| Welcome to the July newsletter. The past two months have been marked by a continued focus on the financial sustainability of the sector, alongside significant developments in funding. Earlier this month, the Office for Students announced a reduction in Strategic Priorities Grant funding for 2026-27, with the total allocation falling by £50.9 million compared with the previous year, adding further pressure to institutions already facing challenging financial conditions. At the same time, UKRI set out how it will implement its new strategy and funding model following the Spending Review, signaling increased long-term investment in research and innovation but a stronger emphasis on growth, industrial strategy priorities, and mission-led research. Against this backdrop, access to robust evidence on subject provision, workforce trends, and participation has become increasingly important. At the British Academy, we have published new resources for the sector through our SHAPE Observatory, including ‘Who studies SHAPE?’, an interactive data tool exploring student access, mobility, and subject trends, and the latest addition to our SHAPE Mapping project, which offers provider-level data on academic staff across the UK. We have also published a statement from our president Professor Susan J. Smith on the UK’s higher education crisis. In addition, we have continued to use our convening role by hosting both the Strategic Forum for the Humanities and the Strategic Forum for the Social Sciences, as well as a workshop with the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to inform an upcoming grant call on the social and economic returns of R&D investment in the UK. Last, we hosted a webinar on how to use our SHAPE Observatory mapping tools, which we are planning to expand into an evidence roadshow later this year. Further details of our recent work can be found below. All good wishes, Professor Margot Finn FBA Vice-President (Research and Higher Education Policy) |
| News |
| Pre-call workshop with ESRC on the Returns of Investment of R&DAs part of an international consortia of funders led by the Sloan Foundation and Coefficient Giving, the Academy hosted a pre-call workshop with ESRC to inform an upcoming grant call on the social and economic returns on R&D investment in the UK. We were delighted to welcome over 45 academics and practitioners from across the UK to engage in a lively session exploring a range of methodological approaches. A summary of the workshop will be shared publicly by ESRC, and the grant call will go live in Autumn 2026. |
| Convening of the Strategic Forums for the Humanities and Social Sciences The British Academy’s Strategic Forums for the Humanities and Social Sciences met in June to discuss emerging challenges and opportunities across the UK research and higher education landscape. Updates from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), ESRC, and the Wellcome Trust highlighted new funding opportunities, evolving UKRI priorities, and UKRI’s research integrity programme. The Forums also explored the opportunities and challenges created by AI, interdisciplinary research, and changing funding structures, as well as the Academy’s recently published analysis of SHAPE academic staff numbers and trends. |
| Publications |
| A statement from the President of the British Academy on the UK’s higher education crisis In a statement published on 3 July, British Academy President Professor Susan J. Smith warned that the financial challenges facing UK higher education are intensifying and risk causing lasting damage to teaching, research, and subject provision. Drawing on the Academy’s analysis, she highlighted the growth of subject cold spots, with course closures, shrinking provision, and widening regional inequalities threatening access to higher education and the skills base needed by the economy. She called for an immediate and comprehensive review of higher education and research funding and governance, arguing that the current trajectory could lead to irreversible losses in expertise, research capacity, and student opportunity. Read the President’s statementCredit: Rii Schroer |  |
| Launch of ‘Who studies SHAPE?’ dashboard On 11 June, the British Academy launched ‘Who studies SHAPE?’, a dashboard bringing together ten years of student data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), from 2015/16 to 2024/25. The dashboard covers three key areas: how enrolments have changed across SHAPE subjects and levels of study; who is studying SHAPE subjects in terms of ethnicity, sex, age, disability and socio-economic background; and whether students have moved away from home to study. Users can filter by subject, year, provider region, domicile, and student characteristics, making it easier to understand how access differs across subjects and student groups. We also published an accompanying piece on the LSE Impact Blog drawing on the dashboard, which argues that the growth story conceals a good deal of unevenness. Participation from the most deprived areas has risen overall but not in every discipline, and students’ ability to move away from home seems to increasingly shape what they can realistically study. Learn more about ‘Who studies SHAPE? |
| Publication of Mapping SHAPE academic staff On 15 July, the Academy published Mapping SHAPE academic staff, which includes a new digital map, a policy context on two decades of change, and three accompanying briefings:Rise of teaching only contracts has reshaped the UK’s academic workforcePathways for early career SHAPE academics are in declineStaff numbers falling in some cold spot areasTogether, they point to a longer-term reconfiguration of the academic workforce and suggest the most recently reported data from 2024/25 shows the sector is at a critical tipping point. The project was covered as an exclusive in the Guardian with comments from our Chief Executive, Hetan Shah, in a piece that focused on the nearly 4,000 fewer SHAPE academic jobs in 2024 compared to 2023, and emerging cold spots that we have also identified in our mapping of student provision. In addition, the work has been covered by sector press including THE and Research Professional. Learn more about the Mapping SHAPE academic staffCredit: Shutterstock |  |
| Upcoming events and opportunities |
| SHAPE Conference – Save the date The Higher Education and Research Policy team is delighted to announce the British Academy’s third annual SHAPE Conference on Tuesday 2 March 2027. Taking place at 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, the conference will delve into a diverse range of higher education policy issues surrounding the social sciences, humanities, and arts (SHAPE) disciplines and will feature leading figures from across and around the sector. Speakers at the 2026 conference included Lord Vallance, Professor Evelyn Welch, Professor Adam Tickell, and BBC’s Samira Ahmed. We hope that you will be able to join us. Further details will be coming soon so please save the date in your diary. |
| Innovation Fellowships – Route B: Policy-led open for applications Applications are now open for the Innovation Fellowships – Route B: Policy-led. This scheme provides funding and support for established early-career and mid-career researchers in SHAPE disciplines to partner with non-academic organisations to address challenges that require innovative approaches and solutions that are relevant to the UK. The Innovation Fellowships currently being offered are for partnerships with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS); Ministry of Justice (MoJ); Local Policy Innovation Partnerships (LPIP) Hub, City-REDI, University of Birmingham; Government Office for Science (GO Science); Digital Regulatory Cooperation Forum (DRCF) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The call is open now and closes on 5 August. Apply to the Innovation Fellowships – Route B: Policy-led |
| APEX Awards open for applications Applications are now open for the APEX Awards (Academies Partnership in Supporting Excellence in Cross-disciplinary research). The APEX Awards are offered jointly by the British Academy, Royal Society, and Royal Academy of Engineering and offer established independent researchers an exciting opportunity to pursue genuinely interdisciplinary and curiosity-driven research across the spectrum of subjects covered by the academies to benefit wider society. The call is open now and closes on 8 September 2026. Apply to the APEX Awards |
| Talent Development Awards open for applications Applications are now open for the 2026-27 Talent Development Awards. The aim of the Talent Development Awards programme is to enable researchers to build their skills and capacities in core areas such as quantitative skills, data science, digital humanities and languages. The call is open now and closes on 7 October 2026. Apply to the Talent Development Awards |
| Black Researcher Consortium The British Academy is one of the supporters of the Black Researcher Consortium (BRC) which has just launched its new website. BRC Membership is now open and available through the website and is available to students, individuals, and grassroots organisations as well as tailored packages for larger companies. Members gain access to exclusive opportunities including networking events and professional and career development. The first BRC Conference will take place in Liverpool on 18 November 2026. Find out more about the Black Researcher Consortium |
Share this:
Discover more from #News247WorldPress
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.