...
24 May 2002
Speakers: Professor Anthony Nuttall, FBA (Professor of English, University of Oxford) and Professor Karen Spärck Jones, FBA (Professor of Computers and information, University of Cambridge) Venue: The British Academy Time: 5.15pm - 7.45pm, Thursday 2 May 2002 NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:29 April 2002 The British Academy, established by Royal Charter in 1902, is an independent learned society promoting the humanities and social sciences. It is composed of Fellows elected in recognition of their distinction as scholars in the humanities and social sciences.
29 Apr 2002
The British Academy today launches a special initiative of long-term research project funding worth up to £150,000 per annum for a maximum of seven years. As part of its centenary celebrations, the Academy is looking to identify two major new and innovative strands of research in the humanities and social sciences that will make a significant impact on the development of scholarship in the first part of the twenty-first century. The projects will be required to address a clear and distinctive long-term research problem. Project proposers must be based in the UK and normally employed in universities, museums, galleries or...
19 Apr 2002
The Academy is holding a conference entitled Raising Research Profiles; Fostering Media Coverage in The Arts and Humanities on 1 May 2002. The aim of this one-day conference is to examine ways to encourage improved media coverage of research in the arts and humanities, and the universities where this research is being undertaken. The event will also launch the extension of AlphaGalileo, the electronic news service for science journalists, to the arts and humanities. NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:12 April 2002 The British Academy, established by Royal Charter in 1902, is an independent learned society promoting the humanities and social sciences. It...
12 Apr 2002
The British Academy has responded to the AHRB's consultation on its review of the Board's postgraduate support arrangements. The Academy's comments draw heavily on the findings and recommendations of the Academy's own Review of Graduate Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences which found evidence of a worrying decline, particularly acute in certain subject areas, of postgraduate research studies in the UK. Thefull response to the AHRB's reviewis available from the Academy's website.NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:12 April 2002 The British Academy, established by Royal Charter in 1902, is an independent learned society promoting the humanities and social sciences. It is composed...
12 Apr 2002
The British Academy is offering 3 new awards in its prestigious series of Research Professorships in the Humanities and Social Sciences. These awards are aimed at distinguished senior scholars (who need not already hold the rank of Professor), who have outstanding publication records, and who need an extended period of research leave (3 years) in order to concentrate on significant new research. The awards pay for the salary costs of replacements to take on the duties from which the award-holders are relieved, plus a limited amount of research expenses for the award-holders themselves. Full details, including downloadable application forms, are...
3 Apr 2002
British Academy lectures are freely open to the general public, and everyone is welcome, but because of limitations on space it is essential to register with the Meetings Department at the British Academy. All the lectures listed begin at 5.30pm and take place at the Academy's premises: 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1. Most lectures taking place in the Academy are followed by a reception to which members of the audience are invited. To register, please contact: Telephone: 020 7969 5264/5246 Fax: 020 7969 5414 Email: lectures @britac.ac.uk 11 April 2002 Overestimating Culture - A German Problem By Professor Wolf...
28 Mar 2002
The British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH The 8th annual British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship Symposium will be held at the Academy on 26 March 2002. Twenty two speakers will make short presentations about aspects of the work for which they have been awarded Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships. Anyone interested in attending is welcome to do so. Further information, including abstracts for all the talks, is available on the Academy's website. The programme is available online. NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:26 March 2002 The British Academy, established by Royal Charter in 1902, is an independent learned society promoting the humanities and...
26 Mar 2002
The British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH The British Academy is the national academy for the promotion of advanced research in the humanities and the social sciences. BASIS (the Board for Academy-Sponsored Institutes and Societies) oversees the work of twelve sponsored institutions, and monitors their performance and expenditure. It also evaluates their plans, financial bids and activities, and advises the Council of the Academy on the resources needed from the Academy’s grant-in-aid to support their work. As a result of an increase in grant-in-aid to the Academy from the DfES for 2002/03, Council has approved a sum...
