The British Academy awards seed funding to 12 collaborative projects by researchers in UK and Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific

The British Academy today announces funding for 12 new research projects, providing support for collaborative research in the humanities and social sciences, following a joint Knowledge Frontiers Forum with the Australian Academy of the Humanities and Royal Society of New Zealand.

The research grants are funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy as part of the Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).

The announcement follows a Knowledge Frontiers Forum focused on the theme of ‘The Future’ which took place in Brisbane, Australia during 11-12 November 2019, jointly held by the British Academy, the Royal Society of New Zealand and the Australian Academy of the Humanities to promote ideas exchange between early-career researchers across the UK and Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.

The British Academy’s grants will support collaborative, interdisciplinary research projects by 25 researchers in total, including 15 researchers from 13 research institutions across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.

Projects funded by these awards will examine a range of subjects including digital culture, gender and politics, environmental degradation, migration, and topics in data science and modelling.

Professor Simon Goldhill FBA, Foreign Secretary of the British Academy, said:

“Following the success of last year’s Forum, the British Academy is pleased to strengthen its ties with the Royal Society of New Zealand and the Australian Academy of the Humanities by supporting excellent research in the humanities and social sciences across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific – both research that is focused on some of the most evidently pressing topics facing us today, and research that pushes new boundaries and questions.”

The full list of funded projects includes:

• ‘Whakapapa in the Diaspora: Stories from Australia and UK’ - Dr Xu Daozhi, The University of Hong Kong; Dr Corinne Seals, Victoria University of Wellington; Dr Melissa Jogie, University of Roehampton
• ‘Churches, Science and Climate Change’ - Dr Adam Bobbette, University of New South Wales; Revd Dr Latu Latai, Malua Theological College; Dr Sarina Theys, Newcastle University
• ‘Visions of the Future: Past and Present’ - Dr William Tullett, Anglia Ruskin University; Dr Ruth Morgan, Monash University; Dr Hannah Murray, University of Liverpool
• ‘Women and Political Participation: A Comparison of Samoa and Morocco’ - Dr Kaya Davies Hayon, University of Lincoln; Dr Safua Akeli, National University of Samoa, Dr Potoae Roberts Aiafi, Oceania SMART Consulting
• ‘Future Intimacies: Bodies, Touch, and Co-Presence in a Digital World’ - Dr Hannah McCann, University of Melbourne; Dr William Tullett, Anglia Ruskin University
• ‘Environmental (in)security’ - Dr Danielle Watson, Queensland University of Technology; Dr Jeremy Brice, LSE; Dr Safua Akeli, National University of Samoa
• ‘Environmental degradation and migration in the Pacific’ - Dr Magdalena Arias Cubas, Deakin University; Dr Sarina Theys, Newcastle University; Dr Andreas Kopf, The University of the South Pacific
• ‘The Art and Artifice of Prediction’ - Dr Maria Christou, University of Manchester; Dr Ruth Morgan, Monash University; Dr Lise Butler, City, University of London
• ‘The Mobility of Tongan Diasporic Communities’ - Dr David Fa'avae, University of the South Pacific; Dr William Allen, University of Oxford; Dr Corinne Seals, Victoria University of Wellington; Dr Magdalena Arias Cubas, Deakin University
• ‘Data Visualisations’ - Dr William Allen, University of Oxford; Dr Verity Trott, Monash University; Dr Kathryn Nash, University of Edinburgh
• ‘Fire and Environmental Disaster’ - Dr Erin McCarthy, University of Newcastle, Australia; Dr William Tullett, Anglia Ruskin University
• ‘The Visual Turn in Migration and Mobility Studies’ - Dr William Allen, University of Oxford; Dr Chari Larsson, Griffith University