Deadline: 27 May 2020
The British Academy is inviting humanities and social science researchers to bring their specific insights to bear on the global health pandemic resulting from COVID-19.
Across health, social, economic, cultural and environmental impacts, the COVID-19 pandemic affects individuals, communities, and society in the UK and globally. The economic, social and cultural effects are far reaching.
The insights to be brought to bear by researchers in fields covered by the British Academy are wide-ranging and there is a clear role for both humanities and social sciences research to play to inform and enrich understanding and response. From literature, drama, history and languages, to political sciences, psychology, economics and sociology it is the humanities and social sciences that make sense of the world around us. The potential for researchers to understand, compare, and inform the impact of COVID-19 that draws on and combines humanities and social science is extensive, and primary and secondary research can explore issues such as the:
- ethical and behavioural issues raised by the pandemic;
- implications of migration on disease transmission;
- feasibility and effectiveness of policy responses aimed at preventing or containing Covid-19, including secondary impacts such as school closures, quarantine etc;
- past experience of epidemics, pandemics and quarantine;
- communication of risk to the wider public;
- behavioural studies understanding how people have been affected, both mentally and physically by living through the pandemic;
- community responses to crisis;
- access and equity to essential services, including digital communications and technologies;
- translation and analysis of information for multilingual populations;
- role of arts and culture in community building, recovery and resilience;
- strategies to combat misinformation;
- impacts on socio-economically disadvantaged groups.
Funding Information
Applicants may bid for up to £10,000, for research taking place over a maximum period of 24 months.
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must meet the following eligibility criteria:
- Grants are available for research, at postdoctoral or equivalent level, in the fields of the humanities and the social sciences.
- Equivalent experience may include holding, or having held, an established post, having a record of publications in the field and/or having teaching experience.
- Postgraduate students are not eligible to apply.
- Applicants must be ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands (that is, classed as ‘ordinarily resident’ for tax purposes) or currently employed overseas by a recognised UK overseas research organisation.
- UK research organisations based overseas may apply to be recognised by demonstrating that they satisfy both the following conditions:
- Organisations which are, or which are constituent parts of, charities registered with the Charity Commission; and
- which must be able to demonstrate an independent capability to undertake research in the field or discipline in which they wish to be funded, and to lead the research for which funding is received.
- Awards will not be made retrospectively: this means that the work for which support is requested must not have commenced before the award is announced. The relevant dates for this call are shown in the table below.
For more information, visit https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/special-research-grants-covid-19