June 12, 2024

Take part in Being Human Festival 2024 and celebrate their 10th anniversary

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The call for applications for Being Human Festival 2024 has been extended

To enable as many people as possible to participate in this year’s festival, they have extended the deadline for the Festival Event (unfunded) pathway to Thursday 18 July, 5pm

Every year, researchers, staff from universities, and research organisations are invited to take part in this national festival by organising a public engagement event or activity, rooted in humanities research.

Any organisation with a connection to humanities research is eligible to organise a festival event via this pathway, including museums, galleries, archives, libraries, publishers, community organisations and more – but all events must involve an eligible researcher in their planning and delivery.

This year’s festival will take place 7–16 November, with the theme ‘Landmarks’, honouring the their 10^th anniversary. They will be looking back on landmark events in their history, while imagining landmarks they might yet create. Researchers are invited to think about physical or metaphorical landmarks and how they shape our world.

Read more about the theme ‘Landmarks’

Further details on how to apply, and answers to some frequently asked questions, are available here

Alternatively, if you would like advice on developing ideas or submitting an application, please contact the Public Engagement with Research Team: publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk

July 19, 2023

Being Human Café: Application Deadline – Friday 25 August 2023

BU research, Events, Impact, Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement ballen

Being Human Festival 9⁠–⁠18 November 2023

Being Human is the UK’s national festival of the humanities, a celebration of humanities research through public engagement. Led by the School of Advanced Study at the University of London, the UK’s national centre for the pursuit, support and promotion of research in the humanities. The festival works in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and British Academy to support humanities public engagement across the UK.

About the festival

Each November, Being Human Festival presents hundreds of free events across the UK and beyond. Festival events aim to celebrate and demonstrate the ways in which the humanities inspire and enrich our everyday lives, help us to understand ourselves, our relationships with others, and the challenges we face in a changing world. Every year, humanities researchers and other staff from universities and research organisations are invited to apply to take part in the festival by organising a public engagement event, activity or project.

About Being Human Café

A Being Human Café is a simple and fun way to get involved in the festival. It takes some of the key features of the Being Human festival, such as sharing fantastic humanities research with communities across the UK. This series of festival programming will take place across the country and all you’ll need to put on a café is an intended audience, a researcher, a community space (which can be online) and some tea!

Below you will find a step by step guide on how to bring a Being Human Café to life;

Submit your Being Human Café application online by 5pm on Friday 25 August 2023

Apply here

Contact

If you have any questions that are not answered in the information provided, please contact: apply.beinghuman@sas.ac.uk

Alternatively, if you would like advice on developing ideas or submitting an application, please contact Adam Morris BU Engagement Officer at: publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk

Please note: Funding will not be provided by the Public Engagement with Research Team, but may be available through your faculty.

April 19, 2023

Being Human Festival 2023: Applications now open!

BU research, Events, humanities, Impact, Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement ballen

Being Human Festival returns 9⁠–⁠18 November 2023 with the theme Rhyme or Reason.

Being Human is the UK’s national festival of the humanities, a celebration of humanities research through public engagement. Led by the School of Advanced Study at the University of London, the UK’s national centre for the pursuit, support and promotion of research in the humanities. The festival works in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy to support humanities public engagement across the UK.

About the festival

Each November, Being Human Festival presents hundreds of free events across the UK and beyond. Festival events aim to celebrate and demonstrate the ways in which the humanities inspire and enrich our everyday lives, help us to understand ourselves, our relationships with others, and the challenges we face in a changing world

The festival aims to:

demonstrate the value and relevance of humanities research to society in the UK and globally;
encourage, support and create opportunities for researchers to engage with non-specialist audiences;
embed and join together public engagement activities in the humanities across the higher education sector.

Every year, humanities researchers and other staff from universities and research organisations are invited to apply to take part in the festival by organising a public engagement event, activity or project.

If you’re interested in taking part, please read through the Being Human 2023 – Application Guidelines

Pathways

The Open Call – organise an activity that does not require funding from us. Submit your Open Call application online by 5pm, Friday 23 June 2023.

A Being Human Café is a simple, off-the-shelf activity that does not require funding from us. Submit your Being Human Café application online by 5pm, Friday 25 August 2023.

Applying to Being Human 2023

Find out more about applying to the festival by watching the recording of ‘Applying to Being Human 2023’ webinar that took place on Wednesday 29 March. Before putting together your application, please ensure you refer to the relevant further information document, case studies, planning toolkits and FAQs.

This funding is subject to the same internal processes as external research funding. Before applying, interested PIs (Principle Investigators) should submit a completed e-ITB form (Intention to Bid) by 4 weeks before each deadline.

New online application process

All applications must now be submitted via the online system Survey Monkey Apply. Please follow the step-by-step instructions on how to set up your account and submit an application. Application form templates have been provided to assist with preparing answers for submitting online.

Contact

If you have any questions about applying to the festival that are not answered in the FAQs, please contact apply.beinghuman@sas.ac.uk.

