REVIEW OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH ….doc

REVIEW OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH FUNDING Report of the Steering Group to Education Ministers REPORT OF THE REVIEW OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH FUNDING Summary and Recommendations 3 1. Introduction 6 2. Current Support for Research in the Arts and Humanities 8 Arts and humanities research and the ‘dual-support’ system 8 Development of Research Funding for the Arts and Humanities 11 Structure and Activities of the Arts and Humanities Research Board 12 3. The Nature of Research in the Arts Humanities 17 Different from Science? 18 The ‘Lone Scholar’ 20 The National Interest 23 4. The Case for a Research Council 27 Effectiveness of the AHRB 27 A Sustainable Model? 29 The Road to a Research Council 30 5. The Options for a Future Council 33 Territorial Coverage 33 Funding from Government and Accountability 35 Options and Criteria for Decisions 35 Discussion of Options 37 6. Corollaries 44 University Museums and Galleries 43 Particular Provisions for a new Research Council 45 Particular Provisions for the OST 46 Implications for the British Academy 47 Legislative Implications 47 Implications for the Current AHRB 48 Transfer of Funds 49 7. Next Steps 50 Annex One: Terms of Reference and Members of Steering?Group 51 Annex Two: Response from Consultation 54 Annex Three: Remit and Functions of the Research Councils 65 Summary and Recommendations The current Arts Humanities Research Board (AHRB), operating on a UK basis and funded separately by each administration in the UK through its higher education funding organizations, has done much in its short life since 1998 to establish the merits of a system for competitive awards of research grants and post-graduate awards in the arts and humanities. However the importance of demonstrating parity of status with the natural and social sciences and the inherent instability and awkwardness of the current arrangements for funding, accounting and govern