The British Academy awards seed funding to support UK-Netherlands collaborative research

The British Academy has awarded funding to 10 new humanities and social sciences research projects examining different aspects of the Anthropocene to help strengthen ties between researchers based in the UK and the Netherlands.

Funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the awards follow a Knowledge Frontiers Symposium held by the British Academy and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in autumn 2020. The symposium brought together early career researchers from a broad range of disciplines within the humanities and social sciences, to explore the Anthropocene – the period during which human behaviour has changed the world’s environment, climate and biodiversity.

The British Academy’s grants serve to highlight the importance of collaborative engagement between disciplines, between nations and between communities of research, practice, and policy.

Professor Simon Goldhill, Foreign Secretary and Vice-President of the British Academy, commented:

“This is an exciting opportunity for the British Academy to forge closer ties with the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. These awards will facilitate collaboration between talented early career researchers in the UK and the Netherlands and improve understandings of the Anthropocene and help address its challenges. They will also help to foster research talent in the UK and the Netherlands, develop innovative methodologies and approaches, and yield invaluable insights into how human interaction with our planet past, present and future has impacted life on Earth.”

The 2021 award-holders are:

• ‘Visions of the Anthropocene via COVID-19’ – Dr Matthew J. Dennis, Delft University of Technology; Dr Blake Ewing, University of Oxford; Dr Catherine Price, University of Warwick; Dr Jochem Zwier, University of Twente; Dr Rachael Squire, Royal Holloway University of London; Dr Paul Behrens, Leiden University; Dr Marta Gasparin, University of Leicester
• ‘Anthropocene Museologies’ – Dr Colin Sterling, University of Amsterdam; Dr Blake Ewing, University of Oxford
• ‘The Anthropocene and More-Than Human World Writing Workshop Series’ – Dr Catherine Price, University of Warwick; Dr Matthew Dennis, Delft University of Technology
• “Knowledge Hub”: Slow Design and Circular Economy in the Anthropocene - Dr Marta Gasparin, University of Leicester; Dr Cecilia Furlan, Delft University of Technology; Dr Paul Behrens, Leiden University
• ‘Plantationocene Futures’ – Dr Rebeca Ibáñez Martin, Meertens Institute; Dr Maan Barua, University of Cambridge; Dr Marthe Achtnich, University of Oxford
• ‘Our Losses, Your Gains?’ – Dr Michael Klenk, Delft University of Technology; Dr Elisa Calliari, University College London; Dr Tara Quinn, University of Exeter; Dr Lovleem Bhullar, University of Birmingham; Dr Iva Peša, University of Groningen; Dr Matthew J. Dennis, Delft University of Technology
• ‘Coloniality, Decoloniality and Extractive Anthropocenes’ – Dr Aditya Ramesh, University of Manchester; Dr Iva Peša, University of Groningen; Dr Joseph Sony Jean, Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean; Dr Erwin Nugraha, University of Twente; Dr Paul Merchant, University of Bristol; Dr Rebeca Ibáñez Martin, Meertens Institute; Dr Marie Petersmann, Tilburg University; Dr Jochem Zwier, University of Twente; Dr Nicola Thomas, University of Bristol
• ‘Anthropocene Times Network’ - Dr Blake Ewing, University of Oxford; Dr Daniel Finch-Race, Ca’Foscari University of Venice; Dr Michael Leach, Tilburg University; Dr Paul Merchant, University of Bristol; Dr Jeroen Oomen, Utrecht University; Dr Marie Petersmann, Tilburg University; Dr Catherine Price, University of Warwick; Dr Rachael Squire, Royal Holloway University of London; Dr Colin Sterling, University of Amsterdam; Dr Nicola Thomas, University of Bristol; Dr Lukas Verburgt, Utrecht University; Dr Marta Gasparin, University of Leicester
• ‘Grounding Value in the Anthropocene’ – Dr Simone Schleper, Maastricht Universit; Dr Leo Steeds, University of Warwick; Dr Iva Peša, University of Groningen; Dr Nicola Thomas, University of Bristol; Dr Daniel Finch-Race, Ca’Foscari University of Venice; Dr Paul Merchant, University of Bristol; Dr Rebeca Ibáñez Martin, Meertens Institute
• ‘Narrating “Just Sustainability” in the City’ – Dr Tom Idema, Utrecht University; Dr Bergit Arends, University of Bristol; Dr Paul Behrens, Leiden University; Dr Colin Sterling, University of Amsterdam.