ISRF Newsletter – April 2024
Introducing the ISRF Newsletter, a new monthly circulation featuring a digest of ISRF news and activities and a regular note from the Director of Research, Professor Christopher Newfield.
Welcome to the first ISRF Newsletter! These monthly Newsletters will announce upcoming ISRF Events, recent Bulletin posts and write-ups, Fellows news, and any upcoming ISRF Competition deadlines. Each Newsletter will also contain a note by the Director of Research, Professor Christopher Newfield.
Don’t worry about missing important announcements, though, as the team will continue to promote events and grant competitions in separate dedicated mail-outs.
Contents
Director’s Note
The Art of Knowledge Failure
Christopher Newfield
The vital role knowledge plays in society is rarely out of my thoughts, not least because the ISRF sponsors a wide range of original research beyond STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).
But while OECD countries are said to have knowledge economies, the creation and dissemination of knowledge is in crisis. For decades, STEM funding has been migrating away from basic research that lacks a clear commercialisation—or “strategic”—pathway. Meanwhile, social and cultural research often has profound, indirect public benefits, but receives only a tiny fraction of overall national funding, in large part because of a lack of direct financial returns.
The knowledge creation crisis was a theme of my research in the US. And unfortunately, it applies to the UK, too. In my three plus years at the ISRF, I’ve seen more UK universities struggling harder to support their academic staff’s research. I’ve now commissioned a study of research funding in the UK, which will highlight the troubling conditions of academic scholarship in the social, economic and cultural disciplines…
Upcoming ISRF Events
Public Lecture: Sustainable Energy in Refugee Camps, by Dr Sarah Rosenberg-Jansen
Wednesday 10 April, 6pm-7pm (BST). Barnard's Inn Hall, Holborn London EC1N 2HH. In-person or online.
Most of the world’s 102 million forcibly displaced people—refugees—lack access to reliable, affordable, sustainable energy. Attempts to provide such energy in refugee camps have been marred by governance challenges, and a lack of technical expertise within humanitarian organisations. But new research discussed in this lecture on the lived experience of refugees is helping cast a light on ways to address it.
Book Launch: The End of Empires and a World Remade, by Professor Martin Thomas
Friday 24 May, 5pm-6:30pm (BST). Barnard's Inn Hall, Holborn London C1N 2HH. In-person only.
In The End of Empires and a World Remade, Professor Martin Thomas brings together perspectives from global history, comparative politics, and international relations to re-evaluate decolonization in all of its historical messiness. For this launch event, he will be joined by Tarak Barkawi and Natalya Benkhaled-Vince to discuss his important book.
Conference: Migration and Democracy in a Time of Climate Crisis
7-9 October, Warsaw, Poland.
Our three topics for this year’s ISRF Conference have become trapped in a vicious cycle. Climate crisis increases migration, which has triggered anti-democratic backlash, which reduces international cooperation on climate, which allows the climate crisis to intensify. Each of these relationships is real, and each is rooted in myth. The ISRF invites papers on any of these three topics, or any combination of them. How can we interrupt this cycle and even reverse it? How can we treat underlying causes rather than addressing symptoms?
To submit an abstract contact lars.cornelissen@isrf.org.
Recent Bulletin Posts
AI Poetry and the Human Writing Subject
Foteini Dimirouli (pictured above) explores the implications of AI tools for creative and poetic writing.
Ten Recent ISRF Articles Published by The Conversation
Over the last few years, ISRF Fellows have published widely on The Conversation. Here is Adam Smith’s roundup of 10 recently published articles.
Learning from and with the Disabled People’s Movement
Fran Amery and Rebecca Yeo report on a workshop bringing together activists from the Disabled people’s movement with activists from other sectors.
A Year in the Life of the ISRF
From book launches and lecture series to its annual conference on climate change fatalism, the ISRF has had a busy year supporting independently minded research. Adam Smith summarises a year in the life of the ISRF.
Fellows News
Book Launch: Beekeeping in the End Times (2024, Indiana University Press)
A launch of Dr Larisa Jašarević’s (ISRF Independent Scholar Fellow 2022-23) recent book, which uses Islamic eschatology to reflect on the way honey ecologies in contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina have been impacted by climate change.
New Publication: The End of Empires and a World Remade: A Global History of Decolonization (2024, Princeton University Press)
Professor Martin Thomas (ISRF Mid-Career Fellow 2015-16, pictured above) delivers a capacious history of decolonization, from the decline of empires to the era of globalization.
New Publication: Revenant Ecologies: Defying the Violence of Extinction and Conservation (2024, University of Minnesota Press)
Professor Audra Mitchell (ISRF Early Career Fellow 2014-15) offers a critique of the Western discourse of global extinction and biodiversity.
New Publication: ‘Something about Burnley’: Political dynamics in Labour’s ‘most winnable’ target seat
A Soundings article by Mike Makin-Waite (ISRF Independent Scholar Fellow 2019-20) assessing the impact of Labour’s position on Gaza on its electoral prospects in so-called ‘Red Wall’ constituencies.
In the News: Study puts academia’s ‘exhaustion economy’ under the spotlight
A Times Higher Education report on the work of Dr Bethan Evans (ISRF Political Economy Fellow 2023-24).
ISRF Competitions 2024
7th Mid-Career Fellowship (MCF7)
Closed on 28th March 2024
Scholars more than ten years post-PhD were eligible to apply for support to complete a one-year piece of original research. Award announcements are expected in the summer.
2nd First Book Grant (FBG2)
Launching early summer 2024 (date to be confirmed)
Newly qualified post-docs (within three years of PhD award) are eligible to apply for support to convert their PhD thesis into a book.
11th Flexible Grants for Small Groups Competition (FG11)
Launching autumn 2024 (date to be confirmed)
Funding support for small groups (2-10 scholars) to complete a piece of research or undertake face-to-face joint group work.