Policy committees

The Academy’s public policy programme of work is overseen by the Vice-President (Public Policy), Professor Christina Boswell FBA, drawing on advice from the Public Policy Committee (PPC). The Committee is chaired by Professor Boswell and includes Fellows as well as external stakeholders amongst its members.

Membership

Professor Christina Boswell (Chair)

Jamie Agombar (external)

Stephen Aldridge (external)

Professor Kate Dommett (external)

Professor Peter John

Halima Khan (external)

Professor the Baroness (Ruth) Lister of Burtersett

Professor Sonia Livingstone

Dr Amy Orben (external)

Professor Susan Owens

Professor Fiona Stafford

Professor Carol Tannahill (external)

(Secretary: Dr Adam Wright)

The Research and Higher Education Policy Committee takes an overview of, and approves priorities for, the Academy’s research funding, higher education and skills policy. The committee is chaired by the Vice-President (Research & Higher Education Policy), Professor Simon Swain.

Membership:

Professor Simon Swain (Chair)

Dr Hannah Gibson

Professor Ed Page

Professor Roberta Gilchrist

Professor Neil Kenny

Professor Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad

Professor Isabel Torres

Professor Elaine Unterhalter

Professor Jane Winters

Professor John Scott

Dr Valeria Skafida

Professor James Wilsdon

Michelle Doyle Wildman

(Secretary: Sarah Cowan)

The Higher Education Policy Development Group shapes and informs policy projects in the area of research and higher education. Following strategic advice from the Research and Higher Education Policy Committee, the committee supports the policy team in developing high impact policy work.

Membership:

Professor Elaine Unterhalter (Chair)

Professor Peter Mandler (Deputy Chair)

Dr Alex Bols

Professor Claire Callender

Amatey Doku

Dr Emily Henderson

Professor Sharon Huttly

Professor Simon Marginson

Professor Aletta Norval

Professor Sally Power

Dr. Omar Khan

Professor Ambreena Manji

Dr Josh Patel

Professor Nicola Ingram

Debbie McVitty

(Secretary: Connor Mckenzie)

These forums bring together senior representatives across organisations that fund, use and commission social science, arts and humanities research, in order to facilitate discussion about the major issues and challenges facing these disciplines. They provide an arena for debate at the highest level, to enable the needs of the social sciences, arts and humanities to be addressed and tackled.

Strategic Forum for Social Sciences

The Forum was established in 2001, originally hosted by the Economic and Social Research Council. Since October 2009 the British Academy has convened the Forum.

Chair: Professor Conor Gearty, Vice-President (Social Sciences)

Strategic Forum for the Humanities

The Strategic Forum for the Humanities was established in April 2017 in response to the longstanding success of the equivalent body for the social sciences.

Chair: Professor Judith Still, Vice-President (Humanities)

The secretary for both Strategic Forums is Eleanor Hopkins, Senior Policy Advisor (HE & Research) at the British Academy.

The Humanities and Social Sciences Learned Societies and Subject Associations Network is convened by the British Academy to bring together interested parties and academics from across the arts, humanities and social sciences in order to discuss a range of issues and policy developments pertinent to these disciplines. The network meets annually at the British Academy and includes invited speakers from relevant stakeholders to offer insight into areas of debate and policy activity.

The network is also used to disseminate information of relevance to learned societies and subject associations, as well as to collect input on the Academy’s policy work by email in between meetings.

The secretary for this network is Joanna Thornborough, Senior Policy Advisor (HE & Research) at the British Academy.

The Advisory Committee for Languages sits within the Academy’s formal governance structure and reports to the Research and Higher Education Policy Committee. It meets to discuss languages policy work of the British Academy and provide advice and direction to the Higher Education and Research Policy team. The Committee also provides a forum for communicating the Academy’s work on languages, and for sharing information.

Chair: Professor Charles Forsdick FBA, Lead Fellow for Languages at the British Academy.

The secretary for this committee is Marta Kowalewska, Senior Policy Advisor (HE & Research) at the British Academy.

Membership

Professor Charles Forsdick FBA, University of Cambridge (Chair)

Professor Wendy Ayres-Bennett, University of Cambridge

Professor Janice Carruthers, Queen’s University Belfast

Professor Claire Gorrara, Cardiff University

Vicky Gough, British Council

Professor Neil Kenny FBA, University of Oxford

Professor René Koglbauer, Association for Language Learning / Newcastle University

Professor Aditi Lahiri CBE FBA, University of Oxford

Fhiona Mackay, Scotland’s National Centre for Languages (SCILT)

Suzanne O’Farrell, Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL)

Professor Wen-chin Ouyang FBA, SOAS University of London

Lisa Panford, St Mary’s University

Dr Christopher Stone, University of Wolverhampton

Leilah Tott, Department for Education

Professor Li Wei FBA, Institute of Education, UCL

Katherine Warren, Arts and Humanities Research Council

John Worne, Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL)

The Open Access Advisory Group provides advice and strategic oversight of the Academy’s policies, procedures and positions on the issue of open access. It ensures that the overall position of the Academy is outward facing and coordinated across policy, publishing and funder issues, and championing ways to make open access work for the SHAPE disciplines by providing sector leadership. The group is chaired by the Vice-President (Publishing and Conferences), Professor Lindsay Farmer FBA and includes both Fellows and external stakeholders amongst its members.

The secretary for this group is Joanna Thornborough, Senior Policy Advisor (HE & Research), at the British Academy.

Membership

Professor Lindsay Farmer FBA (Chair), Vice-President, Publishing and Conferences

Professor Colin McInness, University of Aberystwyth

Professor Margot Finn FBA, University College London

Professor Simon Green, Aston University

Professor Chris Wickham FBA, University of Oxford

Richard Fisher. Former Managing Director, Cambridge University Press and VP of the Royal Historical Society