Tagged / big society

AHRC Peer Review College members launch petition to end Big Society funding

An online petition calling on the AHRC to remove Big Society research from its delivery plan has attracted more than 1600 signatures. The petition was created by members of the AHRC Peer Review College after an Observer newspaper article in which  Cambridge historian Peter Mandler was quoted as saying that the AHRC had been pressured by officials to study the Big Society as a condition of its funding settlement.

Yesterday, the AHRC issued a statement denying the allegations and arguing it had been working on a programme called Connected Communities for two years before the Conservative party’s decision to make Big Society one of its election campaign slogans.

Academic fury over order to study the Big Society: Researchers ‘over a barrel’ after coalition threat to cut £100m grant from AHRC

“Academics will study the “big society” as a priority, following a deal with the government to secure funding from cuts. AHRC logoThe Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) will spend a “significant” amount of its funding on the prime minister’s vision for the country, after a government “clarification” of the Haldane principle – a convention that for 90 years has protected the right of academics to decide where research funds should be spent.”

This article from the Guardian can be read in full here.

Read further views on this story on Research Professional.

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