20 Mar 2002
The British Academy and the law firm Clifford Chance are holding a conference on the relationship between Britain and Europe at Merchant Taylors' Hall in London on Friday, 22 March. The conference, which is part of the British Academy's centenary celebrations, will examine the intellectual interchange between Britain and Europe and trends in the cross-Channel contributions in law, politics and economics. The organizer of the conference, Professor Basil Markesinis of University College London, said: 'Europe is one of the defining issues of our times. We have approached our rich and controversial subject from a novel angle. For in this conference...
12 Mar 2002
The British Academy is delighted to announce the 40 winners of the latest competition for the Larger Research Grant (LRG). The LRG is for research projects (principally pilot projects and field studies) within the humanities and social sciences. The deadline for the next round of awards is October 2002. To maximize the chances of winning an award, the Academy strongly recommends considering planning your applications for the next round now. Examples of the last winners include: Professor E D J Acton (University of East Anglia) A documentary history of the Soviet Union MODERN HISTORY FROM c.1800 Professor S Berger (University...
12 Mar 2002
Professor David Cannadine FBA, Director of the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London British Academy Centenary Lecture in History Time: 6.15pm on 14th March 2002. Location: Firth Hall, University of Sheffield The Second British Academy Centenary Lecture will be given by Professor David Cannadine. His lecture will survey the evolution of historical writing in this country during the century of the British Academy's existence, when more history was written than ever before. It will explore the unchanging essentials and exaggerated belligerences that have constantly characterised discussion and disagreement about the nature and purpose of history; and it...
6 Mar 2002
Time: 11.00am-4.30pm A working group was set up under the aegis of the British Academy to gather information from universities and other academic institutions about their practices and policies in relation to the continuing role of retired staff in academic life. The working group found that none of the universities or institutions surveyed has a formal policy on retired academics, that there is great variability in their practices, and that the procedures for allocating facilities are often arcane. There seemed little recognition that those retired academics who wish to continue to make a contribution could be encouraged and facilitated to...
5 Mar 2002
Professor Jonathan Bate, FBA & Dr Adam Phillips Time: 5.15pm - 7.45pm, Friday, 22 February, 2002 Meeting followed by buffet supper A wide-ranging, informal conversation on the subject, between a literary scholar and a psychoanalyst who is also a literary critic. You are welcome to attend the meeting free of charge but it is essential to register beforehand. Graduate students are always welcome. All those attending are warmly encouraged to stay for supper afterwards, when there will be an opportunity to meet the speakers and continue discussion with other members of the company in an informal setting. (Supper, including wine,...
5 Feb 2002
The Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme is designed to enable outstanding recently postdoctoral scholars to obtain experience of research and teaching in the university environment, which will strengthen their curriculum vitae and improve their prospects of obtaining permanent posts by the end of the fellowship. Applicants must have obtained their doctorate by 30 June 2002, but normally no earlier than 1 October 2000, and must not have held an established teaching post in an institution of higher education. Level of award: Salary starting at spine point 7 on the University Lecturer's Grade A scale (currently £20,470), or an equivalent scale. Period of...
16 Jan 2002
Professor Ian Kershaw and Professor Rees Davies were last night named joint winners of the inaugural British Academy Book Prize. Kershaw's book, Hitler: 1936-1945, Nemesis (Allen Lane) and Davies' The First English Empire: Power and Identities in the British Isles 1093-1343 (Oxford University Press), were chosen from six shortlisted books to win the £2,500 Prize, which aims to celebrate the best of accessible scholarly writing within the humanities and social sciences. Sir Anthony Kenny, chair of the judging panel announced the winners at an awards evening held at The British Academy, London. Commenting on the judges' decision, he said: 'We...
19 Dec 2001
A picture commissioned by the British Academy to mark its centenary was unveiled at a ceremony in London on Tuesday, 11 December. The group portrait of the Academy's nine female Vice-Presidents by the artist John Goto was commissioned with the private funds of the Academy as part of its 2002 centenary celebrations. Working from archival images, the artist digitally constructed the group on the left-hand side of the picture. The group consists of (from left to right): Dame Helen Gardner, Dame Kathleen Kenyon, Dame Lucy Sutherland and Professor Kathleen Tillotson. 'The challenge and intrigue of this commission was to picture...
