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1/ Last official day of the year working for me. It's been a whacky year to start a new job @BritishAcademy_. I got 16 days in the office before we went fully virtual. Despite the pandemic I think we've achieved a lot this year. Here are some highlights in no particular order:
2/ In Jan I wrote a piece for @nature on why the decade's challenges needed humanities & social sciences. I noted that 'Epidemics are social as well as biological phenomena.' and '‘Vaccine hesitancy’ is more a social phenomenon than a technical one' https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00064-x?fbclid=IwAR1NvcfhlybMwIOiDRu-TWmuxo5GbG-cLnouGCzFEY9qbsmWOVrt2B_RL44
3/ In partnership we launched a new term for our subjects 'SHAPE' - social science, humanities & arts for people & the economy. It is a counterpoint to the successful term STEM. It has had steady pick up including this @guardian editorial https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/26/the-guardian-view-on-the-humanities-the-importance-of-being-rounded
4/ We worked with @royalsociety on a report on facemasks led by @BritishAcademy_ Fellow @melindacmills - government guidance on wearing facemasks swiftly changed https://royalsociety.org/-/media/policy/projects/set-c/set-c-facemasks.pdf
5/ We brought together business leaders including the CEOs of Microsoft,, Unilever, Merck + Mark Carney for a 3 day virtual summit to discuss how purposeful business can create a better society https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/programmes/future-of-the-corporation/events/purpose-summit/
6/ We funded 21 new projects examining the contributions of young people to the United Nation’s 2030 agenda and bringing a youth lens to the global sustainable development challenges https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/british-academy-announces-funding-21-new-research-projects-youth-futures-global-south/
7/ We conducted new research showing that eight of the ten fastest growing sectors in the UK economy (pre-pandemic) employ more graduates from SHAPE subjects than other disciplines https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/arts-humanities-and-social-science-graduates-resilient-economic-downturns/
8/ We developed a series of ten minute talks by our expert Fellows - there are 16 now available as podcasts on subjects as diverse as the 1918 pandemic, Thomas Cromwell and parenting in a digital world https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/audio-video/10-minute-talks-podcast/
9/ Working with @royalsociety we launched a report led by @melindacmills on how to tackle vaccine hesitancy, just as new vaccines came onto the horizon https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/vaccine-hesitancy-threatens-undermine-pandemic-response/
10/ One of our events was with @carolinebressey exploring hidden histories of the ordinary black men and women living in Victorian Britain whose untold stories have only been pieced together by historians in recent years.
11/ We also had @simon_schama in conversation with @SamiraAhmedUK about how times of crisis have produced great art
12/ We funded 56 pieces of humanities and social science research on the impact of the pandemic on a range of areas including mental health, exports and business, the cultural sector, as well as exploring the ethical issues around vaccination distribution https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/british-academy-awards-500000-pounds-to-humanities-and-social-sciences-researchers-to-improve-understanding-of-pandemic/
13/ In a year where statistics have literally been life and death I spoke to @TimHarford about his new book How to Make the World Add Up and how we can all make sense of the numbers around us https://soundcloud.com/britishacademy/how-to-make-the-world-add-up
14/ Working with @BritishCouncil @ahrcpress @UniversitiesUK @ASCL_UK we developed a new National Languages Strategy to strengthen language learning in the UK https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/language-learning-vital-pandemic-recovery-british-academy-and-partners-urge/
15/ It's been a year where community resilience has been really important. With @NuffieldFound we announced new research funding to identify practical solutions to increase the cohesion and resilience of local communities in the UK https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/british-academy-nuffield-foundation-announce-funding-research-policy-collaboration-communities-cohesion-resilience/
16/ I held a fascinating in conversation discussion with @BritishAcademy_ Hon Fellow Margaret MacMillan about whether Covid-19 would prove to be a turning point in history https://soundcloud.com/britishacademy/is-covid-19-a-turning-point-in-history-learning-from-the-past
17/ We brought our Fellows, researchers and policymakers together for 20 workshops to think about pandemic issues from a social science and humanities perspective. We have published summaries of every workshop here https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/2678/JBA-8-p167-MorganJones-Abrams-Lahiri_jAIJOay.pdf
18/ Throughout the year we have made the case for close collaboration with European partners on research (e.g. https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/2588/Statement-Future-European-Research-Collaboration-June-2020.pdf) including on the Erasmus scheme https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/uk-students-gain-clear-benefits-study-other-european-countries-says-british-academy/
19/ All of this just scratches the surface of what we've been doing - I could go on but this thread is already too long! Let me thank @BritishAcademy_ Fellows and staff for their contribution to all we've achieved, as well as our many partners and funders for making it possible.
