Apply for Funding to Research Culture and Heritage Capital in UK

Deadline: 17-Jan-23

Apply for funding to research culture and heritage capital and help develop a robust and holistic approach for capturing and articulating the value of culture and heritage.

Research Strands

• Strand A: developing a taxonomy of cultural and heritage capital services (associated stocks and flows)
  • In the CHC framework, cultural and heritage assets can be thought of as the “stock”, while the services that create benefits to society are regarded as “flows”. Background pressures such as environmental damage or unsustainable use can negatively affect the services provided by an asset and the demand for those services. Effective management interventions, additional inputs and effective policies can have a positive effect.
• Strand B: developing the link between methodologies that can measure why people value culture and heritage and economic techniques that can monetise value
  • The valuing culture and heritage capital framework set out the commonly used economic techniques to value (monetise) benefits.
• Strand C: defining and incorporating non-use values into social cost benefit analysis and cultural and heritage capital accounting
  • The valuing culture and heritage capital framework recommended the need to further develop the application of non-use value with SCBA. Non-use value is often defined as bequest, altruistic and existence values from those who do not directly interact with an asset.
• Strand D: combining heritage science and economic valuation to articulate better the impact of care and sustainable usage of heritage assets
  • The valuing culture and heritage capital framework set out the need to combine the techniques used by heritage scientists and economists to better articulate the impact of care and sustainable usage of heritage assets.
• Strand E: overlaps between natural capital and culture and heritage capital
  • The valuing culture and heritage capital framework highlighted that both culture or heritage and natural assets can be valued distinctively from each other so that natural capital and culture and heritage capital avoid double counting across the capital accounts.
• Strand F: triangulation of values using different valuation methods, research testing biases and ways to minimise them
  • The valuing culture and heritage capital framework set out the need to improve the economic valuation methodologies. The AHRC and DCMS scoping study recommended research is needed to reduce errors and biases in approaches, particularly embedding, sequencing effects, reliability over time, and actual versus hypothetical behaviour.
• Strand G: valuation of digital assets
  • Boundless Creativity a joint research project by UKRI’s AHRC, in partnership with DCMS set out how digital technologies are transforming the way the public consumes culture and the way organisations are changing their delivery models.

Funding & Duration Information

• The full economic cost of your project can be up to £450,000. However, individual proposals can make the case for more or less funding. AHRC will fund 80% of the full economic cost.
• Projects should be between 6 and 36 months in duration.

What they’re looking for        

• AHRC and DCMS would like to invite applications for interdisciplinary projects which will play a major role in developing and realising the DCMS Culture and Heritage Capital Programme.
• DCMS is developing a formal approach to value culture and heritage assets called Culture and Heritage Capital (CHC). CHC will create publicly available statistics and guidance that allow for improved articulation of the economic, social and cultural value of the culture and heritage sectors in decision-making.
• Valuation of benefits and costs plays an important role in appraisal and evaluation  policies, projects and programmes. The estimates are used alongside other information, both quantitative and qualitative to create a robust evidence base for decision making.
• The DCMS and AHRC funded study, scoping study culture and heritage capital research, provided recommendations for taking forward research gaps identified in DCMS’s valuing culture and heritage capital: a framework towards informing decision making.
• Following this study, they are now seeking to fund a portfolio of projects to develop the CHC programme.

Eligibility Criteria

• You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding.
• Projects should be interdisciplinary and must include:
  • At least 1 arts and humanities researcher.
  • At least 1 economist.
• Any researcher working at an organisation that is eligible to receive UKRI funding can apply for this opportunity.
• It is expected that each project will consist of an interdisciplinary team with expertise from different disciplines appropriate to the project being proposed. Each team must include at least 1 arts and humanities researcher. Due to the focus of the research on economic techniques and theory, each project team must also include at least 1 economist.
• The project can be led by a researcher from any appropriate discipline. The principal investigator should be the individual best suited to lead the project.
• Projects can collaborate with other organisations from the culture or heritage sector where appropriate to the project. Such partners may be included either as subcontractors or project partners.

For more information, visit AHRC.

For more information, visit https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/research-culture-and-heritage-capital-with-an-interdisciplinary-team/