Over seventy academics joined the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) in London on July 28th to discuss possible future funding options for supporting individual researchers.
The day was hosted by AHRC Director of Research Professor Shearer West and Professor John Caughie, who is leading the Working Group on this consultation.
Across eight workshop sessions many possible options were discussed and talked through. These options were then presented to all colleagues in plenary sessions at the end of the morning and afternoon. Key possible options will now be written up and passed on to the Working Group for discussion in September.
This all day event followed on from numerous meetings that Professor West and colleagues have been undertaking across the country on this topic in the last few months. Further meetings with colleagues will take place throughout the Summer, all feeding in to the Working Group in September.
The AHRC has expressed its commitment to individual researchers in its Strategic Plan 2007-2012. As part of this commitment we are currently considering the best approach for supporting the individual scholar and the working group was set up in the Spring to address this. Their first meeting took place on 3 April 2008. The group was asked to consider AHRC's current support for individual researchers and to identify key features of possible future funding schemes.
The AHRC currently supports individual researchers through the Research Leave scheme which provides salary and associated costs for periods of three or four months, to enable an individual researcher to bring a significant research project to completion. This scheme has remained essentially unchanged since its introduction in 1998. The most recent change was brought about by the introduction of Full Economic Costing in 2005. Since that date, applicants have applied for their salary costs for the AHRC leave period rather than for replacement teaching costs.
In recent years, some issues have been raised about aspects of the Research Leave scheme which have led us to look again at our support for the individual researcher. We are exploring whether the Research Leave scheme in its current form is the best way of supporting high quality individual research in the present context and what value the scheme adds to QR funding.
The working group will be presenting their findings to Council in September/October and it is likely that Council will then make a decision before the end of the year.
Professor West said 'Today has been very useful indeed in listening to our academic colleagues on possible future options for AHRC funding of individual researchers. Various suggestions have been made, and colleagues have responded very constructively to the discussion. This will be invaluable in revising how best we proceed.'
If you would like to contribute to this consultation process then please contact Katherine Barkwith k.barkwith@ahrc.ac.uk.
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Arts & Humanities Research Council: Each year the AHRC provides approximately £100 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities, from archaeology and English literature to design and dance. In any one year, the AHRC makes approximately 700 research awards and around 1,000 postgraduate awards. Awards are made after a rigorous peer review process, to ensure that only applications of the highest quality are funded. Arts and humanities researchers constitute nearly a quarter of all research-active staff in the higher education sector. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK.