The British Academy funds international projects tackling global challenges

The British Academy has awarded funding to 16 international and interdisciplinary research projects tackling global challenges from the perspective of the humanities and social sciences.

Funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the projects arise from the British Academy’s international virtual sandpits, which were held in February and March 2021 and focused on the themes of ‘Just Transitions,’ ‘Global (Dis)Order’, and ‘What is a good city?’ The sandpits brought together researchers from across the humanities and social sciences to engender new thinking, develop interdisciplinary collaborations, and further international engagement with a focus on international policy and practice.

The 16 projects follow on from the discussions and collaborations developed during those meetings and span all three themes.

They are:

• Institutions for the global governance of the just transition
• The future of work in just transitions 
• Just transitions in biodiversity governance 
• Foundations of creative environmental sensing for community-led resilience in cities
• ‘The cracks are where the light gets in': creating conditions for new climate coalitions
• Just food? Mutual exchange network on just food system transition
• Bodies and performance: exploring the institutionalisation of loss in just and unjust transitions
• Bridging the local and global: women’s collectives and the ‘spaces of action/reflection’ 
• Geopolitical narratives as a process of global (dis)ordering
• The interplay between (international) law and mis-/disinformation
• Mapping values 
• Youth, democracy and sustainable citizenship: reimagining the city and empowering young people through engagement with policymakers
• Footprints of urban activism: mapping narratives of success and failure in post-industrial development  
• Caring – with cities; enacting more careful urban approaches with community-led developments and policymakers 
• Socially engaged art and policy: supporting inclusive and sustainable creative urbanism 
• My city (in)visible.

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

“In February and March 2021 the British Academy brought together researchers in the humanities and social sciences with practitioners and policymakers for some creative discussions related to our understanding of global challenges past, present and future. The aim was to cultivate interdisciplinary and international collaborations and we are delighted to announce further funding to facilitate this process.

“From reimagining work and employment in the transition to a sustainable future, to empowering young people to engage with policymakers and democracy, the 16 projects funded under our Virtual Sandpits Programme will yield new insights, foster global perspectives and, we hope, create long-lasting international partnerships focused on tackling global challenges.”