The British Academy: International Interdisciplinary Research programme in Transnational and Planetary challenges

The purpose of each project will be to develop new international research led by and grounded in the humanities and/or social sciences, to further understanding of transnational and planetary challenges. Interdisciplinarity is a requirement and the collaboration can include any SHAPE or STEM discipline as long as the research is led by and grounded in the humanities and/or social sciences. Applications should focus on one or more of the following domains and should engage with both the technical and/or scientific components of each domain, and also with those aspects which make the challenge difficult for a single sovereign states to manage individually.
• Earth system governance, including problems related to climate change, biodiversity loss, oceanic degradation, and other forms of environmental pollution
• Digital and other transformative technologies, including the challenges presented by artificial intelligence (AI), cyber, synthetic biology, nanotech, and other breakthroughs
• Global health, particularly the rising threat posed by pandemic disease and the linkages among human, animal, and environmental health (“One Health”)
• Outer space governance, encompassing the dilemmas posed by accumulating orbital debris, space traffic congestion, property and sovereignty claims, and arms racing.
The PI must be a researcher from the humanities and social sciences and be based at an eligible UK university or research institute. The involvement of Co-Applicants based overseas is required.
Funding: up to £300,000 over 2 years
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/knowledge-frontiers-international-interdisciplinary-research/