ANNUAL REPORT 2009–10 SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY www.sas.ac.uk CONTENTS Dean’s foreword 2 The intellectual life of the School 3 Events 4 Fellowships 8 Formal networks and collaborations 10 Research 12 Publications 14 Teaching and quality 16 Research training 17 Libraries 18 Digital activities 19 Member Institutes and Consortium 20 Institute of Advanced Legal Studies 20 Institute of Classical Studies 22 Institute of Commonwealth Studies 24 Institute of English Studies 26 Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies 28 Institute of Historical Research 30 Institute of Musical Research 33 Institute of Philosophy 35 Institute for the Study of the Americas 38 Warburg Institute 40 Human Rights Consortium 42 Administration and finance 44 Dean’s Office 44 Registry 45 Marketing 46 Development 46 Research Services 47 Publications 47 Finance 48 Governance 49 Board of the School 49 Directorate 50 Committees 50 Central Services 51 Appendices 52 SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY ANNUAL REPORT 2009–10 I DEAN’S REPORT I DEAN’S REPORT Dean’s foreword The intellectual life of the School By the time I came into post in April 2010, the School of The School was founded 15 from guidance in archival the Institutes to sustain and Advanced Study had achieved a great many of the tasks it had years ago to protect, foster and library work, through the stimulate their research. set itself following the positive review of the School by the and develop advanced study critical appraisal of colleagues Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in in the humanities and social at seminars, workshops and As a consequence, the 2007–08. This included the development of a strategic plan, science disciplines represented conferences, to the processes of intellectual life of the 2009–13 and an expanding programme of research facilitation by its constituent Institutes. publication and dissemination. School is rich and varied. and promotion which is establishing an excellent basis for the It unites these Institutes in a Institutes respond to each long-term success of the School as a national and international common goal: the promotion This approach, combined other’s interests, not least resource for research and researchers in the humanities and and facilitation of research with the remarkable library by designing and carrying social sciences. for the benefit of the national and other academic resources through joint events such as and international scholarly which sustain it, distinguishes conferences and seminars, and A first priority for me has been to ensure that we enter HEFCE’s community. The approach to the School of Advanced by more generally encouraging next review of the School (2011–12) with our Institutes in advanced study characterising Study from many other their staff, students and a financially sustainable state and delivering activities that them is that of a small team bodies bearing similar titles. Fellows to cross the boundaries really add value to its UK-wide and international academic of specialist staff which runs a The School does not exist between their disciplines. constituencies. I have found that the School’s outstanding research library collection and primarily for the benefit of Externally, the diversity of performance in these areas meshes perfectly with what I had a range of research projects, its own members, nor does research interests, resources been doing previously at the University of Exeter and with the and manages a broad and it seek to impose a research and approaches has made the British Academy and Arts and Humanities Research Council to freely‐associating community agenda in the form of themes School, through particular promote the health of these disciplines. of scholars, Fellows and or topics, nor conversely Institutes, an attractive partner postgraduate students. The can it offer indiscriminate in recent years for a wide range The period of change continues as the School of Advanced Study develops a very productive working relationship with The five main objectives of the School are: Senate House Libraries (formerly University of London Research Library Services) to strengthen its world-renowned physical • To fulfil the School’s unique national and international research promotion and facilitation role and digital library resources which contribute so much to our for the humanities and social sciences, related disciplines and wider society. academic constituencies. • To produce and disseminate high-quality, internationally recognised, research to underpin the research promotion and facilitation role of the School and benefit the widest possible audience of users. • To continue to develop high-quality postgraduate and research programmes. • To ensure that the School’s structure, governance and management are fit for purpose. • To achieve financial sustainability by 2012–13. School is open to all who support for all research across of institutions in the UK for feel that their research has the range of the humanities collaborative ventures. something to contribute and social sciences. Instead, to, or to gain from, the it builds upon the skills and In bringing together these School’s resources, and the initiatives of its Institutes, diverse Institutes, the School intellectual association with aiming to foster them, and to unites a rich variety of scholars Roger Kain their peers that it promotes. respond with sensitivity to the and scholarly resources Dean and Chief Executive of the School of Advanced Study The support that is extended needs of the diverse national growing every year. to those engaged in research and international academic is comprehensive, reaching constituencies which look to 2 3 SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDY ANNUAL REPORT 2009–10 I DEAN’S REPORT Events summary Events I DEAN’S REPORT The School’s events On the foundation of John Coffin Memorial Lecture Events were held on a wide range of subjects, including in no particular programme maximises the School the University in the History of the Book, order: intellectual outreach to transferred to its management organised by the IES on 30 June The annual Anglo-American Conference organised by the Institute of the academic and non- a number of University Trust 2010, and delivered by Professor Historical Research (IHR). academic sectors. Events lectures and other events. John Barnard. activities enrich the national These enhance the intellectual John Coffin Memorial Literary The prestigious Sawyer Seminar Series, funded by the Mellon research infrastructure in the profile of the School by Reading, ‘Women writing Foundation and involving all the Institutes of the School and its new humanities and social sciences providing funding for lectures, Human Rights Consortium (HRC). childhood – three readings by enhancing the research recitals, literary readings and by women writers from Italy, base, creating the conditions other activities. The funds Annual Palaeography Lecture organised by the Institute of English Germany and Portugal’, Studies (IES) under the aegis of the University Trust Fund Event for research initiatives and remain University Trust organised by the IGRS on 16 programme (see University Trust Funds below). research networks, and by Funds; ultimate responsibility October 2009, and delivered by enhancing the dissemination remains with the University. ‘Regulating and deregulating lawyers in the 21st century’ organised by Simona Vinci, writer, Ana Luisa of the research and related The relevant Trust funds are the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS). Amaral, University of Oporto, activities of scholars nationally the John Coffin Memorial and Anna Mitgutsch, writer. ‘The peripatetic school through Alexander of Aphrodisias’ under and internationally. The Fund (funding a number the aegis of the Institute of Classical Studies (IClS) and Institute of School organises and hosts of lectures, literary readings John Coffin Memorial Recital, Philosophy (IP). a large and diverse range and recitals); the Staunton- ‘Erik Satie and visual culture in ‘Policing and the policed in the postcolonial state’ organised by the belle époque Paris’, organised by Institute of Commonwealth Studies (ICwS). the IMR on 16 April 2010, and During 2009–10, over 1,400 separate events, representing performed by an ensemble of The School ‘London Debates’ in association with the British Museum nearly 4,500 hours spread between seminars, lectures, and five musicians. and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Paris. workshops to major international conferences, took place and The Cassal Lecture 2010, ‘Gender, agency and violence: European perspectives from early welcomed over 4,000 speakers, 45,000 audience members ‘Humanities research in China: modern times to the present day’ organised by the Institute of new horizons’, organised by the Germanic & Romance Studies (IGRS). and over 25,000 viewers online. IGRS on 12 July 2010. ‘The symphony orchestra as cultural phenomenon’ organised by the Institute of Musical Research (IMR). The Creighton Lecture, ‘Russia of conferences, workshops, Cassal Fund (lecture and other since 1917 in Western mirrors’, ‘The traditions of liberty in the transatlantic world’ organised by the symposia, seminars, recitals activities for the promotion of organised by the IHR, delivered Institute for the Study of the Americas (ISA). and public lectures for both French language and culture); by Professor Robert Service, the research community the Creighton Fund (lecture) University of Oxford, on 18 ‘Fourteenth-century classicism: Bernat Metge and Petrarch’