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REPORTS

Report of the General Board on the establishment of a Centre for Research in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

The GENERAL BOARD beg leave to report to the University as follows:

1. In recent years there has been a striking increase in the number and importance of research projects that cut across the boundaries of academic disciplines both within and outside the natural sciences. Work on such wide-ranging topics can only be done at the high level they demand in institutions which can bring together leading workers from different disciplines and from around the world. Within a university, such an institution can both serve the wider academic community and strengthen the research of that university's own departments and research groups, thereby raising its reputation and making it more attractive to prospective staff, research students, funding agencies, and benefactors.

2. The need for interdisciplinary research in the physical sciences has been recognized and met in Cambridge by institutions such as the Newton Institute. The same need in the arts, humanities, and social sciences is recognized and met in varying degrees by research institutes in Berlin, Budapest, Jerusalem, Stanford, Princeton, Canberra, London, Bristol, Edinburgh, and elsewhere. In Cambridge, while Faculties, Departments, Colleges, and individuals have created important research centres in specific areas, the arts, humanities, and social sciences lack an institution comparable in scope, scale, and standing to the major centres in Europe, North America, and Australasia. The General Board now propose the establishment of such a centre. This proposal has the support of the Councils of the Schools of Arts and Humanities and of the Humanities and Social Sciences.

3. The proposed Centre for Research in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences would not seek to replace any existing research groups within the University, but to supplement and strengthen them. It would do this by providing more resources and facilities to attract and accommodate world-class research conducted both by research groups and by individuals. It will also be a national resource, for which Cambridge is an ideal location. Its association with many Faculties and Departments of international standing on the Sidgwick Site, near many Colleges, and next to the immense resources of the University Library, would make it extremely attractive to scholars from all over the world. Institutions and individuals outside Cambridge would therefore be encouraged to propose projects whose use of University resources, and involvement of University staff, make the Centre a suitable location for them.

4. The Centre's twin aims, of supporting and supplementing research in existing Cambridge institutions, and of providing a national facility, would be incorporated into its organizational structure. While independent of any Faculty or Department, the Centre would be supervised by the General Board, with a Director and Deputy Director appointed on the recommendation of, and answerable to, a Management Committee including the Chairmen of, and other members recommended by, the Councils of the Schools of Arts and Humanities and of the Humanities and Social Sciences. To maintain and develop links with Colleges, who already support much individual and collective research in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, the Management Committee would also include representatives appointed by the Colleges' Committee.

5. The Centre's intended national and international role would be reflected in its structure in two ways. First, the General Board would ensure that at least two members of its Management Committee are from outside the University. Second, the Centre's general policy, and the selection of its major projects, would require the approval of a Policy Committee, including at least six members from outside the University, to be appointed by the General Board after consulting external bodies concerned with the arts, humanities, and social sciences specified in a schedule to be determined by the Board from time to time. The first such schedule is appended to the Annex to this Report. The Policy Committee would be expected to initiate as well as vet proposals for the Centre's projects, and its members would be appointed with this in mind.

6. The Centre's own contributions to research in the arts, humanities, and social sciences would be made by organizing, hosting, and advertising suitable public lectures, meetings, conferences, and short- and long-term programmes of research, with associated publications. This would include helping to provide funding and working facilities for Visiting Fellows and other research staff involved in these programmes, to be associated wherever possible with interested Colleges and University institutions. The Centre's research projects and other activities could be sponsored by individuals, by Faculties or other institutions within the University, by Colleges, by outside academic, funding, or other bodies, or by the Centre itself, alone or with other organizations.

7. The Centre would facilitate research in existing University institutions in various ways. In particular, it would make information available to them about: research awards and funding throughout the arts, humanities, and social sciences, with dedicated sup-port from within the University's Research Services Division; how to secure accommodation, College links, and other facilities for Visiting Scholars; how to arrange conferences and workshops, and how to prepare proposals for interdisciplinary conferences, workshops, and other research programmes, and associated publications, to be arranged by or in conjunction with the Centre itself. These services are badly needed by many individuals, Colleges, and small research groups, and Faculties and Departments with less administrative support and information about and access to external funding than is available to large scientific Departments. By providing these services the Centre would enhance the research, and the research ratings, of many smaller institutions in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

8. It is because the Centre would support and add to, rather than supplant, the research of existing institutions that it needs to encompass the arts and social sciences as well as the humanities, and could in practice do so on a manageable scale. As already indicated, much interdisciplinary research already extends across these boundaries, and indeed beyond them. The Centre would therefore expect to join with other bodies in sponsoring some research involving science, technology, and medicine, for example in bioethics. But given the limited resources for research in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, it is on supporting work within these areas that the Centre would initially, and mainly, concentrate.

