When: Wednesday, February 24, 2021, 12:00 PM - 2:00 PMWhere: Online, MS Teams
Hosted by the Queen Mary Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (IHSS), the Faculty Forum is a space for open discussions among scholars from across the Faculty.
In discussion: the SHAPE Agenda
In this Semester’s Faculty Forum we will assess the SHAPE (social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and economy) agenda, which has recently been floated as a counterpart to the framing of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). To date, the agenda has been formulated and led by the British Council, LSE, and Arts Council England. It is unclear where, if anywhere, it may end up. But it raises pressing and longstanding questions alike around relevance, recognition, and disciplinary identity. Are initiatives like this simply rebranding exercises, with a utilitarian model of “impact” chiefly in mind? Or are there opportunities to build an agenda such as this in such a way as to secure and support the humanities and social science disciplines, particularly now we are all in COVID-response mode.
Some additional reading is below.
'All subjects have a role to play in rebuilding post-Covid. Let’s SHAPE the future together' by David Cannadine (President of the British Academy, Dodge Professor of History at Princeton University and Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford), and Julia Black (Strategic Director of Innovation and Professor of Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science) (Wonkhe 2020)
'University and Arts Council in drive to re-brand 'soft' academic subjects' by Vanessa Thorpe (arts and media correspondent on the Observer) (The Guardian 2020)
RegisterThis is an internal session opened to those at Queen Mary University of London. Register via the 'Book now' button above.
IHSS Faculty ForumHosted by the Queen Mary Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (IHSS), the Faculty Forum is a space for open discussions among colleagues from across the HSS at Queen Mary University of London.