Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore,
4th and 5th March 2011
Deadline extended to 31st January 2011
The Higher Education Cell, the AHRC and the British Library are funding a series of Digital Knowledge Exchange workshops in India. This is part of a series of strategic engagements among researchers and cultural institutions in the UK and India. The AHRC is co-funding these workshops as part of its developing India research strategy as well as its new emerging themes, ‘Digital Transformations’ and ‘Care for the Future’.
The AHRC is seeking to fund up to 10 researchers to participate in a workshop to be held in the Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore on 4th and 5th March 2011. The AHRC will pay travel, subsistence and accommodation and will organise flight and accommodation arrangements for participants.
Applications are sought from researchers based at UK research organisations with an interest in any aspect of climate, the sciences and environment, history or culture and/or specialists in digital humanities who are interested in the transformative potential of digital resources more generally. We encourage applications that stimulate an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary approach. Applications are also welcomed from early career researchers. The details of the programme will be devised once the participants are known. We will ask all participants to prepare presentations for the workshop, but we will not be seeking formal research papers.
Applicants are asked to submit a one page statement on their suitability to attend the workshop, accompanied by a short (2 page maximum) c.v. outlining current post and major research outputs or projects of relevance to the theme.
Selection of attendees will be announced in February 2011.
The Indian Higher Education Cell (HE Cell) will be coordinating the participation of India-based researchers.
Background to the collaboration
The AHRC is working with the British Library to pilot joint knowledge exchange work in India. In parallel, the British Library has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with HE Cell of India (an umbrella consortium of HEIs similar to UUK) to develop a long-term digitisation strategy for dispersed Indian archival collections, and the British Library, British Museum and V&A have signed a further collaboration agreement with the Ministry of Culture in India. The AHRC’s involvement in this chain of networks provides opportunities for medium and long-term engagement with researchers in India. It is clear that India is a potentially strong global partner in the areas of the digital and the creative economy, with further potential in the spheres of cultural heritage and environment—all of which support the AHRC’s ‘Digital Transformations’ and ‘Care for the Future’ emerging themes.
In the short-term, AHRC will co-fund with the British Library and the Tata Trust of India two knowledge exchange workshops. The second, on ‘Climate’ will take place in Bangalore in March 2011.
In order to facilitate Digital Knowledge Exchange, the workshops will use the British Library’s South Asia collections and relevant collections in India as a basis; however it is envisaged that the outputs from these workshops will have wider relevance for Indian–British research collaborations.
The workshops aim to facilitate networking between key Indian and UK research partners in order to:
o Bring together key participants from UK and Indian research institutions to explore new research challenges;
o Gain a greater understanding of the digital resources available and the challenges in both countries;
o Facilitate the development of new research collaborations between Indian and UK academics;
o Explore issues about the long term sustainability of the research collaborations including platforms, training, etc.;
o Explore ways that Indian and UK collaborations can be encouraged and supported that is relevant to other projects and topics.
In the medium to longer term, these workshops will provide opportunities for UK researchers to network further with potential partners in India, and they will provide scope for developing the AHRC’s ‘Digital Transformations’ and ‘Care for the Future’ themes, bringing together digital humanities specialists with archivists and librarians, and researchers with a high degree of specialist knowledge in specific research areas. It is also anticipated that these workshops will provide a model extendable to other Indian regions and languages. Finally, we would envisage that one or more major grant applications, including Indian partners, may emerge in due course from these exchanges.
Workshop 2:
South Asian Historical Records and Climate: an interdisciplinary workshop
Venue: Divecha Centre for Climate Change, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
Dates: 4th and 5th March 2011
Background to the workshop:
Climatic conditions in India were systematically recorded in the form of official meteorological observations in India from the nineteenth century, though records exist for the earlier period in the form of ships’ logs or the daily weather records kept by missionaries. The India Office Records contain information on instruments and methods of observation; observatory operations including meteorological observations, tidal observations, magnetic operations, astronomical observations (general observations, transits, eclipses and star studies); rainfall; ozone; extreme weather events (including hurricanes, storms, floods and cyclones).
The aims of this workshop are to:
• Bring together academics from a range of disciplines , and curators of collections, from South Asia and the UK;
• Share knowledge of relevant sources in the British Library and in India, in both libraries and archives;
• Discuss the nature of the contextual material available and approaches for its interrogation;
• Recommend sources in India and the British Library for enquiry to support research collaborations;
• Develop interdisciplinary research collaborations based on the sources identified in India and the BL, including those listed in Science and the changing environment in India 1780-1920: a guide to sources in the India Office Records.
Potential discussion and research themes for the workshop:
• Nature and location of, and potential for, research resources in the British Library and India;
• Translation of historic contextual information into scientific data;
• Scientific application of this data for the study of climate change and climate modelling to assist with predicting extreme weather events. In doing so, explore historic attitudes to climate and understanding of the interaction between the environment and climate, e.g. the link between deforestation and climate change, the impact on crop yields and famine;
• Cultural responses to climate, for example, how climate change was described in literature;
• Climate and religion;
• Climate and linguistics;
• The history of meteorological record-keeping – land-based and maritime – would support understanding of the sources and planning for any research projects;
• Climate and disease;
• Climate, government and security.
Application process
AHRC are running a light touch application process for this call. Applications are sought from researchers with an interest in any aspect of climate, the sciences and environment, history or culture and/or specialists in digital humanities who are interested in the transformative potential of research resources more generally. We encourage applications that stimulate an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary approach. Applications are also welcomed from early career researchers. The details of the programme will be devised once the participants are known. We will ask all participants to prepare presentations for the workshop, but we will not be seeking formal research papers.
Applicants are asked to submit by email a one page statement on their suitability to attend the workshop, accompanied by a short (2 page maximum) c.v. outlining current post and major research outputs or projects of relevance to this theme to culturesandheritage@ahrc.ac.uk by 31st January 2011. The email must be clearly identified by using the text: AHRC/BL Climate Workshop in the email title field.
Please note that by submitting an application, applicants are committing themselves to attend the workshop if selected.
Contacts:
• Dr Gail Lambourne, g.lambourne@ahrc.ac.uk, 01793 416082
• Paul McWhirter, p.mcwhirter@ahrc.ac.uk, 01793 416083