UP and HERA Introduction Presentation Feb 2015
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This document discusses the HERA (Humanities in the European Research Area) network and its upcoming joint research programme called "Uses of the Past". HERA is a network of national humanities research councils across Europe that coordinates research policies, establishes joint research programmes, evaluates the impact of humanities research, and promotes humanities. The upcoming "Uses of the Past" programme will fund projects exploring how the past is used, both constructively and contentiously, with a focus on identity, norms/values, media/culture, transnational dynamics, and informing current issues. It encourages interdisciplinary, international collaboration with non-academic partners to address these themes in new ways.
UP and HERA Introduction Presentation Feb 2015
- 1. ‘Uses of the Past’ Joint Research Programme Mark Llewellyn AHRC Director of Research and Chair of HERA Knowledge Exchange Strategy Group UK Information Session London 4th February 2015
- 2. Why HERA? Humanities research matters! Culture matters!
- 3. What is HERA? • A partnership among Humanities research councils across Europe (currently 25 partners, including the European Science Foundation) • Functions as a Network and have joint calls between some partners "Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA) is a network of national funding agencies and the European Science Foundation (ESF) committed to leading and developing funding opportunities for humanities researchers in Europe, and sharing excellence in research management practices and outcomes."
- 4. HERA is dedicated to: • the coordination of national research policies; • the establishment of new Joint Research Programmes (JRPs); • defining methods for evaluating the impact of humanities research; • playing a pro-active role in promoting humanities on the European platform; • functioning as a broker for multilateral funding arrangements.
- 5. Previous Joint Research Programmes • HERA with the European Commission have invested 34 Million Euros in project funding • Funded 37 Projects (UK leading 20 projects and involved in 15 others) • First HERA funding call launched in 2009 • It had 2 thematic areas ‘Cultural Dynamics’ and ‘Creativity & Innovation’ • Second HERA call launched February 2012 • One thematic area ‘Cultural Encounters’
- 6. HERA is growing…… • 1st call – 13 Countries • 2nd Call – 18 Countries • Uses of the Past – 23 Countries new countries are Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Latvia and the Czech Republic
- 7. Aims of ‘Uses of the Past’ • Achieving a better understanding of the multiple and contradictory ways in which the past has been used, both contentiously and constructively. • Enable us to see more clearly the complex ways in which our cultural diversity has been formed, and the dynamics by which it may be shaped and directed in the future. • Call text lists possible themes and questions to be addressed by ‘Uses of the Past’ projects • Not prescriptive or exhaustive, only a set of suggestions
- 8. Uses of the Past focus areas • Changing uses of (different) pasts? How is historical knowledge created, defined and validated? What constitutes “misuse” of the past? What are the dynamics and consequences of competing narratives of the past? • Uses of the past for identity construction and institutional embedding of norms and values. How does the use of the past construct identities at individual and collective levels? How are norms, values, institutions and behaviours formed by the conscious and unconscious uses of the past? • Uses of the past in media, material culture and public space. What are the material forms of historical knowledge? How are the material forms and media of historical knowledge related to their use? What is the meaning and (economic) use of heritage? How does the past materialize in objects (e.g. art or commodities) and spaces?
- 9. Uses of the past focus areas • Uses of the past: transnational/international/national and regional dimensions, including globalization What are the relations between European and global memories and histories? What are the relations between European and regional memories and histories? How do uses of the past have impact on the role of Europe as a (global) actor? What are the transnational or transregional dynamics of historical memory? • Uses of the past: impact on solving current problems, decision making and future policies. What is the role of knowledge of the past within a ”knowledge society"? Can new knowledge of the past be used for building trust and solidarity in an integrated Europe? In what ways is knowledge of the past a source for contemporary creativity and innovation? In what ways may this knowledge illuminate the nature and effects of these processes (solving current problems, decision making and future policies)?
- 10. Think about: • Collaboration Collaboration should give a particular added value to questions of how the past can be used to consider the present and future. Addressing familiar questions in new ways impossible for an individual researcher. • Interdisciplinarity Not a requirement or a doctrine, but an ambition to challenge the familiar and the conventional and a feature of successful projects. Interdisciplinarity rather than simple ‘multi- disciplinarity’. Not just combining the insights of disciplines, but reaching insights which move the boundaries of the disciplines.
- 11. Think about: • Internationalisation A requirement. Like interdisciplinarity, research across national boundaries should have the capacity to unfix the assumptions which form the vision-limits and comfort-zones of specific traditions and identities. • European added value Why will this multi-national research and partnership make a difference? Why is it something that can’t simply be done with local or national funding? Also: this criterion not about “European” topics, but about the better research made possible though collaboration among researchers based in Europe.
- 12. Think about: • Knowledge Exchange How can your research process and/or results be linked and disseminated to wider world outside the academy? Possibility for mutually-enriching collaboration with non-academic partners. Expected this will .be part of proposals
Editor's Notes
- #3: Why AHRC involved in HERA
- #4: Danish, Dutch and Irish first started the ball rolling in 2002 – but HERA’s main activities started in 2004-2009 with ERA NET funding and it has gone onto to build a strong collaborative network across 22 Countries. The origins of HERA can be traced back to 2002 when the Danish, Dutch and Irish Research Councils initiated the establishment of the European Network of Research Councils in the Humanities (ERCH), later renamed as HERA. Over a period of five years (2004-2009) the HERA network was supported by the EU Framework Programme 6's ERA-Net scheme. The objective of the ERA-Net project was to bring national research programmes together in order to strengthen the European platform for the humanities. An official HERA mission statement was agreed at the first meeting of the HERA Network Board in December 2005: The ERA-Net succeeded in building a strong network of national funding agencies for the humanities community in Europe. It enabled the exchange of information and best practices on issues such as peer review, programme management and quality and impact assessment. Publications included Feasibility Study: the Evaluation and Benchmarking of Humanities Research in Europe (2007). HERA is dedicated to: the coordination of national research policies; the establishment of new Joint Research Programmes (JRPs); defining methods for evaluating the impact of humanities research; playing a pro-active role in promoting humanities on the European platform; functioning as a broker for multilateral funding arrangements; and assisting humanities researchers to succeed in FP7 calls.