We are excited to invite applications from across the arts and humanities communities, representing different career stages, sectors, and disciplines, to join our Advisory Board.
About AHRC
At the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) we fund world-class, independent research in subjects from philosophy and the creative industries, to art, heritage, conservation science and product design. We fund research that boosts the economy and drives technological innovation. We support infrastructure, skills and other capabilities that underpin research and innovation across the cultural, heritage and creative sectors. At the same time, the research we fund also addresses some of society’s biggest challenges for a fair and prosperous future.
We are the UK’s largest provider of response-led and strategic funding, advanced skills training and career development across the whole range of arts and humanities, and across all regions and nations of the UK. We award research grants and funding to independently assessed research projects of excellence in the field and remain committed to international connectivity and to promoting and embodying values of equality, diversity and inclusion throughout our research portfolio. And we support postgraduate training from early career to senior level for career paths within and beyond academia.
Supporting AHRC’s vision
As an expert support and advisory body, our Advisory Board’s pragmatic advice reflects both the arts and humanities research communities’ perspectives and the needs and challenges facing arts and humanities research, innovation and practice. It supports the development of strategic partnerships that facilitates the delivery of AHRC’s vision and balances the strategic needs of both our research community and AHRC’s position as a strategic funder.
As a member of our Advisory Board, you will also be committed to championing the work of AHRC across the wider research community, building connections and being adaptable. You will value a diversity of opinion across board members and staff and challenge us to ensure the shape of our portfolio delivers maximum return on investment.
What members have to say
Here is what some of our current Advisory Board members have to say:
Professor Dana Arnold, Manchester School of Architecture
Membership of the AHRC Advisory Board offers you unique insights into the workings of AHRC and more broadly of UKRI. You will also be in a position to advise AHRC on their policies and practices. It is also an excellent opportunity to broaden your networks and meet a range of researchers in cognate disciplines as well as AHRC staff.
Professor Diamond Ashiagbor, University of Kent
Being a member of the AHRC Advisory Board has given me an unparalleled strategic understanding of research funding and the richness of research across our arts and humanities disciplines.
I’ve come to appreciate the breadth of the AHRC’s remit: not just in terms funding research and supporting the next generation of scholars, but also this whole other existence with which I was less familiar. For example, the AHRC’s role in advocating for and supporting the wider galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM) sector and the creative industries.
It has been equally inspiring and sobering to understand better the importance of the AHRC in relation to the relevant government ministries, in championing the value of arts and humanities. It has been enjoyable to work with and learn from AHRC staff and AB members from a range of disciplines and independent research organisations.
Professor Paul Grainge, University of Nottingham
It has been a pleasure and a privilege to be a member of the AHRC Advisory Board. It brings together a diverse group with a genuine interest in helping to voice the arts and humanities community, and to shape and inform thinking across the full breadth of AHRC activities.
I have been part of fascinating and complex discussions about the future of doctoral provision and creative economy investments, among other subjects, and have been struck by the rigour and commitment of everyone involved on the Board and at the AHRC.
Professor Sandeep Parmar, University of Liverpool
In these challenging times for higher education, being on the AHRC Advisory Board and its EDI subcommittee has both clarified for me the importance of supporting high-quality research and the need for scholarship to respond in a variety of ways to our present moment as well as our rich past. Being able to feed into the critical role the AHRC plays in the health and vitality of research and innovation has been enlightening and at times inspiring.
Professor Adrienne Scullion, The Open University
Being a member of the AHRC’s Advisory Board is both a great way to understand and influence research policy and practice across the UK and an important opportunity to stand up for and champion research and researchers in the arts and humanities when informed voices are really needed.
I enjoy working with – and learning from – colleagues from across the wider range of AHRC disciplines, the diversity of HEIs, IROs and other stakeholders in public life and business as well as with members of the AHRC and wider UKRI executive teams.
Jane Ellison, Independent Consultant
Serving on Advisory Board as a non-academic member is a huge opportunity to appreciate the immense contribution that AHRC makes to the UK’s universities, supporting the next generation of academic researchers, and showing why a thriving research base in the arts and humanities is essential to addressing contemporary challenges in a human way. But I have also seen how AHRC drives research that directly impacts the creative sector, funding crucial R&D projects that fuel innovation and help shape the future of our industries.
The role is about understanding how AHRC’s influence extends beyond academia to create dynamic spaces where research and creativity intersect to drive real-world change; highlighting the imagination and expertise in story-telling, artistic collaboration and audience engagement that the UK’s creative organisations can contribute, but also representing as best you can some of the very real challenges that the sector now faces.
Key areas of advice
Over the past two years, we have worked closely with our Advisory Board and benefited from their key contributions in several key areas of our work, for example:
- in the development of our future doctoral provision
- in establishing and enacting our equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) action plan
- in the transformation of our responsive mode grants schemes
We look forward to applications from those interested in developing the future of our arts and humanities research landscape. For details of the application process and key dates see: AHRC Advisory Board: member vacancies.
Please do reach out to us directly, or our teams, if you would like to discuss the opportunity further. Email: governance@ahrc.ukri.org
Apply now: AHRC Advisory Board: member vacancies.
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