The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) has just announced that their latest draft Strategy is now available  and they would like your comments to shape the final version which will be published early next year:

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) has been working during the course of 2012 on refreshing its strategy for arts and humanities research and the AHRC’s role in the funding landscape. Discussions about the Strategy have involved the AHRC’s Council and Advisory Board, and the draft responds to the thoughts and views expressed by the research community gathered from institutional visits, subject association and learned society meetings, the Peer Review College and focus groups and town meetings. We are now keen for the arts and humanities community to feed in comments on the Strategy document at this stage in its development..

Professor Sir Alan Wilson, Chair of the AHRC comments, “We would like the communities we work with to have the opportunity to express their views, ambitions and aspirations for the future of arts and humanities research over the next five years.”

It is important to note that a Strategy is a different type of document to a Delivery Plan. The AHRC published its Delivery Plan 2011-15 in December 2010. The Delivery Plan set forward specific proposals for how the AHRC would use its budget as allocated through the government’s Spending Review over a set period of time. The Human World: The Arts and Humanities in Our Times, AHRC Strategy 2013-18 is a much broader document and puts forward the AHRC’s perspective on issues relating to its strategic priorities, core schemes and its role within a much wider funding and research ecosystem. The current draft does not include a proposed Appendix on efficiency which will be included in the final published text.

We are seeking comments on the document between now and November 8. These comments may either be specific to particular sections of the plan or may be on the plan as a whole. Please use our online survey to express your views by noon on Thursday 8 November. All feedback received will be reviewed by a group including members of the AHRC’s Executive, Council and Advisory Board, and will help to shape the final version of the document which we plan to publish in early 2013.

Download the AHRC Draft Strategy

The online survey can be found at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/AHRC_draft_strategy_survey