Centre for East European Language-Based Area Studies (CEELBAS) Development Funding Phase 2
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: School of Slavonic & East European Studi
Abstract
This proposal seeks to take forward the achievements of the Centre for East European Language-Based Area Studies (CEELBAS). As part of the UK Funding Councils' Language-Based Area Studies Initiative (launched in 2006 and supported since 2012 through Development Funding from the AHRC and British Academy), CEELBAS can point to considerable success in: (i) building UK capacity to understand and respond to developments in the strategically-important region of Central and Eastern Europe and Russia; (ii) overcoming fragmentation and promoting, through a strategic collaboration, the health and long-term sustainability of Language-Based Area Studies (LBAS) in the UK; (iii) showcasing the vital contribution made by Humanities and language expertise in addressing major research and policy challenges. With an increased emphasis on collaboration with the other LBAS centres and on engagement with other strategically important areas and languages, the activities proposed below for 2014-2016 will enable CEELBAS to build on these successes and to continue to meet the aims and objectives of its Funders.
The proposed activities are based around three Development Pathways. The first Pathway (A) aims to further develop - where possible through cross-centre collaboration - the already well-established CEELBAS knowledge exchange programme with public, private and third-sector organisations. This includes policy seminars, joint conferences, networking events and editorial partnerships, as well as a productive research internship scheme for postgraduate and early-career researchers. Such partnerships promote the practical application of knowledge and expertise and spread the impact of leading edge research and strategic language skills beyond academic environments.
The second Pathway (B) focuses on raising the international profile and connectedness of UK research through supporting workshops, conferences, international research visits and exchanges that take forward key research themes. As well as enabling UK and international researchers to collaborate and share expertise, including in areas of knowledge exchange and user engagement, this Pathway helps to create a vibrant research environment in which different insights and approaches are shared and applied across borders. Inter-regional and cross-centre research synergies will be particularly encouraged during this period in order to provide the comparative and global contexts necessary for contemporary Area Studies research.
The third Pathway (C) builds capacity through the further development of research and language skills training networks. Successful initiatives developed by CEELBAS since 2006 (e.g. ethics workshops, archives training, digital humanities training, and an online Language Repository) will be enhanced through greater collaboration and sharing of resources across the LBAS centres, including support for distance-learning initiatives and for training in knowledge exchange and public and media engagement. CEELBAS also has proposed a Doctoral Training Consortium (AHRC BGP-2 application in January 2014) that would secure maximum synergy and provide optimal value for students through the creation of a major centre of excellence for the postgraduate study of its region.
These activities provide a template for best practice that is applicable beyond the East European Area Studies research community (and its users), and could support future LBAS initiatives for other regions, such as South Asia and Latin America. CEELBAS innovation and leadership in promoting research excellence and knowledge exchange, and in providing training and career opportunities for postgraduate and early-career researchers, will help to ensure that humanities and language-based expertise in the UK universities continues to play a central role in addressing issues of strategic national importance and in advancing international cooperation and inter-cultural communication and exchange.
The proposed activities are based around three Development Pathways. The first Pathway (A) aims to further develop - where possible through cross-centre collaboration - the already well-established CEELBAS knowledge exchange programme with public, private and third-sector organisations. This includes policy seminars, joint conferences, networking events and editorial partnerships, as well as a productive research internship scheme for postgraduate and early-career researchers. Such partnerships promote the practical application of knowledge and expertise and spread the impact of leading edge research and strategic language skills beyond academic environments.
The second Pathway (B) focuses on raising the international profile and connectedness of UK research through supporting workshops, conferences, international research visits and exchanges that take forward key research themes. As well as enabling UK and international researchers to collaborate and share expertise, including in areas of knowledge exchange and user engagement, this Pathway helps to create a vibrant research environment in which different insights and approaches are shared and applied across borders. Inter-regional and cross-centre research synergies will be particularly encouraged during this period in order to provide the comparative and global contexts necessary for contemporary Area Studies research.
The third Pathway (C) builds capacity through the further development of research and language skills training networks. Successful initiatives developed by CEELBAS since 2006 (e.g. ethics workshops, archives training, digital humanities training, and an online Language Repository) will be enhanced through greater collaboration and sharing of resources across the LBAS centres, including support for distance-learning initiatives and for training in knowledge exchange and public and media engagement. CEELBAS also has proposed a Doctoral Training Consortium (AHRC BGP-2 application in January 2014) that would secure maximum synergy and provide optimal value for students through the creation of a major centre of excellence for the postgraduate study of its region.
