AHRC Signs Memorandum of Understanding for Scholarly Collaboration with US organisation

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the US Organisation, National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) have signed a memorandum of understanding to foster scholarly collaboration and research in the humanities.

AHRC Director of Research, Professor Shearer West, and NEH Chairman, Dr. Bruce Cole, signed the memorandum of understanding, inaugurating the first of two academic conferences. The first conference “Picturing the Nation,” featured presentations from scholars from the United States and the United Kingdom on how art can illuminate a nation’s history. A second conference will take place in the United Kingdom in 2009.

“Art serves as a primary document of a civilization; it can reveal important truths about a nation’s people and past,” said NEH Chairman Bruce Cole. “With this in mind, the Endowment is delighted to collaborate formally with the United Kingdom’s Arts and Humanities Research Council to examine how art can best be integrated in scholarship and education to enrich the understanding of history.”

Professor Shearer West says, “The AHRC and NEH will encourage efforts to foster the development of innovative digital resources, research in the humanities, and collegial interaction between scholars, librarians, curators, and other museum professionals for continued academic work on humanities subjects.”

 Papers from each of the conferences are to be published online.

Notes to the editor
Media enquiries to: Emi Spinner, Communications Officer. Tel: 0117 987 6770 or e-mail: e.spinner@ahrc.ac.uk.

Arts & Humanities Research Council: Each year the AHRC provides approximately £100 million from the U.K. 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 U.K. 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.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency created in 1965 and dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs. It is the largest funder of humanities programs in the United States. NEH grants enrich classroom learning, create and preserve knowledge, and bring ideas to life through public television, radio, new technologies, exhibitions, and programs in libraries, museums, and other community places. For more information about NEH, please visit www.neh.gov.

For information about NEH’s Picturing America initiative, please visit PicturingAmerica.neh.gov.