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I am delighted to have been invited to open this
“Humanities in the European Research Area” (HERA) conference. It is a
great pleasure to welcome you all. I am pleased that this year the
conference is hosted by the newest of the UK’s research councils, the
Arts and Humanities Research Council, here at the British Library.
The establishment of the Arts and Humanities
Research Council in the UK in April this year, with the same status as
the research councils for the physical, natural and social sciences,
demonstrated how seriously the Government takes the diverse domains of
this research community and its impact on contemporary life. The
humanities community is seen as a key part of the country’s research
effort. Research in areas as diverse as religion and identity, ethics
and rights, language and knowledge are fundamental to our economy and
society. The creative industries, which account for 8 per cent of GDP,
have twice the impact on our balance of trade as the pharmaceutical
industry. Cultural institutions have been prominent in the
revitalisation of our cities.
The arrival of arts and humanities researchers
into the research council orbit has enhanced its strength with new
possibilities for cross-Council collaboration. I have been struck by the
range of the work they undertake. These are the researchers who can help
us understand how our societies function, and illustrate why we need to
understand the past, diverse cultures, identities, ethics, morality,
language, performance and creativity. Their work includes study of the
impact of design on security, the development of intellectual property
law, fashion, film, and the design of computer games and digital media.
With programmes and research on areas like migration, or the human
impact on the environment, our humanities experts are helping us to
understand better the way people think, conceptualise and deploy
information. This is an extremely valuable contribution to our
knowledge-based economy.
As important as generating new knowledge is its
transfer for wider social and economic use. I am extremely pleased that
the Council is looking to develop new knowledge transfer approaches. A
new fellowship scheme to encourage academics to invest more time in the
dissemination of research to audiences beyond the Higher Education
Sector is being considered by the Council at its meeting later today. I
very much hope that it can be turned into a workable scheme that its
research community will support. I also welcome their plans to tailor
their support for knowledge transfer partnerships to encourage smaller
businesses in the creative industries to interact with universities
more. Knowledge transfer partnerships are a government scheme that
provides young researchers with the opportunity to work with companies
and public sector organizations to solve problems or exploit
opportunities.
The AHRC has already started to make its impact
felt. It receives its funding from the science budget and is a key part
of the United Kingdom’s research base. Its work is recognised as playing
an important part in the delivery of the Government’s 10 Year Framework
for Science and Innovation. This sets out a sustained vision for UK
research in an increasingly complex and competitive global economy. The
Government recognises that the research and researchers that the AHRC
supports are an important part of delivering that vision and are a
crucial foundation for a successful knowledge-based economy in the
United Kingdom.
The UK’s Presidency of the EU is a timely moment
for the AHRC to host this HERA conference. Much of your discussion today
will focus on what have been priority areas for our Presidency:
long-term policies for development; security, both national and
international; innovation and knowledge transfer. Research in the
humanities underpins these and other important objectives of the Lisbon
strategy for jobs, growth, the environment and a proper social network.
The humanities disciplines lie at the core of
what Europe is about, and at the heart of our ability to understand
Europe and its complex histories and identities. This is being
recognised by an increasing number of relevant stakeholders. For
example, the European Research Advisory Board has stressed now on more
than one occasion the need to include the humanities more widely across
all of the Framework Programme, and discussions at the Council of
Ministers related to the establishment of a European Research Council
have explicitly called for the inclusion of the social sciences and
humanities in future basic research initiatives.
A question that needs to be addressed is the
continued relevance of the HERA network in the context of a Framework
Programme where the humanities are expected to play a stronger part. It
may need to adapt, but I see a continued role for HERA’s pan-European
humanities voice. I recognize that the network is more than just a voice
and that its partner bodies are already working together to deliver
activities across the humanities which impact on decisions about many
aspects of humanities research across Europe. For example the work to
co-ordinate research programmes, the development of common research
initiatives and the evaluation of those programmes. This should
continue.
It is important that we make the most effective
use of the resources available both to carry out research and to ensure
that the results are disseminated and used far beyond the academic
community. This is why the UK Government particularly welcomes the
AHRC’s involvement in HERA, and looks to the network to lead on
innovative models of collaboration and cooperation that will contribute
to the collective benefit of its member bodies and beyond.
The HERA network is part of the future of a
Europe that looks to ever-closer intellectual collaborations between its
universities, creative industries, governments and citizens. These are
the networks and individuals that will ensure the most prosperous future
for our continent, a future that must be based on a knowledge economy
fit to compete in a global market. The spirit of this cooperation, this
joined-up approach to the issues that confront us all, regardless of
national boundaries – is the best way of ensuring a collective, reasoned
response from us that will ensure a secure future for generations to
come.
One of my favourite authors Anton Chekhov wrote,
“There is no national science just as there is no national
multiplication table”. The common laws of nature cross political
boundaries, and the international movement of people and knowledge made
science global long before “globalisation” became a label for the
increasing linkages among the world’s economies. I also believe that the
works of European artists, writers and philosophers form a common
European language that both unites us and is a valuable asset in a
knowledge-based economy.
The overall theme of this conference is one
close to the work of all UK Government Departments – embedding research
into policy making, so that international, national and regional
decision making is undertaken on a sound and reasoned intellectual as
well as practical footing. The support of research that will underpin
that process of evidence based policymaking is a central role of our
research councils, and I welcome the opportunities this conference gives
for an international discussion of this vitally important theme.
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