AHRC RESEARCH CENTRES

  AHRC Research Centres provide a focus for research activity in fields of demonstrable strategic importance, commonly involving collaboration across disciplines and institutions. The Centres provide a framework within which research projects, postgraduate training, outreach and exploitation activities are undertaken. As such, they provide a means through which the AHRC is able rapidly to enhance capacity, capability and awareness in a field, and to secure advances in knowledge and understanding through concentrated collaborative working.

  All AHRC Centres are based in UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and supported by a grant to the host institutions, which employ the staff working within them. The grant commonly covers staff, travel, outreach and indirect costs, as well as a small amount of capital costs (less than £20,000) and, in some cases, project studentships.

  AHRC has supported two phases of Research Centres. In the first phase, applications were invited in responsive-mode for Centres in any area of the arts and humanities. 19 Centres were supported in three rounds of open competition. These Centres, each of which received funding of up to £1 million across five years, are listed below.

  In 2004, the then AHRB conducted an interim evaluation of its Research Centres investment. On the basis of this evaluation, the Board agreed to provide further selective funding for a small number of the Centres supported in Phase 1. More demanding ambitions were set for Centres seeking a second Phase of funding, with a view to positioning them as leaders in their field both nationally and internationally. A first group of two Centres commenced a second phase of funding at the beginning of 2006. These Centres, each of which received funding of up to £1.25 million across five years, are listed below. A second group of up to three Centres will be identified for a second phase of support in June.

PHASE 1

Round 1

The AHRC Centre for the Study of the Domestic Interiorhttp://www.rca.ac.uk/csdi/

Royal College of Art (host institution); Victoria and Albert Museum; Royal Holloway

Start date—1 September 2001

End date—31 August 2006

Award: £846,208

The AHRC Parkes Centre for Jewish/non-Jewish Relationshttp://www.parkes.soton.ac.uk/AHRC.htm

University of Southampton (host institution); University of Reading; Institute of Jewish Policy Research

Start date—1 October 2000

End date—31 March 2006

Award: £844,837

The AHRC Centre for Irish and Scottish Studieshttp://www.abdn.ac.uk/AHRCciss/

University of Aberdeen (host institution); The Queens University Belfast; University of Dublin

Start date—1 January 2001

End date—31 December 2005

Award: £874,812

The AHRC Centre for Asian and African Literatureshttp://www.soas.ac.uk/literatures/

School of Oriental and African Studies (host institution); University College London

Start date—1 October 2000

End date—31 January 2006

Award: £702,674

The AHRC Centre for Byzantine Cultural Historyhttp://www.qub.ac.uk/ibs/

The Queens University Belfast (host institution); University of Newcastle; University of Sussex

Start date—1 October 2000

End date—30 September 2005

Award: £891,927

The AHRC Centre for the Study of Renaissance Elites and Court Cultureshttp://www.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ren/AHRC—centre.htm

University of Warwick (host institution)

Start date—1 October 2000

End date—31 March 2006

Award: £776,453

The AHRC Centre for British Film and Television Studieshttp://www.bftv.ac.uk/

Birkbeck College (host institution), University of London; Sheffield Hallam University; University of Ulster; Central St Martins School of Art and Design; Royal College of Art; British Film Institute; University of Exeter; University of Brighton; University of Lincoln

Start date—1 October 2000

End date—30 September 2005

Award: £888,326

The AHRC Centre for Cultural Analysis, Theory and Historyhttp://www.leeds.ac.uk/cath/

University of Leeds (host institution)

Start date—January 2001

End date—31 July 2006

Award: £500,493

The AHRC Centre for North-East England Historyhttp://online.northumbria.ac.uk/faculties/art/humanities/cns/neehi//

University of Durham (host institution); University of Teesside; University of Sunderland; University of Newcastle; University of Northumbria

Start date—1 October 2000

End date—31 December 2005

Award: £761,112

The AHRC Centre for the Evolutionary Analysis of Cultural Behaviourhttp://www.ucl.ac.uk/ceacb/