If you would like advice on developing ideas or submitting your application, please contact Adam Morris (Engagement Officer) publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk

November 14, 2021

Not going in!

BU research, Doctoral College, Featured academics, humanities, international, Publishing, Research news, Research Training, Uncategorized, writing Edwin van Teijlingen

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the online workshop ‘500 Years of Childbirth’ together with by CMMPH (Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health) colleges Dr. Juliet Wood and Dr. Laura Iannuzzi. The session ‘500 Years of Childbirth’ was part of Being Human Festival, the UK’s national festival of the humanities which runs 11–20 November 2021. History has always been a passion of me, and the presenters, Julia Martins and Carly Lokrheim, linked early modern history with childbirth in the 21st century.

This wonderful session reminded me of my draft chapter I wrote for my PhD thesis three decades ago. My thesis A social or medical model of childbirth? : comparing the arguments in Grampian (Scotland) and the Netherlands at the University of Aberdeen was supervised by Dr. Peter McCaffery. Peter wisely said to me: “You really needed to write this chapter to make sense of the history of midwifery in your head, but it does not really fit the thesis.” He added: “You have too many words already. You know that it is not going in?” The material of this history chapter was not lost as I used loads of text from it it in the introduction section for a textbook [1]. The section ‘History of Midwifery: Introduction’ became part of our edited volume Midwifery and the Medicalization of Childbirth: Comparative Perspectives (Nova Science Publishers, Inc., Huntington, New York, USA) [2].

It is a message I occasionally repeat to my own PhD students. Under the circumstances I may fing myself saying things like “This is something you had to get of your chest, or you had to write it to make sense of it, but as it stands do you think it fits your argument?” Or more subtly in a supervision meeting, tell us: “What does this section add to your overall story in the thesis?”

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

References:

van Teijlingen, E. (2004) History of Midwifery: Introduction, In: van Teijlingen, E. Lowis, G., et al. (eds.), Midwifery & the Medicalization of Childbirth, NY: Nova Sci., pages: 43-52.
van Teijlingen , E., Lowis, G., McCaffery, P. & Porter, M. (eds.) (2004) Midwifery and the Medicalization of Childbirth: Comparative Perspectives, New York: Nova Science. [Paperback ISBN: 1-59454-0314].

August 27, 2020

Free online masterclass – promotion and the media for public engagement

Events, humanities, Impact, Public engagement, Research communication, Research Training, Training Adam Morris

This free online masterclass will explore how best to promote your public engagement activity so that it reaches your intended audience and has the maximum impact. It will also cover ideas for generating local and national media around your research and event.

Led by the Being Human Festival team, Dr Michael Eades will share tips on promotion, communication and reaching intended audiences, while Professor Sarah Churchwell will discuss ways to make academic research converge with the media agenda. Organisers from last year’s festival will also give flash talks that provide helpful insights and tips from their Being Human events, which included hosting popular activities for families and local communities.

Throughout there will be opportunities to get involved in the conversation and ask questions. Attendees will also be emailed a masterclass pack full of helpful information and toolkits on the topic.

Although this event is aimed at those taking part in this year’s Being Human festival, it may also be of interest to those generally thinking about public engagement in the humanities.

Speakers:

Professor Sarah Churchwell is the director of the Being Human festival. A prominent advocate for literature and the humanities, Sarah appears regularly in the media and writes for both academic and non-academic audiences.
Dr Michael Eades is manager and curator of the Being Human festival. He has also run numerous public engagement initiatives such as ‘Bloomsbury Festival in a Box’ which engaged socially isolated people with dementia.
Dr Misha Ewen is a Hallsworth Research Fellow at the University of Manchester. She ran a popular family history workshop for the 2019 festival entitled ‘Discovering Caribbean Family Memories’, which featured in the Manchester Evening News.
Dr Elaine Canning is Head of Cultural Engagement and Development at Swansea University and has led several successful Being Human festival hub programmes, including their 2019 family-friendly programme of activities that included museum takeovers, plays and a big book treasure hunt.

Joining the event:

This event is free, but booking is required. It will be held online with details about how to join the virtual meet-up being circulated via email to registered attendees. The masterclass will begin at 11:00am, but you will be able to join the event’s online waiting room from 10:30am.

Book now

April 14, 2020

Being Human Festival 2020: Application Deadline Extended!

BU research, Events, Public engagement ballen

The deadline for applications for the Being Human Festival 2020 has been extended due to the the ongoing health crisis.

Applicants are being encouraged to think through contingency versions of their events.

Being Human is the UK’s only national festival of the humanities. A celebration of humanities research through public engagement, it is led by the School of Advanced Study at the University of London, the UK’s national centre for the pursuit, support and promotion of research in the humanities, in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy.

Application deadline extended

The intention is still for the festival to go ahead as planned on 12-22 November. As everyone is having to adapt rapidly to entirely new circumstances, the organisers are extending the deadline for funding grants and will continue to monitor the situation.

