On 5th November 2008, CHRI and Cardiff Humanities Schools hosted a day-long visit by Professor Shearer West, Director of Research at the Arts and Humanities Research Council. 

In addition to attending networking events for all researchers at the start and end of the day, Professor West met with current AHRC-funded postgraduate students studying at Cardiff, and visited the School of Journalism, Cultural and Media Studies, the School of History and Archaeology, and the School of Welsh. Networking sessions including displays on staff and postgraduate research projects, demonstrating the breadth and depth of original research from Humanities Schools.

In a presentation to an audience of researchers from all Schools, Professor West expressed her thanks to everyone who took time out of their day to talk with her, noting that she was impressed with the research culture in Humanities at Cardiff.

Speaking on ‘Current challenges and opportunities for arts and humanities research’, Professor West outlined the political context and pressures on the AHRC and researchers, and sketched out the achievements of the AHRC since its formation as a Research Council in 2005.  She directly addressed many of the concerns facing those who work within the AHRC’s remit and described a range of initiatives the AHRC is taking forward to protect and develop the AHRC’s distinctive identity, leadership role and presence within the research landscape in the UK. 

In response to a question on future changes to the AHRC Research Leave scheme, Professor West stated that, subject to approval by AHRC Council in December 2008, it was likely that the scheme would be revised in 2010, to introduce greater flexibility for researchers and to decouple it from QR funding (i.e. remove the requirement for a matching period of leave from the home institution). Re-named a ‘Fellowship Scheme’, it will introduce greater flexibility in terms of length of time and amount of time applied for, bringing AHRC support for individual research projects into a continuum that matches the flexibility demonstrated in the schemes that support collaborative research projects.