University College London (host institution); University of Southampton

Start date—1 January 2001

End date—31 December 2005

Award: £792,527

Round 2

The AHRC Research Centre for Studies of Surrealism and its Legacieshttp://www.essex.ac.uk/sos/

University of Essex (host institution); University of Manchester; Tate Gallery

Start date—1 June 2002

End date—31 May 2007

Award: £866,530

The AHRC Research Centre for Textile Conservation and Textile Studieshttp://www.wsa.soton.ac.uk/tcctest/tcc/AHRC.htm

University of Southampton (host institution); University of Manchester; University of Bradford

Start date—1 July 2002

End date—30 June 2007

Award: £948,777

The AHRC Research Centre for Cross-cultural Music and Dance Performancehttp://www.soas.ac.uk/centres/centreinfo.cfm?navid=454

SOAS (host institution), University of London; University of Surrey, University of Roehampton

Start date—1 September 2002

End date—31 August 2007

Award: £869,951

The AHRC Research Centre for Editing Lives and Lettershttp://www.livesandletters.ac.uk/home3.htm

Queen Mary, University of London; (host institution), Birkbeck College, University of London

Start date—1 April 2002

End date—31 March 2007

Award: £897,700

The AHRC Research Centre for Studies in Intellectual Property and Technology Lawhttp://www.law.ed.ac.uk/AHRC/

University of Edinburgh (host institution)

Start date—1 April 2002

End date—31 March 2007

Award: £936,300

The AHRC Research Centre for Environmental Historyhttp://www.cehp.stir.ac.uk/staff.htm

University of Stirling (host institution); University of St Andrews

Start date—1 October 2002

End date—30 September 2006

Award: £949,578

The AHRC Research Centre for Logic, Language, Mathematics and Mindhttp://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/arche/graduate.shtml

University of St Andrews (host institution); University of Glasgow

Start date—1 January 2003

End date—31 December 2007

Award: £761,112

Round 3

The AHRC Research Centre for Law, Gender and Sexualityhttp://www.kent.ac.uk/clgs/index.html

University of Kent (host institution), Keele University, University of Westminster

and regulation.

Start date—1 June 2004

End date—31 May 2009

Award: £881,696

The AHRC Research Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music

http://www.charm.rhul.ac.uk/

Royal Holloway, University of London (host institution); King's College, London; University of Sheffield

Start date—1 April 2004

End date—30 March 2009

Award: £958,440

PHASE 2

Round 1

The AHRC Centre for Irish and Scottish Studieshttp://www.abdn.ac.uk/ahrbciss/about.shtml

University of Aberdeen (host institution), Trinity College Dublin, Queen's University Belfast, University of Liverpool

Start date—1 January 2006

End date—31 December 2010

Award: £1,148,722

The AHRC Research Centre for the Evolution of Cultural Diversityhttp://www.cecd.ucl.ac.uk/home/

University College London (host institution), University of Edinburgh, University of St Andrews, University of Cambridge, Royal Holloway, University of Sheffield

Start date—1 January 2006

End date—31 December 2010

Award: £1,201,270

AHRC Centre funding

  Total portfolio (resource & capital)

	Expenditure (£m)
Total expenditure	32.3
Total expenditure at HEIs	31.6
Total expenditure at RCIs (excluding CCLRC)	2.8
Total expenditure with CCLRC and other organisations	nil

  Expenditure on research (resource not capital)

	Expenditure (£m)
Total expenditure	32.3
Total expenditure at HEIs	31.6
Total expenditure at RCIs (excluding CCLRC)	2.8
Total expenditure with CCLRC and other organisations	nil

  Expenditure on training

	Expenditure (£m)
Total expenditure	*
Total expenditure at HEIs	*
Total expenditure at RCIs (excluding CCLRC)	*
Total expenditure with CCLRC and other organisations	*
Individual RCI funding NB:  The figures provided above are for Research activity. All funding goes to HEIs as "expenditure in RCIs", our Centres are themselves in HEIs, ie so expenditure on Centres is itself expenditure in HEIs but we have separated it out under RCIs to provide an indication of the proportion they represent. *  Information on training expenditure not easily available.