9. To advise the Centre's Policy and Management Committees, and to implement the policies and projects they approve, the Board propose the establishment of University offices of Director and Deputy Director of the Centre, the holders of which would be distinguished and active researchers in fields within the Centre's remit. These officers would also be responsible for securing funding for the Centre's projects and for the Centre itself. How they discharge these responsibilities would depend on their background and circumstances. Specifically, they might hold these posts full-time or be seconded from existing University or College institutions. Given the range of research areas covered by the Centre, it is envisaged that the Director and Deputy Director would generally have complementary research interests, for example one working in the humanities and the other in the arts or social sciences.

10. The Board have considered whom they should appoint as the first Director of the Centre if it is established. They have agreed that, notwithstanding the arrangements which they propose for making such appointments, and to which they intend to adhere on future occasions, they will appoint Professor Ian Donaldson, FBA, of King's College. Professor Donaldson was the founding Director of the Humanities Research Centre at the Australian National University from 1974-90 and Convenor of the King's College Research Centre from 1997-2000, and is currently Chairman of the Faculty Board of English. He has been involved in developing the plans for the Centre, which he strongly supports, and the Board believe that his appointment would be warmly welcomed locally, nationally, and internationally. They also believe that his previous experience makes him uniquely qualified to ensure a smooth and successful organization of the Centre in its crucial first few years.

11. The Centre would need also the following staff to start with: an Administrator, to be responsible for the Centre's premises, staff, and accounts; an Administrative Secretary, to run the Centre's office, deal with Visiting Fellows, and liaise with institutions inside and outside the University; a Publications Secretary, to prepare material for the Centre's reports, fundraising activities, projects, and publications; a Computer Officer, to supply and maintain the Centre's computers, network, and web-server; secretaries; custodians, cleaners, etc.

12. It is hoped that the Centre would eventually be housed in a proposed research building on the Sidgwick Site, near to the relevant Faculties and Departments and the University Library. Meanwhile, it is proposed to house it in buildings on the Old Press Site which are being vacated by the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. In neither of these locations would the Centre need large lecture rooms or major catering facilities of its own; nor, given its eventual proximity to the University Library, and other relevant Faculty and Departmental Libraries, would it need its own research library.

13. In the medium term the Centre is expected to have about ten Visiting Fellows or other research staff at any one time. For these it would need to provide offices, a common room, and at least one seminar room, together with the usual facilities for them and the Centre's staff. It should not however need to provide housing for Visiting Fellows or other outsiders attending its conferences, workshops, and other meetings. For those the Centre is expected to develop arrangements with Colleges and the University Accommodation Service. While members of University Departments may take part in programmes run by the Centre, no University officers other than the Director and Deputy Director would hold office in the Centre.

14. If the Board's proposals are accepted, the Newton Trust have agreed to make a grant to the Centre of £1m over five years, subject to matching funding being obtained from outside Cambridge for the last two years. St John's College have also agreed to make a grant to the Centre of £500,000 over five years. For their part, the Board have agreed to support the proposed allocation to the Centre of premises on the Old Press Site, and to cover the costs of setting up the Centre there, of servicing and maintaining its premises, and of providing the usual central services. This support will be sufficient to meet the running costs of the Centre for an initial period of five years, but intensive efforts are being made to obtain further funding to enable the Centre to continue beyond this period and to compete effectively with comparable institutions in other countries (see paragraph 2 above). In particular, resources are being sought to enable the Centre to fund its own Visiting Fellowships to supplement the funding of Centre projects by the Economic and Social Research Council, the Arts and Humanities Research Board, the Leverhulme Trust, and other UK and overseas funders of research in the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

15. The General Board recommend

I. That, with effect from 1 January 2001, a Centre for Research in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences be established in the University as an institution under the supervision of the General Board and independent of any Faculty or Department, and governed by the regulations set out in the Annex to this Report.

II. That, notwithstanding Regulation 2 of the regulations for the Management Committee, the first members of that Committee be appointed to serve until 31 December of the years shown:

Members in class (e): 2001 (one), 2002 (one), 2003 (one), 2004 (one).

Members in class (f): 2002 (one), 2004 (one).