These activities provide a template for best practice that is applicable beyond the East European Area Studies research community (and its users), and could support future LBAS initiatives for other regions, such as South Asia and Latin America. CEELBAS innovation and leadership in promoting research excellence and knowledge exchange, and in providing training and career opportunities for postgraduate and early-career researchers, will help to ensure that humanities and language-based expertise in the UK universities continues to play a central role in addressing issues of strategic national importance and in advancing international cooperation and inter-cultural communication and exchange.
Planned Impact
Contemporary political configurations, developments in the global economy and transnational flows attest to the continuing necessity of advanced, nuanced scholarship of Central and Eastern Europe and Russia. Without Humanities research and training, this scholarship will be incomplete and the UK's capacity to appreciate and respond to developments in the region will be compromised. Meeting this strategic need, the three Pathways are designed to enhance impact by providing business, public policy and third sector communities with new insights into the CEELBAS region and Strategic Themes, and with enhanced access to the expertise and language skills of academic researchers. Inter-regional perspectives and cross-Centre collaboration will be further encouraged to demonstrate the wider strategic and national importance of Language-Based Area Studies in an inter-connected world. CEELBAS will support projects offering Humanities' perspectives on issues of direct relevance to evidence-based policy-making and public policies (e.g. the role of languages in conflict situations; popular movements and societal cohesion; and soft power and cultural diplomacy).
The three Development Pathways aim to achieve extensive and lasting impacts by providing a sustainable framework for interaction between academics and external partners drawn from a range of user-groups. Current CEELBAS partners in the UK include: the British Library; the Foreign & Commonwealth Office; Pushkin House; openDemocracy; the EBRD; Chatham House; BBC Monitoring; the British Film Institute. International collaborators include: the Centre for Economic and Social Development (Azerbaijan); the College of Eastern Europe (Poland); the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (Serbia); the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (Czech Republic); the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
Knowledge Exchange events and Internships with such partners enable practitioners and policy makers to benefit from the skills and conceptual understanding of CEELBAS researchers, to see the impacts that have been and can be generated by deep knowledge of historical and cultural processes, and to appreciate the added value of language expertise in addressing the various social, economic, political and strategic challenges, as well as the opportunities for more effective trade, business development and cultural exchange, that frame the UK's relationship with the region. The Strategic Themes now prioritised by CEELBAS encompass areas such as transnationalism and cultural exchange, migration and diaspora studies, the political and social role of science, new media and non-textual modes of communication, the regional impact of global economic and political developments, and comparative studies of health and wellbeing. Such themes aim to demonstrate how the Humanities (including Languages) fit into the interdisciplinary CEELBAS research agenda and how the project promotes collaboration between Humanities-based scholars and Social Scientists. This adds significantly to the impact and strategic importance of CEELBAS.
The CEELBAS Knowledge Exchange programme also achieves impact in the longer term through training and development. The postgraduate Training Pathway, for example, will continue to orient highly skilled young researchers to the needs of user communities and provide user engagement skills (e.g. writing for the policy sector, including for 'digital commons' such as openDemocracy). By embedding Knowledge Exchange in the training programme and developing capabilities in so-called 'strategically-important but vulnerable' languages, CEELBAS helps to ensure a sustainable flow of expertise for the academic and non-academic communities alike whilst addressing the national deficit in language skills in UK education and research by equipping postgraduates with vital transferable skills on an efficient, shared basis.
The three Development Pathways aim to achieve extensive and lasting impacts by providing a sustainable framework for interaction between academics and external partners drawn from a range of user-groups. Current CEELBAS partners in the UK include: the British Library; the Foreign & Commonwealth Office; Pushkin House; openDemocracy; the EBRD; Chatham House; BBC Monitoring; the British Film Institute. International collaborators include: the Centre for Economic and Social Development (Azerbaijan); the College of Eastern Europe (Poland); the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (Serbia); the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (Czech Republic); the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
Knowledge Exchange events and Internships with such partners enable practitioners and policy makers to benefit from the skills and conceptual understanding of CEELBAS researchers, to see the impacts that have been and can be generated by deep knowledge of historical and cultural processes, and to appreciate the added value of language expertise in addressing the various social, economic, political and strategic challenges, as well as the opportunities for more effective trade, business development and cultural exchange, that frame the UK's relationship with the region. The Strategic Themes now prioritised by CEELBAS encompass areas such as transnationalism and cultural exchange, migration and diaspora studies, the political and social role of science, new media and non-textual modes of communication, the regional impact of global economic and political developments, and comparative studies of health and wellbeing. Such themes aim to demonstrate how the Humanities (including Languages) fit into the interdisciplinary CEELBAS research agenda and how the project promotes collaboration between Humanities-based scholars and Social Scientists. This adds significantly to the impact and strategic importance of CEELBAS.