12 Dec 2001
The shortlist for the 2001 British Academy Book Prize was announced today. The prize, which aims to celebrate the best of accessible scholarly writing within the humanities and social sciences, has a shortlist of six books: Nicholas Boyle: Goethe: the Poet and the Age/Vol 2: Revolution and Renunciation (1790-1803) (Clarendon Press) Robert Rees Davies: The First English Empire: Power and Identities in the British Isles 1093-1343 (Oxford University Press) Ian Kershaw: Hitler: 1936-1945, Nemesis (Allen Lane) David Lowenthal: George Perkins Marsh: Prophet of Conservation (University of Washington Press) Roy Porter: Enlightenment: Britain and the Creation of the Modern World (Allen...
30 Nov 2001
The British Academy and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) have renewed their Agreement with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). The Agreement encourages scholarly collaboration between Britain and China in the humanities and social sciences by: providing a channel of support for travel and maintenance expenses for individual research visits supporting collaborative projects, initially on a limited scale. Further information and application forms for all the British Academy's programme of activities with China, is available from the Academy's online Guide to Awards . The next closing date for applications under the scheme is 28 February 2002. The...
28 Nov 2001
The British Academy is hosting a debate on European citizenship at 6.30pm, 26 November. The discussion meeting involves representatives from politics, the media, business, academia and the voluntary sector. David Dimbleby will be chairing a panel that consists of: Yasmin Alibhai Brown, journalist, the Independent Vernon Bogdanor, Professor of Government, Brasenose College, Oxford Vernon Ellis, International Chairman, Accenture Sir Stephen Wall, Prime Minister's European Union Adviser NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:23 November 2001 The event is the first in a series of discussions run by the Institute of Citizenship that will be taken around the country over the next nine months. The...
23 Nov 2001
Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith FBA will be live on the Guardian Website on Tuesday November 13th at 3pm to discuss her lecture: Elementary, my dear Watson, the clue is in the genes . . . or is it? You can post your questions for the webchat NOW on the lecture or other areas of genetics and human behaviour: http://educationtalk.guardian.co.uk/WebX?50@@.ee95cd8 A summary of the lecture can be found on the Guardian website: http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/medicalscience/story/0,9837,588297,00.html You will need to register on the Guardian website. If you have difficulties registering, please email your question to the web editor: education.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk Professor Karmiloff-Smith is Professor of Neurocognitive...
7 Nov 2001
Children's imaginations, the destruction of minority languages, and making sense of politics are among the topics covered in the long list for the British Academy Book Prize 2001, it was announced today. The prize, which aims to celebrate the best of accessible scholarly writing within the humanities and social sciences, has a long list of fourteen books as follows: Nicholas Boyle: Goethe: the Poet and the Age/Vol 2: Revolution and Renunciation (1790–1803) (Clarendon Press) Richard Bradley: An Archaeology of Natural Places (Routledge) David Brown: Discipleship and Imagination Christian Tradition and Truth (Oxford University Press) David Crystal: Language Death (Cambridge University...
5 Nov 2001
Last night, Professor Richard Blundell, FBA delivered the 2001 Keynes Lecture in Economics at the British Academy. The text is available to download as a pdf fileNOTES TO EDITORSPublished:02 November 2001 The British Academy, established by Royal Charter in 1902, is an independent learned society promoting the humanities and social sciences. It is composed of Fellows elected in recognition of their distinction as scholars in the humanities and social sciences.
2 Nov 2001
The British Academy wishes to appoint a Publications Assistant as seven months' maternity cover in its busy Publications Department. Candidates should have two or three years editorial/production experience. Computer literacy is essential, along with good communication and organisational skills. Both the ability to learn quickly and a willingness to turn your hand to a variety of different tasks are vital. The post is part-time (3 days a week), but may be offered full-time to the right person. The salary is in the region of £18,000-£20,000 per annum full-time. NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:29 October 2001 The British Academy, established by Royal Charter...