Deadlines;

‘Small Award’ and ‘Hub Award’ deadline Friday 29 May 5pm
‘Open Call’ deadline (unchanged) Friday 12 June 5pm

Find out more about how to apply here;

Contingency planning

Although the hope is that by November people will be enjoying the chance to come together at live events again, we all recognise how fluid and unpredictable this crisis is. With that in mind, festival applicants are being encouraged to consider contingency planning.

How might events and activities work in a social distancing context should any restrictions remain in place? Could a performance be live-streamed, or a pub quiz take place via Zoom? Or perhaps consider a tea and talk in a space that enables physical distancing?

Thinking through a ‘plan b’ version of your event will ensure that successful applications can go forward in November even if social distancing measures of some form continue.

More details about how to apply can be found here

For more information please email beinghuman@sas.ac.uk

If you would like advice on developing ideas or submitting your application, please contact Adam Morris (BU Engagement Officer) publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk

February 26, 2020

Being Human Festival 2020: Applications now open!

BU research, Events, Funding opportunities, Public engagement ballen

Being Human is the UK’s national festival of the humanities, led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London in partnership with the Arts & Humanities Research Council and the British Academy.

About the festival

Being Human is a national free festival geared towards public engagement with humanities research.

Every year the festival features around 300 events across the country, working with an average of around 80 universities and research organisations in 50 towns and cities.

The seventh annual festival is taking place on Thursday 12 – Sunday 22 November 2020.

This year’s festival theme is New Worlds. Echoing previous festival themes, ‘New Worlds’ conjures ideas about how discoveries, developments and research have changed the world around us. The aim of the festival is to take research in the humanities and share it in creative, fun and engaging ways with non-specialist audiences.

How to get involved

There are three main pathways to taking part in the festival:

1. Open Call: organise an activity that does not require funding from Being Human

Application deadline: Friday 12 June 2020, 5pm

2. Small Awards: apply to Being Human for funding of up to £2,000 to enable activities.

Application deadline: Friday 24 April 2020, 5pm

3. Hub Awards: apply for a larger institutional grant of £2,000- £5,000 to coordinate multiple activities as a festival Hub. (Only a small number of these awards are made every year).

Application deadline: Friday 24 April 2020, 5pm

More details about how to apply can be found here.

For more information please email beinghuman@sas.ac.uk

If you would like advice on developing ideas or submitting your application, please contact Adam Morris (Engagement Officer) publicengagement@bournemouth.ac.uk

March 26, 2019

Reminder: Funding opportunity – Being Human festival

Funding opportunities, humanities, Knowledge Exchange, Public engagement, Research communication Adam Morris

Being Human festival 2019

A reminder that the Being Human festival is now inviting applications for 2019.

The sixth annual Being Human festival will run 14-23 November 2019. Led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy, Being Human Is the UK’s only national festival of the humanities, and is one of the largest national platforms for public engagement with humanities research.

This year the festival theme is ‘Discoveries & Secrets’. This could involve anything from art historians uncovering painted-over masterpieces, archaeologists excavating ancient burial sites, historians making discoveries in archives, literary scholars discovering lost texts. More broadly it could include uncovering secret histories, or making new discoveries about seemingly familiar people, places, communities – the possibilities are endless. As ever the overarching aim of the festival is to take research in the humanities and share it in creative, fun and engaging ways with non-specialist audiences.

There are three main pathways to getting involved:

‘Small Awards‘: apply to Being Human for funding of up to £1,500 to enable activities.
‘Hub Awards‘: apply for a larger grant of £2,000- £4,000 to coordinate multiple activities as a Festival Hub. (Only a small number of these awards are made every year)
‘Open Call‘: organise an activity that does not require funding.

Further details, and answers to some Frequently Asked Questions are available on the Being Human website. The hashtag on Twitter is #BeingHuman19

The deadline for applications for funding is 5pm Monday 8 April.

If you would like some advice on developing ideas, feel free to contact Adam Morris (Engagement Officer).

March 1, 2017

Being Human Festival call for Participants 17–25 November 2017

Events, Funding opportunities, Impact, Public engagement, Uncategorized Joanna Pawlik

Take part in the Being Human Festival 2017!

This year, the festival will return between 17-25 November with a new theme, ‘Lost and Found’. Applicants are invited to respond creatively and in ways that probe the rich intellectual possibilities of the theme. The festival is a celebration of the

Humanities, highlighting research in this area in fun, hands-on, immersive ways to

Demonstrate its relevance to our everyday lives.

There are a number of grants to support public engagement activities being offered.

These opportunities to run an event are for researchers at any career stage, background, disciplinary expertise or experience of delivering public engagement events.

For more information on the call and to apply for a “Small Award” or a “Hub Award”, please click here.

You can also find a number of case studies here that could prove useful if you’d like to apply!

BU Research Blog

Tagged / Being Human Festival

Take part in Being Human Festival 2024 and celebrate their 10th anniversary

Being Human Café: Application Deadline – Friday 25 August 2023