The CEELBAS Knowledge Exchange programme also achieves impact in the longer term through training and development. The postgraduate Training Pathway, for example, will continue to orient highly skilled young researchers to the needs of user communities and provide user engagement skills (e.g. writing for the policy sector, including for 'digital commons' such as openDemocracy). By embedding Knowledge Exchange in the training programme and developing capabilities in so-called 'strategically-important but vulnerable' languages, CEELBAS helps to ensure a sustainable flow of expertise for the academic and non-academic communities alike whilst addressing the national deficit in language skills in UK education and research by equipping postgraduates with vital transferable skills on an efficient, shared basis.
Publications
Bogatryev, S.
Revisiting Ivan Fedorov's legacy in early modern Europe
in Canadian-American Slavic Studies
Bell, R.
(2014)
(De)constructing Utopia at the Humanities Research Institute
in http://www.designhistorysociety.org
Cubbin, T.
(De)Constructing Utopia: Design in Eastern Europe from Thaw to Perestroika
in Journal of Design History
Sergei Bogatyrev
(2014)
The Ostroh Bible from the National Library of Finland
in The Slavonic and East European Review
| Description | The award resulted in a range of achievements across the LBAS development funding pathways. The CEELBAS Internship Scheme has delivered impressive examples of collaboration between doctoral researchers and non-HEI partners, many interns were highly praised by the representatives of host organisations as their knowledge, professional skills and efficiency were valuable for the running of organisations (17 research internships outside the HE sector). CEELBAS kept providing an effective model for knowledge exchange (2 workshops to promote dialogue between academic researchers and experts from outside the HE sector, 1 workshop to promote the model of knowledge exchange). New research networks continue to emerge, connecting scholars across CEELBAS institutions, across LBAS Centres, and beyond (15 research network workshops). Recent International Research Visits (IRVs) have facilitated both the dissemination and/or refinement of ongoing research and set the basis for longer-term collaboration between CEELBAS universities and international ROs (10 international research visits). New initiatives with the FCO and the British Library, as well as impressive student-driven conferences and workshops, have enhanced the interdisciplinary research training environment at CEELBAS universities. Close liaison with the CEELBAS AHRC Centre for Doctoral Training ensured continued innovation and responsiveness to student training needs. CEELBAS has also been central to the development of new resources and expertise for e-learning in Slavonic and East European languages (6 new distance learning language courses, 21 research training bursaries, an online guide providing essential information for using over 30 archives and research libraries in Russia and Ukraine, 1 media training workshop, 3 study days at the British Library, 1 professional development training workshop). |
| Exploitation Route | The projects, events and activities supported by CEELBAS through LBAS Development Funding will continue to bear fruit over the years ahead through planned research outputs and further collaborations. A recent example from LBAS Development Funding Phase 1 (2012-14) is a special issue of Science Fiction Film and Television (Issue 2, Vol. 8, June 2015) featuring outputs from the joint CEELBAS-CRCEES network workshop 'Far Rainbows: Russian and Soviet Science Fiction on Screen' (April 2013). In 2016, forthcoming special issues of the journals Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society, Europe-Asia Studies and the Journal of Design History all have their origins in CEELBAS research network workshops; other outputs based on CEELBAS-supported events are also planned (e.g. on Russian Biography and Russian and Soviet Film Studies). An example of the longer-term projects that have been initiated by CEELBAS research networking events is the ongoing collaboration between scholars at the Cambridge Courtauld Russian Art Centre (CCRAC) and international ROs, curators and museum directors. Following two CEELBAS-supported symposia on Russian-British artistic relations (December 2014 and January 2015), CCRAC has developed close ties with the Director of the Polenovo State Museum Reserve, as well as with experts at Yaroslavl University, with whom future joint conferences are being planned. CEELBAS support for research networking events has also helped to promote interest in its subject area amongst undergraduate and postgraduate students. Experience to date suggests that doctoral and early-career researchers will continue to benefit from new knowledge exchange opportunities developed through the CEELBAS internship scheme. For example, following an internship with the Project for Democratic Union (October 2014-February 2015), Vsevolod Samokhvalov (University of Cambridge) has participated in two colloquia in the Houses of Parliament and contributed to a collaborative report on EU foreign and security policy. Similarly, Natasha Wunsch (UCL) has written a policy study on the EU accession process in the Balkans for the German Council on Foreign Relations, in which she expands on insights gained through two CEELBAS internship projects with think-tanks in the region: https://dgap.org/en/think-tank/publications/dgapanalysis/right-goals-wrong-tools. The CEELBAS AHRC CDT is already benefiting from the model for knowledge exchange that the Internship Scheme has developed. Indeed, one current CDT award holder - Daria Mattingly (University of Cambridge) - has already completed an internship supported under the LBAS Development Funding grant. More broadly, CEELBAS internships and the Centre's other postgraduate and early-career training initiatives have played an important capacity-building role in supporting - both directly and indirectly - the professional and career development of the next generation of academic researchers and other professional experts. The Mid-Term Review (February 2015) gave the examples of Tom Rowley (a University of Cambridge PhD who is now Associate Editor at oD Russia) and Teresa Wigglesworth-Baker (a University of Sheffield PhD who has since worked as an expert for the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities). Several other researchers who benefitted from CEELBAS support during the LBAS Development Funding period have since gone to positions in NGOs and cultural organisations (e.g. Forum 18 News Service, Wroclaw College of Eastern Europe, GRAD Gallery London) and in the HE sector. Examples of the latter include: Ilya Yablokov (University of Leeds); Dina Gusejnova (QMUL); Muireann Maguire (University of Exeter); Katherine Bowers (University of British Columbia); Tauri Tuvikene (Tallinn University). The AHRC CDT also provides a platform through which to sustain the fruitful CEELBAS partnership with oD Russia. The involvement of oDR editorial staff in CDT media training workshops and other events will help to strengthen contacts between Open Democracy and the Russian & East European Studies academic community, and this will serve to further promote the oDR website as a platform for the wider dissemination of academic research. The oDR partnership is another experience that will inform CEELBAS contributions to the two collaborative AHRC Public Policy Engagement Skills Training projects mentioned above. The open-access CEELBAS Language Repository is now home to over 70 different sets of teaching materials, guides and reports. The Repository will continue to be maintained by UCL as an important national resource and the link to Repository was also placed to a newly created CEELBAS CDT website, thus valuable language sources will be accessible by a wider audience. The skills and experience gained by language teachers through the delivery of CEELBAS materials development and e-learning projects will also be critical to ongoing efforts to sustain national provision in these 'strategically important but vulnerable' languages. In addition, through CEELBAS training workshops, language teachers have helped to equip the Slavonic & East European postgraduate and early-career research community with a practical understanding of how to tackle the challenges of teaching the region's languages at HE level. Other web-based resources that will be maintained by CEELBAS for the longer-term include a Database of Expertise and a Guide to Russian & Ukrainian Archives (see above), as well as an extensive set of workshop reports, research guides and podcasts. As previous reports have stated, CEELBAS has been complemented by a number of on-going institutional initiatives in support of Russian and East European Studies. In addition to the institutional matched funding for the CEELBAS CDT, these include: the UCL Mellon Programme (dedicated to conceptualising the role of Humanities in interdisciplinary Area Studies); the investment of UCL SSEES in distance learning for UG and PG language courses; the Cambridge Committee for Russian and East European Studies (CamCREES) and the Cambridge Central Asian Network; the new programmes in Polish Studies at the University of Cambridge (launched October 2014) and the University of Oxford (launched July 2013); and the Global Europe Centre at the University of Kent. Russian & East European Studies researchers will also continue to benefit from significant support and training through cross-disciplinary programmes such as the University of Manchester's artsmethods@manchester and the University of Sheffield's Humanities Research Institute. |
| Sectors | Education,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Security and Diplomacy |
| URL | http://www.ceelbas.ac.uk/ |
| Description | In the period from February 2014 - January 2016 17 awards were made to support research internships outside the HE sector. As well as enabling postgraduate researchers to work with think tanks, the media and cultural organisations in the UK (oD Russia, Project for Democratic Union, Calvert 22, GRAD Gallery), the internship scheme promoted several collaborations with international partners. Host organisations have included regional think tanks, museums, libraries, galleries and NGOs in Bulgaria, Estonia, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine and the USA. To promote this model of knowledge exchange, and to showcase some of its outcomes and impacts, a 'show and tell' workshop was held at Wolfson College, Oxford (5 February 2015). The event was attended by over 20 research students and included useful feedback from editorial staff at oD Russia, who outlined the benefits of the scheme from a host organisation's perspective (http://www.ceelbas.ac.uk/ceelbas-news/events/workshops/internships-event). Below are listed some specific examples of how CEELBAS interns have contributed to the five social, cultural and media organisations. • Cambridge student Molly Flynn had an internship at GRAD Gallery, working on a press and marketing strategy for a performance event. It involved expanding the performance programme 'Peripheral Visions' to include a series of three different performances of Eastern European documentary theatre projects that ran from mid-October to mid-November. The host organisation wanted to enrich their programme through