29 Oct 2001
Published yesterday for the Academy by Oxford University Press is a critical edition of six twelfth-century surveys of the vast estates of Glastonbury Abbey, five of which are printed for the first time. These documents are of fundamental importance for the economic, social, and monastic history of twelfth-century England. SURVEYS OF THE ESTATES OF GLASTONBURY ABBEY, c.1135–1201 edited by N E Stacy Records of Social and Economic History, New Series 33NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:26 October 2001 The British Academy, established by Royal Charter in 1902, is an independent learned society promoting the humanities and social sciences. It is composed of Fellows...
26 Oct 2001
The future of the Church of England will necessarily lie in developing ecumenical cooperation and unity with other churches, according to a talk to be given by the Reverend Professor Oliver O'Donovan at a symposium in the British Academy, 25 October 2001. If this cooperation is not to lead to a lowest common denominator Christianity, says Professor O'Donovan, then two elements of the Anglican tradition will have to play a major role: it must be able to sustain a searching theological life, displaying both evangelical authenticity and intellectual resilience; and it must be able to engage with the questions of...
24 Oct 2001
The Franco-British Council report was commissioned for the European Year of Languages to examine academic mobility within Europe and in particular between Britain and France. It has been edited by Anne Corbett and Hilary Footitt and contains a Preface by Trevor McDonald and Forewords by Margaret Hodge MP and Jack Lang. The study was supported by the British Academy. The report recommends a major review of British policy and British attitudes to undergraduate, postgraduate and postdoctoral academic mobility. The report aims to make current European university cooperation opportunities more widely known, combining practical information and recommendations with personal statements from...
16 Oct 2001
Five of the British Academy's most elite medals and prizes have been awarded at a ceremony today in London. The winners are: Professor Rudolf Smend, FBA: The Burkitt Medal for Biblical Studies Dr Janice Stockigt: The Derek Allen Prize Professor Malcolm Godden and Professor Peter Clemoes: The Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Prize Dr Annette Peach and Dr Lucy Newlyn: The Rose Mary Crawshay Prizes Professor Michael Hirst, FBA: The Serena Medal Short summaries of the citations and further information on the history and nature of the medals and prizes are available from the Academy's website. NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:11 October 2001...
11 Oct 2001
Published today for the Academy by Oxford University Press is a volume of essays which forms a major addition to the widespread current interest in evolutionary theory as applied to human behaviour. The contributors are internationally renowned scholars in archaeology and the behavioural sciences. THE ORIGIN OF HUMAN SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS edited by W G Runciman Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume 110 NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:04 October 2001 The British Academy, established by Royal Charter in 1902, is an independent learned society promoting the humanities and social sciences. It is composed of Fellows elected in recognition of their distinction as scholars...
4 Oct 2001
The UK is failing to attract sufficient numbers of the best British students to take up PhDs in the arts, humanities and social sciences, according to a report launched today at the British Academy in London. Student debt is a major deterrent to potential students, according to the report. 'The arts, humanities and social sciences make a vital contribution to the UK economy, providing high-level skills required to sustain an increasingly knowledge-driven society and economy,' says Professor Bob Bennett, the Chairman of the Graduate Studies Review. 'Unless the PhD intake is sufficient, in number and quality, sectors such as management,...
21 Sep 2001
British Academy lectures are freely open to the general public, and everyone is welcome, but because of limitations on space it is essential to register with the Meetings Department at the British Academy. All the lectures listed in the programme begin at 5.30 pm and take place at the Academy's premises: 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1. Most lectures taking place in the Academy are followed by a reception to which members of the audience are invited. To register, please contact: Telephone: 020 7969 5264/5246 Fax: 020 7969 5414 Email: lectures@britac.ac.ukNOTES TO EDITORSPublished:14 September 2001 The British Academy, established by...
14 Sep 2001
The second of Robin Law's volumes on the letter-books of the Royal African Company of England has just been published for the Academy by Oxford University Press: THE ENGLISH IN WEST AFRICA, 1685–1688. The Local Correspondence of the Royal African Company of England, 1681–1699: Part2 edited by Robin Law Fontes Historiae Africanae, New Series – Sources of African History, No. 5 NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:06 September 2001 The British Academy, established by Royal Charter in 1902, is an independent learned society promoting the humanities and social sciences. It is composed of Fellows elected in recognition of their distinction as scholars in...
