The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) along with the six other UK research councils has published a new framework setting out their vision for the future. The Research Councils UK (RCUK) Framework for the Future: Excellence with Impact shows the outstanding contribution made by Research Councils UK to the nation. RCUK enables the UK to have a productive economy, healthy society and contribute to a sustainable world, and these three mutually supportive areas form the basis of the framework.
Professor Alan J Thorpe, Chair of RCUK, endorsed the new framework. "RCUK spans all academic disciplines and this framework highlights how interdisciplinary and collaborative research has been, and will be, the key to solving many of the challenges facing both the nation and the world. Here in the UK we already have the skills needed to tackle these challenges, but we must ensure we continue to invest in researchers who can understand the problems and develop answers.”
You can read more about the framework at on the RCUK website.
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About the framework: Further information is available on the Framework for the Future website including:
1. the Framework for the Future document
2. a variety of case studies
3. facts and figures
4. an audio interview with Professor Thorpe.
About the Arts & Humanities Research Council: Each year the AHRC provides approximately £102 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities, from languages and law, archaeology and English literature to design and creative and performing arts. In any one year, the AHRC makes approximately 700 research awards and around 1,350 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 over 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.
About Research Councils UK
Research Councils UK is the strategic partnership of the UK's seven Research Councils. We invest annually around £3 billion in research. Our focus is on excellence with impact. We nurture the highest quality research, as judged by international peer review providing the UK with a competitive advantage. Global research requires we sustain a diversity of funding approaches, fostering international collaborations, and providing access to the best facilities and infrastructure, and locating skilled researchers in stimulating environments. Our research achieves impact – the demonstrable contribution to society and the economy made by knowledge and skilled people. To deliver impact, researchers and businesses need to engage and collaborate with the public, business, government and the third sector.
The seven UK Research Councils are:
• Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC);
• Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC);
• Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC);
• Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC);
• Medical Research Council (MRC);
• Natural Environment Research Council (NERC);
• Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC).