Cardiff Awarded new Funding to Help Students who have completed their PHD to Collaborate with Cultural Organisations

The aim of the money provided to Cardiff University is to maximise the benefits of arts and humanities research to non-academic users of research such as the public and community groups. By the end of the program there should be a new understanding of how academic research benefits non-academics. Cardiff is ranked 15^th in the UK for research and is in the elite Russell Group of universities.

It has been the case that social science research has had limited impact on the local communities which the research tries to understand. This initiative is tasked with correcting the impact gap and producing new areas to research – which should enjoy more interest from non-academic circles. At Cardiff, the money will fund two post-doctoral Research Associates in the University’s Schools of History, Archaeology and Religion, Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies. Each will work closely with an academic mentor with substantial expertise in cultural engagement. The main objective of the Research Associates is to develop a best practice toolkit for designing, delivering and evaluating how non-higher education institutional user groups benefit from academic research and to identify the most effective ways of implementing community engagement initiatives. The three month projects are funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

The AHRC’s pilot scheme offered funding to strengthen or develop a university’s broader strategy for supporting the engagement of its arts and humanities academic staff with local creative sector small and medium enterprises or public and civic organisations. The result should be that future sociological research will be more relevant to the worries of everyday people and catch up to the most recent social trends.

Source: Cardiff University

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