6 Sep 2001
The competition for Larger Research Grants (up to £20,000) is now open. Awards are available for research projects (principally pilot projects and field studies) within the humanities and social sciences. The deadline for applications is 15 October 2001, for awards to be taken up from April 2002. Further details and application forms are available from the Academy's online Guide to Awards For further information please contact the Research Grants Department at the British Academy Email: grants@britac.ac.uk Tel no: 020 7969 5217 NOTES TO EDITORSPublished:05 September 2001 The British Academy, established by Royal Charter in 1902, is an independent learned society...
5 Sep 2001
The British Academy today announced a new non-fiction book prize to celebrate accessible scholarly writing within the humanities and social sciences. Jonathan Breckon of the British Academy, organiser of the Prize, said: 'With the British Academy Book Prize we want to celebrate the best in academic publishing among the humanities and social sciences and increase people's understanding of these areas. 'We also hope that the Prize will show that academically rigorous writing can be as accessible, readable and - even un-putdownable - as any other form of non-fiction; and that it can combine stylish writing with substance and is well...
4 Sep 2001
At its last meeting in July, the Overseas Policy Committee of the British Academy decided that, with immediate effect, there would now only be one annual closing date for the Joint Activities, Networks and British Academy International Symposia schemes. There had previously been two deadlines for applications. The annual deadline will be 30 September. The Joint Activities, Networks and British Academy International Symposia schemes provide funds to support the travel and maintenance costs incurred in international joint activities involving British and foreign scholars. For further information please see the British Academy Guide to AwardsNOTES TO EDITORSPublished:24 August 2001 The British...
24 Aug 2001
1-4 pm, Monday 3 September 2001 C305 Joseph Black Building, University of Glasgow Digital detective work is breaking new ground in deciphering ancient stone inscriptions and writing tablets. A team of classicists and engineers have been brought together by the British Academy and the Hunterian Museum to give live demonstrations of their imaging techniques. Techniques such as 3D active imaging using projected laser light could have a huge impact for historians trying to understand ancient artefacts. But the benefits do not end there. The team have developed an imaging technique to help read stilus tablets and a variant to some...
7 Aug 2001
The British Academy held its Ninety-Ninth Annual General Meeting on 5 July 2001. The President, Sir Tony Wrigley, was in the Chair. The Academy's Officers for 2001–02 will be: Viscount Runciman, President; The Revd Professor John Morrill, Humanities Vice-President; Professor Karen Spärck Jones, Social Sciences Vice-President; Mr John Flemming, Treasurer; Professor Nicholas Mann, Foreign Secretary; Professor Fergus Millar, Publications Secretary; Professor Rees Davies, Chairman of the Committee on Academy Research Projects. The following thirty-three scholars were elected Fellows of the British Academy: Professor M.R. Ayers (University of Oxford), Philosophy Professor J. Barrell (University of York), English Professor J.M. Batty (University...
5 Jul 2001
A portrait commissioned by the British Academy won the BP Portrait Award 2001 at a ceremony at the National Portrait Gallery last night (Tuesday 19 June). The artist Stuart Pearson Wright won £25,000 for The Six Presidents of the British Academy. The picture was commissioned with the private funds of the Academy as part of its 2002 centenary celebrations. 25-year-old Stuart Pearson Wright studied at the Slade School of Art and has already undertaken commissions including Kathy Burke, Mike Leigh and Richard E Grant. He has entered the BP Award several times, winning the Travel Award in 1998. His winning...
20 Jun 2001
'Locating the Victorians', a conference commemorating 150 years since the Great Exhibition and the centenary of Queen Victoria's death, is hosted by the Science Museum, London, on 12 to 15 July 2001. Supported by the British Academy and the Commissioners for the 1851 Exhibition, the conference forms part of a year of Victorian themed activity taking place in the three South Kensington museums - a cultural quarter dedicated to the arts and sciences funded from the profits of the Great Exhibition. A major international endeavour, the conference integrates the many different disciplinary approaches taken to the Victorian past. Students of...