Molly's considerable knowledge and cultural contacts. Molly's excellent organisational skills and knowledge of contemporary theatre contributed significantly to the success of the project. The 'Peripheral Visions' documentary theatre programme will be featured in a number of high profile news publications. Molly contributed to raising GRAD's profile by securing significant press coverage. • During her internship in the National Museum in Warsaw Katarzyna Jezowska assisted the curatorial team with various works connected with the presentation. She also participated in daily activities concerning the Modern Design Centre's Archives. Katarzyna was cataloguing and organising data related to Polish designers whose works are in the Museum's collection. Katarzyna's work connected with organising database of Modern Design Centre will help the museum team and external researchers to use the archive. • Sam Goff had his internship in Calvert 22 Foundation. In addition to occasional editorial work, he wrote a number of excellent feature articles and news pieces for The Calvert Journal, and prepared two presentations for the editorial team. One of his articles was republished by The Guardian. He also did extensive research for Red Africa, a season of exhibitions and events to be held at Calvert 22 in 2016. The Calvert Journal's Deputy Editor emphasized the quality of Sam's work and his research skills and the quality of the articles submitted. As the result of this internship, Calvert Foundation is interested in further cooperation with CEELBAS and as CEELBAS comes to an end, there are negotiations in process for Calvert to become CEELBAS's CDT external partner which will mean that Calvert will offer more studentships and training for CEELBAS CDT research students. In addition to the Internship Scheme and the events and activities covered by previous reports, LBAS Development Funding has promoted dialogue between academic researchers and experts from outside the HE sector through: • a workshop convened to address Russian and Ukrainian journalistic practices, cultural identities and issues of governance at the regional level: Russia and Ukraine: Spotlight on the regions (UCL, 2 June 2015) - attended by over 40 delegates, including journalists and representatives from BBC Monitoring, the EBRD, the BEARR Trust, Oxford Analytica, and the Foreign Policy Centre (http://www.ceelbas.ac.uk/ceelbas-news/events/workshops/regions); • a debate hosted by Pushkin House: The future of independent media in Russia (April 1st 2015) was fully-subscribed and had over 70 delegates, including CEELBAS doctoral and early-career researchers, UK and Russian journalists and editors, and a diverse 'general public' audience (http://www.ceelbas.ac.uk/ceelbas-news/events/russian-media). In the reporting period, CEELBAS continued to play a key role in the development of distance learning courses and e-learning materials for the study of Slavonic and East European languages: http://www.ceelbas.ac.uk/research/language/completed The open-access CEELBAS Language Repository is now home to over 70 different sets of teaching materials, guides and reports. The Repository will continue to be maintained by UCL as an important national resource and the link to Repository was also placed to a newly created CEELBAS CDT website, thus valuable language sources will be accessible by a wider audience. CEELBAS has provided travel bursaries and event-management support for the successful student-led Platform Ukraine initiative at UCL - a year-long long project to analyse the Ukraine crisis of 2014 in comparative and multi-/inter-disciplinary perspective (http://www.platformukraine.com/). CEELBAS support has helped, in particular, to publicise the project to both academic and user communities outside UCL. Feedback received by the project coordinators has highlighted the value of the inclusion of practitioners from industry and civil society organisations, as well as the participation of academics from institutions in Europe, North America and Australia. More broadly, CEELBAS internships and the Centre's other postgraduate and early-career training initiatives have played an important capacity-building role in supporting - both directly and indirectly - the professional and career development of the next generation of academic researchers and other professional experts. The Mid-Term Review (February 2015) gave the examples of Tom Rowley (a University of Cambridge PhD who is now Associate Editor at oD Russia) and Teresa Wigglesworth-Baker (a University of Sheffield PhD who has since worked as an expert for the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities). Several other researchers who benefitted from CEELBAS support during the LBAS Development Funding period have since gone to positions in NGOs and cultural organisations (e.g. Forum 18 News Service, Wroclaw College of Eastern Europe, GRAD Gallery London) and in the HE sector. Examples of the latter include: Ilya Yablokov (University of Leeds); Dina Gusejnova (QMUL); Muireann Maguire (University of Exeter); Katherine Bowers (University of British Columbia); Tauri Tuvikene (Tallinn University). |
| First Year Of Impact | 2016 |
| Sector | Education,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Security and Diplomacy |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Description | Translating the Literatures of Small European Nations |
| Organisation | University of Bristol |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Co-I on AHRC Translating Cultures collaborative project |
| Collaborator Contribution | The PI is Dr Rajendra Chitnis (Bristol). |
| Impact | None yet as the project has only just started (15.09.2014). |
| Start Year | 2014 |