Deadline: 17 November 2020
The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), on behalf of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), is pleased to announce the call for the Discovery Projects of Towards a National Collection: Opening UK Heritage to the World.
Towards a National Collection represents a major investment (£19 million in total) in the UK’s world-leading cultural and heritage sector. Funded from UKRI’s Strategic Priorities Fund, Towards a National Collection addresses the lack of coordination between different online collections and catalogues, which constitutes a major barrier to research and public access.
The aim of Towards a National Collection is to harness digital technology to begin to dissolve barriers between different collections, in order to enable new cross-disciplinary and cross-collection lines of research, and to open them up to new audiences and in new ways.
Towards a National Collection will fund strong inter-disciplinary and multi-institutional research partnerships that address the technological and organisational obstacles which currently divide the UK’s collections, harnessing digital technology, and beginning to establish common standards and tools. The programme will also demonstrate the power of so doing for research and for public access: for research, by funding cutting-edge research that tells new stories and makes new connections across collections; for public access, by funding major research-driven public-facing outputs (for example exhibitions, immersive installations, and innovative virtual modes of access) which increase both virtual and in-person visitor numbers in innovative, sustainable and effective ways.
The programme will extend across the UK, will involve collections and institutions of different scales, and will potentially have a global reach in terms of setting a standard for other countries building their own collections (with the long-term potential for inter-connection between the national collections).
Objectives
The Discovery Projects collectively seek to realise the following objectives:
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- Carry out world-class interdisciplinary research in key thematic areas, relying on original ways of discovering and using collections
- Grow and diversify audiences by introducing the public to new ways of engaging with the collections, including major research-driven public-facing outputs, addressing virtual and in-person audiences
- Devise technological and organizational solutions to the barriers between online collections and catalogues, including beginning to establish, as far as is possible, harmonised standards for data, cataloguing and metadata to facilitate interoperability across collections
- Deliver benefit not only to the collections of Independent Research Organisations, but also to collections and other heritage organisations of varied scale and geographic location, including organisations beyond metropolitan centres
- Create a sound evidence base for the future development of a virtual ‘national collection’, for example through informing UKRI infrastructure investment planning and digital investment decisions within culture and heritage organisations
- Produce evidence-based policy recommendations to inform the delivery of the relevant DCMS strategic objectives and those of the devolved nations Discovery Projects should deliver impact in all three of the following areas, although proposals may choose to focus more strongly on one area over the others:
- Dissolving barriers between collections – addressing technological, organizational and other issues that stand in the way of an integrated virtual ‘national collection’, e.g. by developing digital search and cataloguing tools, technologies and methodologies
- Research capability – enhancing researchers’ ability to address research questions which draw on a heterogeneous range of sources and thus allow the UK to maintain leadership in cross-disciplinary and cross-collection research, both between different humanities disciplines and between humanities and non-humanities disciplines
- Public engagement – enhancing and innovating in access for all stakeholders in the form of major research-driven public-facing outputs, thereby facilitating wider, better-informed and more inclusive public access, whether virtual or in-person
- Discovery Projects should deliver impact in all three of the following areas, although proposals may choose to focus more strongly on one area over the others:
- Dissolving barriers between collections – addressing technological, organizational and other issues that stand in the way of an integrated virtual ‘national collection’, e.g. by developing digital search and cataloguing tools, technologies and methodologies
- Research capability – enhancing researchers’ ability to address research questions which draw on a heterogeneous range of sources and thus allow the UK to maintain leadership in cross-disciplinary and cross-collection research, both between different humanities disciplines and between humanities and non-humanities disciplines
- Public engagement – enhancing and innovating in access for all stakeholders in the form of major research-driven public-facing outputs, thereby facilitating wider, better-informed and more inclusive public access, whether virtual or in-person.
Funding Information
- The maximum total payable by AHRC (the maximum ‘funding envelope’) is £15m for all the Discovery Projects taken together. The indicative limit for each project is £3m where £3m represents 80% of the project’s full economic cost (fEC).
- Projects may be up to 36 months in duration, and must begin no later than 1st December 2021.
Eligibility Criteria
- Each Discovery project will be required to include collaboration between one or more Independent Research Organisations recognised by UK Research and Innovation, and one or more Higher Education Institutions. An element of further collaboration with local, regional or national collection organisations, third sector organisations and/or stakeholders (e.g. user groups, schools, Subject Specialist Networks, related initiatives etc) is strongly encouraged to ensure the programme involves and benefits a wide range of institutions of different scales.
- Private sector collaboration and international partnerships are welcome, provided they add value to the aims and objectives of the project.
AHRC intend to hold at least four open webinars for applicants to find out further information, ask questions, and begin to discuss initial ideas. The dates of the webinars are as follows:
- Wednesday 27 May 2020
- Monday 1 June 2020
- Tuesday 2 June 2020
- Wednesday 3 June 2020
For more information, visit https://ahrc.ukri.org/funding/apply-for-funding/current-opportunities/discovery-projects-call-towards-a-national-collection-opening-uk-heritage-to-the-world/