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British Academy News. July 2015. News.
Alun Evans – the new Chief Executive of the British Academy New Chief Executive takes up post

Alun Evans, former Director of the Scotland Office, has taken up his new post as Chief Executive of the British Academy this month, succeeding Dr Robin Jackson, who has retired. Alun said: "I have watched the British Academy go from strength to strength over the years, and I hope to be able to make the Academy an even more powerful voice for the promotion of the humanities and social sciences. In the very near future I'll be arguing the case for the level of funding we get in the spending review, ensuring that our disciplines continue to prosper as a central part of Britain's world-class research base."



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New Fellows elected
The British Academy has elected 42 leading UK academics from 18 universities as Fellows in recognition of their outstanding research. A total of 65 new Fellows were elected, including 20 new Corresponding Fellows from overseas universities and three Honorary Fellows: Dame Lynne Brindley, former Chief Executive of the British Library; the poet laureate, Dame Carol Ann Duffy; and Sir John Eliot Gardiner, founder and artistic director of the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists.
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British Academy joins call for action on climate change
The British Academy has joined 23 other leading research institutions in a call for national governments to seize the opportunity at the forthcoming climate change talks in Paris to negotiate a legally binding, universal agreement. British Academy President Lord Stern said: "Tackling climate change is a responsibility for the whole world, but the UK has a special position at the forefront of international efforts. The statement highlights the fact that the transition to a low-carbon economy offers enormous opportunities for better and stronger growth, while high-carbon growth cannot be sustained."
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Urgent demand for better quantitative skills in the UK
A new British Academy report, Count Us In, launched last month, identifies an urgent need for improved quantitative skills in the UK, as the need to understand and implement data grows. The report provides a series of recommendations to government to reform the 'life cycle' of schools and colleges, universities, and the workplace. Read the report, and its evidence base, State of the Nation, online.
Read the report
Lord O'Donnell speaking in support of the Count Us In report at its launch at the House of Lords
Lord O'Donnell speaking in support of the Count Us In report at its launch at the House of Lords.
General Election events
Two special British Academy events were held reflecting on the outcome of the May General Election. In the first – The UK General Election 2015: 3 Weeks On – a panel of political scientists and polling experts dissected the fall-out from the 2015 General Election and, in particular, discussed the failure of the opinion polls to reflect accurately the eventual result.
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The second event – Britain's First Big Data Election? The Nature and Implications of Big Data Politics – was jointly organised with the Royal Statistical Society and the Political Studies Association and explored the specific role of big data and data analysis in the election. Professor John Curtice FBA was one of the speakers at both events.
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Obstacles to academic links with Iran
The British Academy has released a briefing paper highlighting obstacles to academic collaboration between the UK and Iran, and recommending how these might be overcome. Developed jointly with the British Institute of Persian Studies, the paper explores the need for, and timeliness of, more sustained efforts to enhance academic mobility and research collaboration between the two countries.
Read the paper
New funding opportunities for Egypt, Malaysia and Thailand
The British Academy's Newton Fund has been further extended and is now offering for the first time new funding opportunities for researchers working in Egypt, Malaysia and Thailand. These span three separate programmes – Advanced Fellowships, Mobility Grants and International Fellowships – and the deadline for applications for this new call is 16 September.
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Launch of new and refurbished venue spaces
The British Academy's home at 10-11 Carlton House Terrace is currently undergoing extensive summer refurbishments to create a new event space, The Library. This room – ideal for meetings of up 30, dinners of up to 60 and receptions of up to 100 guests – features book-lined walls with bright windows overlooking The Mall, St James's Park and Horse Guards Parade, and will be available to hire from mid September.

The Wolfson Room, our largest event space, is also undergoing a major refurbishment to remove the currently fixed stage, lectern and screen and replace them with sleek, custom-made portable options, plus new modern audio-visual equipment for conferences and corporate events. It will accommodate up to 140 theatre style, or dinners of up to 100 and evening receptions of up to 200 guests.


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Carlton House Terrace refurbishment
Other Forthcoming Events
September 10 Painting in Britain, 1500-1630
7 – 8.30pm
Panel Discussion
Venue: National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place
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September 16 Getting ahead of the curve: How to stop playing catch up on Scotland
6 – 7.30pm
Inaugural Lecture by Alun Evans
Venue: The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace
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September 17 Keeping a spotless mind: The neuroscience of motivated forgetting
6 – 7.15pm
Joint British Academy/British Psychological Society Lecture, by Dr Michael Anderson
Venue: The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace
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September 22 Energy and the environment: What's the challenge?
6.30 – 8pm
British Academy Debates. The first of four debates on this major theme.
Venue: The Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace
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September 30 Transatlantic Barthes
6 – 7.30pm
In Conversation
Venue: The British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace
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Publications
Painting in Britain
Painting in Britain 1500-1630: Production, Influences and Patronage
Edited by Tarnya Cooper, Aviva Burnstock, Maurice Howard and Edward Town
 
Innovative techniques such as infrared reflectography and dendochronology, together with new discoveries from documentary sources, have opened up new ways of seeing and understanding important paintings from the British Renaissance, most of which are in the National Portrait Gallery. This beautifully illustrated volume brings together insights from experts in art history, history and conservation science.

Find out more about Picture in focus: Sir Henry Unton, an event held in connection with publication of the book.
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British Academy publication wins Cornish book prize
Early Cornish Sculpture by Ann Preston-Jones and Elisabeth Okasha has won the Holyer an Gof Cup, awarded for the most outstanding publication about Cornwall or in Cornish. The book is the eleventh and latest volume in the Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture series, a British Academy funded research project.
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Ann Preston-Jones (right) receives the Holyer an Gof Cup from Maureen Fuller, the Grand Bard of Gorsedd Kernow
Ann Preston-Jones (right) receives the Holyer an Gof Cup from Maureen Fuller, the Grand Bard of Gorsedd Kernow
British Academy Review
The next issue of the British Academy Review will be published in August. Articles include: an interview with the British Academy's new Chief Executive, Alun Evans; Professor Ian Kershaw FBA in conversation with Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch FBA; how terrorist groups 'learn'; new discoveries in British Renaissance art; and fairy tales at the British Academy.
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Further information on the activities highlighted above, and many others,
can be found on the British Academy website: www.britishacademy.ac.uk
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