British Academy Seeks Proposals for Summer Showcase 2021

The annual British Academy Summer Showcase celebrates the outstanding humanities and social science research shaping our world.

In previous years, the festival has featured in-person exhibits alongside pop-up talks, workshops and performances. While live events have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Academy is hopeful for a phased return to in-person activities in Summer 2021.

With this in mind, the 2021 Summer Showcase will run from 14-19 June, with online events taking place 14-17 June and a smaller scale in-person festival featuring interactive exhibits on 18-19 June.

The British Academy are looking for around 10 interactive exhibits, which will be given a space in the British Academy’s building during the festival run. In addition, they are also looking for creative proposals for online events, which will take place in the week leading up to the festival (14-17 June). All exhibits and online events will be based on research funded by the British Academy (or the British International Research Institutes).

Participants will benefit from the following:

Share research with different audiences, including students and lifelong learners and inspire the next generation

Raise profile. The showcase will be promoted widely through digital channels and in the national media, reaching 1000s of people

Get public opinions. Find out what people think about research and gain valuable feedback to feed into future work.

Help at every stage. The British Academy help and advise participants from start to finish, as well as support them with public engagement training, which is available to all exhibitors.

The call is open to current award holders (funded by the British Academy or the British International Research Institutes) whose work is sufficiently advanced, or past award holders still in the process of disseminating their research findings.

The British Academy will provide:

For in-person exhibits:

The venue – each exhibitor will be allocated a space (with ample room for social distancing)

The exhibits – a small fund will be set aside for each exhibit

Two nights’ accommodation and standard UK travel for each exhibitor and their two co-exhibitors

A small travel fund has also been set aside to support the participation of up to one award holder based outside of the UK. This will allow a scholar and their team based overseas to participate in the event

Food and drink for exhibitors will be provided at the Academy during the showcase.

For digital events:

A technical team to provide support. This will include pre-event testing to make sure the event runs smoothly and to troubleshoot issues.

Digital events platform e.g. Zoom Webinar, with interactive features including polls and audience Q&A

Audience management, including booking and promotion in the lead up to the event, troubleshooting technical questions from the audience or connection issues and fielding audience questions during the event

An established digital audience, with a chance to share research with a large audience across the UK and internationally.

The deadline for applications is 25 November 2020

More information about this research funding opportunity and the application process is available on the RESEARCHconnect funding information platform. RESEARCHconnect provides up-to-the minute content, insight and analysis on research funding news and policy. To find out more about how RESEARCHconnect can keep you in the know, and subscription fees, contact us today.