20 Jun 2001
Over fifty per cent of all UK archaeological sites are known from aerial evidence, according to a report to be launched at a British Academy conference, 11–12 May. Aerial techniques have become a particularly useful tool for archaeologists contending with foot-and-mouth disease, although archaeological sorties are still banned from flying under 1,500 feet in some areas. A chief source of new finds has been the aerial reconnaissance of cropmarks and soilmarks which appear capriciously in response to each season's weather conditions or changing agricultural regimes. But these features in the landscape may not be seen again for many years and...
10 May 2001
Harvard Professor Robert D. Putnam will give a lecture on 28 March 2001 at the British Academy in London as part of his first European visit since the publication of his best-selling book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. In his lecture, Professor Putnam will analyse how society is rejecting the values of the community in favour of solitary activities. Data gathered in the US shows that over the past 25 years there has been a 33 per cent decrease in people attending family dinners, and a 58 per cent fall in attending club meetings. Church attendance,...
8 Mar 2001
The British Academy today announced the 47 winners of its new Larger Research Grant scheme. Successful projects came from across the social sciences and humanities: from a study on the aspirations of inner-city school leavers, to an interdisciplinary examination of Saharan rock art, to work on early human contacts between southern Europe and Africa. The Larger Research Grant scheme, which has a budget of £500,000 each year, was launched in June 2000 to support individual scholars in personal research, especially pilot projects and field studies. The Grant aimed to fill a gap between small research grants and the staff-rich projects...
7 Mar 2001
History can record few more elaborate and protracted celebrations of death than the funeral of Queen Victoria that began 100 years ago on 1 February, according to a new book by British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr John Wolffe. The funeral started at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight and ended four days later at the Frogmore mausoleum near Windsor, a journey of well over a hundred miles involving numerous different forms of transport and ceremonies. Dr Wolffe shows that it was an occasion of great pomp, but, ironically, lacking in some of the characteristic features of typical 'Victorian' funerals....
30 Jan 2001
The human and social sciences should take their proper place as an integral part of European Union research according to a proposal submitted to the European Commission by the British Academy. Planning is now in progress for Framework Programme 6, the European Union's four-year research strategy. The Academy has urged that a separate strand for the support of socio-economic research should be maintained within the forthcoming Programme, and this should either be broadened to include humanities research in certain key areas, or a distinct theme for the humanities should be included for the first time. European Research should exploit the...
26 Jan 2001
New funding is now available to support joint research projects with Academies in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. Applications are invited for joint projects involving British scholars in collaboration with partners in one or possibly two other countries in this region. The Projects should be organised through the framework of the inter-Academy agreements, not between individual researchers alone. The British Academy has links with thirteen Academies in the region. Awards are offered for travel and maintenance expenses and have a maximum of £2,500 per year for up to three years. The closing date for submitting applications...
15 Dec 2000
A survey of all heads of university departments in the humanities and social sciences is being undertaken as part of the British Academy’s review of graduate studies. This new line of inquiry makes the review one of the most comprehensive examinations of the recruitment of researchers in the humanities and social sciences. Over 1,500 heads of department are being questioned about the composition, recruitment and retention of PhD students and academic staff. The new survey was decided after a consultation with research funders and councils, subject associations and learned societies. This consultation highlighted the influence low academic pay and career...
27 Nov 2000
The Political Studies Association and the British Academy today awards the Lifetime Achievement in Political Studies prize to six leading political scientists at a ceremony in Westminster. The winners are: Prof. Brian Barry, Affiliate Professor, University of Columbia, New York Professor Barry is Affiliate Professor at the University of Columbia, New York. He was a Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, from 1966-69, and from 1972-1975. Having spent nine years in the USA, Professor Barry returned to Europe in 1986 in order to take up positions in the European University Institute in Florence (1986-87), and subsequently the LSE. He has published...