III. That, notwithstanding Regulation 2 of the regulations for the Policy Committee, the first members of that Committee be appointed to serve until 31 December of the years shown:

Members in class (b): 2002 (two), 2004 (two).

4 October 2000

ALEC N. BROERS, Vice-Chancellor
P. J. BAYLEY
KEITH GLOVER
MALCOLM GRANT
BRIAN F. G. JOHNSON
JOHN A. LEAKE
PETER LIPTON
N. J. MACKINTOSH
ADRIAN POOLE
KATE PRETTY
M. SCHOFIELD

ANNEX

Centre for Research in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

Constitution

The Centre for Research in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences shall be an institution independent of any Faculty or Department but under the supervision of the General Board.

Management Committee

1. The management of the Centre shall be the responsibility of a Management Committee, which shall consist of:

(a) the Director;
(b) the Deputy Director;
(c) the Chairmen of the Councils of the Schools of Arts and Humanities and of the Humanities and Social Sciences;
(d) one person appointed by the General Board, who shall be Chairman, provided that the General Board shall have power to appoint as Chairman a person who is already a member of the Committee in one of classes (c), (e), and (f);
(e) four people appointed by the General Board, of whom one shall be appointed on the recommendation of the Council of the School of Arts and Humanities and one on the recommendation of the Council of the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences;
(f) two people appointed by the Colleges' Committee;
(g) two people co-opted at the discretion of the Committee.

2. Members in classes (d)-(f) shall be appointed in the Michaelmas Term to serve for four years from 1 January following their appointment. A co-opted member in class (g) shall serve until 31 December of the year in which he or she is co-opted or of the following year, as the Committee shall decide at the time of co-optation.

3. The General Board, in making their appointments to the Committee, shall ensure that at least two of its members are not resident members of the University.

4. The Deputy Director, or failing whom the Director, shall serve as Secretary of the Committee.

5. The Committee shall meet at least once each term.

6. Subject to the powers of the Council and the General Board, the duties of the Committee shall be to:

(a) promote research in the fields of the arts, humanities, and social sciences and the publication of the results of such research;
(b) co-operate with individuals and bodies inside and outside the University to encourage research in the arts, humanities, and social sciences;
(c) administer funds allocated to them for the purposes specified in (a) and (b) above;
(d) supervise the work of the staff of the Centre;
(e) prepare annual estimates for submission to the General Board;
(f) make an Annual Report to the General Board and to the bodies mentioned in Regulation 1(e) and (f) above.

Policy Committee

1. There shall be a Policy Committee, which shall consist of:

(a) the members of the Management Committee;
(b) four people appointed by the General Board after consulting outside bodies concerned with the arts, humanities, and social sciences listed in a Schedule to be approved from time to time by the General Board for this purpose;
(c) two additional people co-opted at the discretion of the Committee.

2. Members in class (b) shall be appointed in the Michaelmas Term to serve for four years from 1 January following their appointment. A co-opted member in class (c) shall serve until 31 December of the year in which he or she is co-opted or of the year next following, as the Committee shall determine at the time of co-optation.

3. The General Board, in making their appointments to the Committee, shall ensure that at least six of its members are not resident members of the University.

4. The Committee shall be chaired by the Chairman of the Management Committee.

5. The Director of the Centre shall serve as Secretary of the Committee.

6. The duty of the Committee shall be to advise the Director on all aspects of the work and policy of the Centre.

Staff of the Centre

1. There shall be a University office of Director of the Centre, which may be held concurrently with another University office and shall be held on such terms and conditions as the General Board may from time to time determine.

2. The Director shall be appointed by the General Board on the recommendation of the Management Committee.

3. Under the general control of the Management Committee the Director shall be the administrative Head of the Centre, and shall be responsible, subject to the advice of the Policy Committee and the approval of the Management Committee, for the choice of topics for the Centre's programmes.

4. There shall be a University office of Deputy Director of the Centre which may be held concurrently with another University office. Appointments and reappointments to the office shall be made by the Management Committee for periods of not more than five years at a time, provided that no person may hold the office for a total period exceeding six years.

5. The duties of the Deputy Director shall be to assist the Director in all matters connected with the work of the Centre and to serve as Secretary of the Management Committee.

SCHEDULE

The following bodies will be consulted by the General Board in respect of their appointment of members of the Policy Committee in class (b):

The British Academy
The Royal Society of Edinburgh
The British Library
The National Gallery
The Arts and Humanities Research Board
The Economic and Social Research Council
The Leverhulme Trust


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Cambridge University Reporter, 25 October 2000