HERA CinBA Follow On Study
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Southampton
Department Name: Faculty of Humanities
Abstract
One year after the successful completion of the major international HERA-funded project Creativity and Craft Production in Middle and Late Bronze Age Europe (CinBA) (www.cinba.net), this AHRC grant will revisit our partners and collaborators to carry out an assessment of impact in terms of the project's effectiveness, scale (national and international), persistence, and leverage.
CinBA explored the creativity that underpinned Bronze Age objects over time and space; the Bronze Age saw developments taken for granted today in textiles, metal and ceramics, including colour, pattern, texture and decoration. Working closely with non-academic partners, The Crafts Council and Sagnlandet Lejre, it has further investigated the potential impact these objects may have as a source of inspiration and means of stimulating contemporary creativity for different groups, including contemporary designers / makers at a range of career stages, and the public. Throughout CinBA, knowledge exchange has been embedded within the research journey. It is, however, clear that the project has continued to have reverberations. In addition to predicted outcomes, a range of additional unforeseen outcomes and responses also emerged organically during and after CinBA. This project will explore what the longer-term impact of inter-disciplinary opportunities provided by CinBA have been for the crafts and heritage sectors and how they add value to these. A reflection on CinBA effectiveness and best practice will help to set useful directions for future knowledge exchange activities with these sectors.
CinBA explored the creativity that underpinned Bronze Age objects over time and space; the Bronze Age saw developments taken for granted today in textiles, metal and ceramics, including colour, pattern, texture and decoration. Working closely with non-academic partners, The Crafts Council and Sagnlandet Lejre, it has further investigated the potential impact these objects may have as a source of inspiration and means of stimulating contemporary creativity for different groups, including contemporary designers / makers at a range of career stages, and the public. Throughout CinBA, knowledge exchange has been embedded within the research journey. It is, however, clear that the project has continued to have reverberations. In addition to predicted outcomes, a range of additional unforeseen outcomes and responses also emerged organically during and after CinBA. This project will explore what the longer-term impact of inter-disciplinary opportunities provided by CinBA have been for the crafts and heritage sectors and how they add value to these. A reflection on CinBA effectiveness and best practice will help to set useful directions for future knowledge exchange activities with these sectors.
Organisations
Publications
Brockhurst, R. And Sofaer, J.
(2015)
Creativity and Craft Production in Middle and Late Bronze Age Europe. Assessing the Impact of a HERA Research Project.
Persad R
(2016)
Creativity in the Bronze Age: Bringing Archaeological Research into Contemporary Craft Teaching and Learning through a Live Project
in International Journal of Art & Design Education
| Description | This research highlights a number of ways in which impact from humanities research can be enhanced: 1. Recognising and responding to the strengths of international research teams that go beyond those possible in a national context is vital 2. Embedding KE within research (rather than as a stand alone or add-on activity) in which non-academic partners are included as co-researchers. Flexibility in funding arrangements for KE are needed in order that research projects can grasp opportunities as they arise and capitalise upon them. 3. Recognition of the importance of a properly resourced broker and liaison for KE activities who speaks both academic and non-academic languages. Academics leading KE activities are on a significant learning curve and they should be empowered to engage the advice and talents of others to make those engagements successful. 4. In engaging creative practitioners in KE, CPD is an important outcome and can be usefully embedded as an aim 5. Impact can form part of a continuum of influences, which are sometimes difficult to unpick but nonetheless influential for researchers and creative practitioners. 6. Recognition of the importance of networks for driving creativity and sustaining innovation for both researchers and creative practitioners. 7. Engaging with third sector organisations who have an advocacy role and a policy remit leads to wider impact for humanities research and benefits for both partners 8. Commercial impacts may arise from unexpected sources and take time to materialise; humanities academics should be supported to respond to these. For non-academic partners such impacts are leveraged by CPD and impacts on creative practice. 9. Flexible, responsive and pragmatic research project management enhances a balanced research team profile and leads to personal and professional progression. 10. To achieve on-going and international impact, mechanisms for trialling models in a national context and then generating spin-outs are needed. These may extend beyond the lifetime of a 3-year research project and require buy-in from partners to deliver them. |
| Exploitation Route | Given the existing range and depth of impact we have good grounds to expect that ripples from CinBA will continue for some years to come. Indeed, given the cumulative nature of academic and creative practice, the partners and participants will continue to draw upon the 'CinBA experience' as part of their continuum of influences and source material. The unpredictable nature of fruitful impact in the humanities is such that it is not always possible to predict the consequences of a research project in the future. CinBA has shown that there are twists and turns, and an iterative nature, to the creative process; this is what makes engagement with the humanities, with all it's many jumping off points and tangents, particularly stimulating. The on-going effects of the project will reside in the human capital brought together by CinBA, the networks those individuals sustain and the ways in which they leverage the experience. The vast body of knowledge created by CinBA will continue to be a source of inspiration and focus for on-going research. It is likely that we will see an extension of impact in the areas already identified in this report; research, pedagogy, models for CPD, creative practices of individuals, policy development, commercial use of CinBA findings, capitalising on personal and professional impacts, and continued leveraging of involvement with CinBA. We hope that an additional future impact of CinBA will be that the models and learning identified throughout this report will inspire humanities research projects to productively embed KE and to engage with the creative industries internationally. |