21 Nov 2000
The British Academy signed its first-ever Memorandum of Understanding with the National Science Council of Taiwan in London today. The agreement allows for the support of two joint projects a year between British and Taiwanese scholars on subjects within the humanities and social sciences. The project-funding has a maximum value of £8,000 which is provided equally by the National Science Council and the British Academy. The Memorandum was signed at a ceremony in the British Academy by Professor Maw-Kuen Wu, Vice-Chairman of National Science Council of Taiwan, and Professor Nicholas Mann CBE FBA, Chair of the Overseas Policy Committee of...
18 Oct 2000
The British Academy is pleased to announce the results of the latest competition for Research Readerships and Senior Research Fellowships, for awards which will be taken up in the autumn of 2000. This year, the overall number of applicants for these awards has remained very high: 167 scholars (the same number as last year) entered the competition. There were 127 applications for the 2-year Research Readerships, and this intense competition has been recognised by the Academy’s decision to make 14 awards this year (2 more than were taken up after the last competition). There was, however, a significant drop in...
9 Aug 2000
The British Academy today announces the first-ever winners of the Reckitt Travelling Fellowships for archaeologists who have recently completed their PhDs. The awards were introduced in 1999 to enable recent postdoctoral scholars to broaden their archaeological horizons and expertise through travel abroad - to sites, museums and collections - and visits to overseas institutions. The winners are: Dr Francesco Menotti: The Northern Alpine Lake-Dwellers: Response to Climatic Variability during the Middle Bonze Age Dr Maria Stamatopoulou: Ancient Cemeteries of Thessaly The Fellowships are for one year and funding for the awards is provided from income from the Albert Reckitt Archaeological...
8 Aug 2000
The thirty talented young scholars in the humanities and social sciences who have won British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships are announced today. The Fellowships give outstanding younger scholars, who have just completed their PhDs, further experience of research and teaching over a three-year period. Previous award-holders have an exceptional track record in obtaining permanent academic posts after completing their Fellowships. Reduced opportunities for young researchers in the humanities and social sciences to enter academic life has meant that the competition continues to be popular; this year 337 applications were received for 30 awards. Many of the applications were of the highest...
8 Aug 2000
A review of the current state of graduate studies in the humanities and social sciences in the UK has been launched by the British Academy. There is a growing body of anecdotal and statistical evidence to support the view that postgraduate numbers are falling and that many of the best students are turning away from graduate studies. In certain disciplines and institutions, what used to be a predominantly British cohort of students has been replaced by a predominantly overseas one. These concerns will be comprehensively reviewed by gathering statistical data covering a ten-year period and consulting widely within the academic...
19 Jul 2000
The British Academy held its Ninety-Eighth Annual General Meeting on 6 July 2000. The President, Sir Tony Wrigley, was in the Chair. The Academy's Officers for 2000-2001 will be Sir Tony Wrigley, President; Professor J.L. Nelson, Vice-President; Mr J.S. Flemming, Treasurer; Professor C.N.J. Mann, Foreign Secretary; Professor F.G.B. Millar, Publications Secretary; Professor R.R. Davies, Chairman of the Committee on Academy Research Projects. A second Vice-President remains to be appointed. The following thirty-five scholars were elected Fellows of the British Academy: Professor R.D. Ashton (University College London), English Professor C.M. Britton (University of Aberdeen), French Professor J. Broome (University of St...
7 Jul 2000
The British Academy has just launched the Larger Research Grant (LRG) scheme for pilot projects and field studies. The grants are open to all UK postdoctoral researchers in the humanities and social sciences and have a maximum value of £20,000. The deadline for the first competition is 30 October 2000. The LRG was agreed after a British Academy consultation exercise found a demand amongst UK academics for medium-level funding. Some research work requires support below the large grants provided by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) but more than the small...
30 Jun 2000
Shakespeare Institute Director Peter Holland will explore how intervals can transform the structure and meaning of Shakespeare's plays in a lecture to be held in the British Academy on 4 May 2000. The 89th annual Shakespeare Lecture Beginning in the Middle will examine the history of intervals in theatre performance and the differences in audience's perception of Shakespeare's plays created in productions according to how many intervals there are and where they are placed. Intervals are a crucial part of the audience's experience of performance but they have been virtually ignored in all forms of performance analysis. The lecture will...
