Introduction
Generating new understanding into the ways we communicate
With increased movement and cross-fertilization between countries and cultures, and the acceleration of global communications, we have entered an era where not only the written word, but also performances, sounds, images and objects can be circulated more rapidly and widely than ever before. In response to this, the AHRC has created Beyond Text, a strategic programme to generate new understandings of, and research into, the impact and significance of the way we communicate.
Background
Beyond Text is a programme that has been developed by AHRC following a two year period of consultation with the arts and humanities research communities. Introduced in 2007, it aims to support a multidisciplinary community of scholars and practitioners drawn from Higher Education, museums, galleries, libraries, business, policy, media, technology and the law to explore the ways in which communication is articulated, transmitted, received and controlled. It also aims to enhance the connections between those who make and preserve works, and those who study them.
The Programme
Beyond Text centres on five thematic, interdisciplinary areas: Making and Unmaking; Performance, Improvisation and Embodied Knowledge; Technology, Innovation and Tradition; mediations; Transmission and Memory. These themes provide a framework to investigate the formation and transformations of performances, sounds, images, and objects in a wide field of social, historical and geographical contexts, tracing their reception, assimilation and adaptation across temporal and cultural boundaries. The programme has a budget of £5.5 million over 5 years and runs from 2007 to 2012.
Programme Contacts
Professor Evelyn Welch, Programme Director, Tel: 0207 882 8463
The AHRC work with the RCUK Shared Services Centre (SSC) to deliver all of our funding activities. All queries regarding eligibility for funding and applications in progress and also queries regarding current awards, should be directed to the SSC team dealing with your subject area using the contacts page.
Find out more
Call for the Beyond Text Follow on Funding Scheme
The Arts and Humanities Research Council invites proposals for Follow on Funding under the Beyond Text: Performances, Sounds, Images, Objects Programme related to 3 themes within the Beyond Text Programme. The guidance document below gives information about the eligibility criteria, assessment criteria, information on how to apply, eligible dates and terms and conditions of awards. Please note the Beyond Text Follow On Funding Scheme is only open to current or past Beyond Text award holders.
You should ensure that you have read the Beyond Text Programme Specification document before submitting a proposal.
Call guidance (278kb)
Further details about the programme are in the programme specification or on the programme website.
Programme specification (87kb)
Funded Research:
- 11 Small Grants - Beyond Text
- 7 Large Research Grants - Beyond Text
- 15 Research Networks and Workshops - Beyond Text
Postgraduate awards made:
- 6 Collaborative Research Studentships - Beyond Text
- 22 Student-Led Initiative - Beyond Text
About AHRC initiatives
This programme is one of the AHRC programmes which opens up opportunities for research that has intellectual and wider cultural, social or economic urgency and that the Council considers is best supported by concentrated investments. It will also assist researchers working on interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary areas which do not fit into conventional funding opportunities.