| Sectors | Creative Economy,Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | http://heranet.info/system/files/HERAJRPdocuments/cinba-report-final-lowres.pdf |
| Description | Findings have been used to inform policy making around knowledge exchange and impact for Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA); HERA is comprised of 26 European national research funding organisations. In addition, The Crafts Council has used findings to develop its research strategy and to develop new models of CPD for makers. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2015 |
| Sector | Creative Economy,Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | Development of Knowledge Exchange practice within HERA; Report submitted to HERA KE Board and 24 European Research Councils. |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| URL | http://heranet.info/system/files/HERAJRPdocuments/cinba-report-final-lowres.pdf |
| Description | Development of Research Policy and provision of CPD at the Crafts Council |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | It has provided practice-based evidence and new models for effective knowledge transfer within Humanities research. It has shown how Archaeological research can contribute to professional development in the creative sector, particularly for established makers who may otherwise suffer from lack of accessible CPD opportunities. The report showed how CinBA interventions led to new economic opportunities for makers. Significant leveraging of their experiences with CinBA included successful funding bids worth £49000 from Arts Council England. As a result, the Crafts Council have worked with CinBA to identify how research, intellectual content and practice-based research can be used to deliver CPD mechanisms for mid-career makers and have since developed a range of mechanisms that echo the principles of CinBA. http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/documents/publications/10th-anniversary-brochure/ http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/documents/project-reports-and-reviews/the-impact-of-ahrc-research/2014-2015/ http://heranet.info/system/files/HERAJRPdocuments/cinba-report-final-lowres.pdf |
| URL | http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/documents/project-reports-and-reviews/the-impact-of-ahrc-research/2014-2015/ |
| Description | Sofaer, J. 2015. Invited member of round table panel. Trust: European Research. Co-creating Resilient Societies. Brussels, Belgium. Organised by Net 4 Society, European Commission and HERA. |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| URL | http://www.trust-conference.eu |
| Description | Sofaer, J. 2016. How to Run a Successful HERA Project. HERA3 Launch Conference, Prague, Czech Republic. Panel Chair. |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Description | Connecting Culture |
| Amount | £75,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Arts Council England |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2019 |
| End | 10/2021 |
| Description | Humanities in the European Research Area Knowledge Exchange and Impact Fellowship |
| Amount | £427,757 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA) |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 12/2017 |
| End | 11/2022 |
| Description | Humanities in the European Research Area Knowledge Exchange and Impact Fellowship Extension 2020-2021 |
| Amount | £12,436 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA) |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 09/2020 |
| End | 09/2021 |
| Description | Humanities in the European Research Area Knowledge Exchange and Impact Fellowship Extension 2021-2022 |
| Amount | € 108,477 (EUR) |
| Organisation | Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA) |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 09/2021 |
| End | 11/2022 |
| Description | Journey to the Beginnings - A Contemporary Approach to Prehistoric Heritage |
| Amount | € 360,168 (EUR) |
| Funding ID | 2018-1632/001-001 |
| Organisation | European Commission |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | European Union (EU) |
| Start | 04/2018 |
| End | 02/2020 |
| Description | Dissemination of report via the internet |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The CinBA Impact report has been disseminated to stake holders via a range of social media outlets and websites, including the CinBA website (http://cinba.net), academia.edu and via the Crafts Council and HERA (http://heranet.info/system/files/HERAJRPdocuments/cinba-report-final-lowres.pdf) websites. This has resulted in substantial positive feedback to the authors and increased interest in how to develop novel modes of knowledge exchange for Humanities research, in particular between the creative industries and Humanities academics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015,2016 |
| URL | http://cinba.net |
| Description | HERA presentation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | In addition to the written report (see publications) the outcomes of the research were presented to HERA through a presentation to representatives of 24 European research councils in June 2015. It sparked questions and discussion and is helping to shape research and knowledge transfer policy at national and European levels. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Trust: European Research. Co-creating Resilient Societies Conference (Brussels) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Several hundred people attended the conference in Brussels and it was also webcast and subsequently made available online. The panel sparked questions and discussion. The conference was of particular relevance to policy makers and academics in Humanities research and the purpose of the panel in which Prof Sofaer participated was to offer ideas to policy makers and academics who are looking to find innovative ways to develop the impact of Humanities research on a European level. The conference took place in 2015 and it is therefore too soon to directly attribute developments to this conference as the developments in Horizon 2020 policy making as well as applications to Horizon 2020 are currently in progress. However, initial feedback suggest that the conference will be influential in agenda setting at a European level. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.trust-conference.eu |