27 Apr 2000
Professor Robert Dahl, one of America's foremost political scientists in the study of democracy, will be discussing the recently released British Academy book, The British Study of Politics in the Twentieth Century at the Political Studies Association's conference in London on Tuesday, 11 April. Robert Dahl, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Yale University, is a long-time writer on democracy who focuses both on its empirical aspects and its basic values. The terms 'pluralism' and Dahl are almost synonymous. He is known as the defender of pluralist democracy, from his Preface to Democratic Theory published in 1956 to his...
10 Apr 2000
A joint study is being undertaken by the British Academy and the Royal Society of Edinburgh on the implications of devolution for the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences in Scotland and the UK. The Working Group will be chaired by Rt. Hon. Lord Ross, PC, FRSE, and will report in Spring 2000. Speaking about the study, Lord Ross said: 'This study is coming at an important time. The ramifications of the recent devolution within the UK are only now beginning to be felt. In addition, research funding is now being reviewed by a number of bodies, including the University Funding...
3 Dec 1999
Resolution adopted by the Council, on the recommendation of Section F (Archaeology), of the British Academy. It is an established fact that the volume and value of the international trade in antiquities has increased greatly during the last twenty years. In some cases this trade is licit, in others it is not. The British Academy believes that the scholarly importance of archaeological and art historical objects obliges it to formulate a stance on the illicit trade in such items. London is one of the principal international markets through which antiquities, licitly or illicitly obtained, pass. The movement of such items...
19 Aug 1999
The British Academy is delighted to announce that, following the competition held last autumn, it has been able to increase the number of British Academy Research Readerships offered from nine to twelve, and to supplement the Leverhulme Trust's generous sponsorship of seven Senior Research Fellowships, with an eighth publicly-funded award and the Thank-Offering to Britain Fellowship. The competition for these awards was especially strong with 167 applicants submitting a total of 240 applications for these competitions. The following awards have been made, and will be taken up in September or October 1999: British Academy Research Readerships British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Senior...
11 Aug 1999
The British Academy held its 14th annual competition to award Postdoctoral Fellowships in the humanities and social sciences in 1999. The scheme is intended to help younger scholars, who have recently obtained a PhD, to gain further experience of research and teaching over a three-year period. The aim is to strengthen their cvs and improve their prospects of obtaining permanent academic posts, by the end of their fellowships. The competition has proved immensely popular in recent years, as opportunities for young scholars to enter academic life have become increasingly rare. This year 340 candidates submitted applications, and the selectors were...
11 Aug 1999
The British Academy has recently added to its existing programmes of research appointments – Postdoctoral Fellowships, Research Readerships and Senior Research Fellowships – a new scheme for Research Professorships. The scheme is intended to help distinguished senior scholars to have time away from their teaching and administrative commitments, in order to carry out a major programme of research. Three awards, tenable for three years, have now been made. 113 applications were received, and the selectors were predictably faced with a difficult task. The general standard of the competition, as confirmed both by internal assessment and by external evaluation of the...
11 Aug 1999
From its annual budget of £1.2 million for personal research, the British Academy has recently awarded 227 grants for advanced research amounting to £614,555 to scholars working in the humanities and social sciences. Awards were made under the British Academy's new scheme to support personal research, which complements the awards for institutional research in the humanities and social sciences funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board and the Economic and Social Research Council respectively. By the end of the year, the Academy expects to support over 500 small-scale research projects. In addition, the Academy is on course to give...
22 Jul 1999
The winners of the UK’s only book prize for female scholars were announced at the British Academy on 6th July 2000. Set up in 1888, the annual Rose Mary Crawshay Prize celebrates outstanding published works by women on any subject concerned with English literature. This year’s winners are: Marina Warner for No Go the Bogeyman: Scaring, Lulling and Making Mock (Chatto and Windus, 1998; Vintage, 1999); Joanne Wilkes (University of Auckland, New Zealand) for Lord Byron and Madame de Staël: Born for Opposition (Ashgate, 1999) President of the British Academy Sir Tony Wrigley commented: In the enormous spate of books...
7 Jul 1999