Faculty of Arts and Humanities Research Strategy

At the core of the faculty’s mission is the recognition that independent, curiosity-driven scholarship underpins the vitality of humanities research. 

We are committed to supporting our early career researchers to develop as future leaders. We must also protect time and resources to allow researchers to pursue long-term projects – whether individual or collaborative – and to develop long-form and extended process outputs.

The faculty has notable strengths in interdisciplinarity, bringing the traditional humanities into conversation with the social sciences and with STEM disciplines. We aim to bring our expertise to bear more widely throughout UCL by actively nurturing cross-faculty interdisciplinary collaborations. 

We are also committed to facilitating collaboration within disciplines across faculties, such as in Area Studies, Art and Design, and Philosophy. 

Finally, we must make the case for the humanities by actively engaging with college-wide initiatives and by highlighting how humanities research can strategically shape non-traditional areas such as artificial intelligence, where ethics, cultural understanding, and critical analysis are essential to responsible innovation. 

While many of us conduct research individually for some of the time, our research thrives on collaborations and cross-pollinations that extend across disciplinary, sectoral, and geographic boundaries. We will leverage our established strengths in languages and Area Studies to more actively develop research partnerships with partner institutions in the regions we study and beyond. 

We will also build on our significant strengths in practice-led and creative-critical research to deepen existing research collaborations with the creative and cultural industries and facilitate new partnerships. 

Through a commitment to partnership in these areas of strength, we recognise that collaborations – whether with universities abroad, local communities, museums, or creative industries – multiply the reach and impact of our work.

Research across the breadth of the faculty contributes vital insights into pressing societal issues – from reproductive healthcare to online safety to air pollution – and speaks to the value of the humanities more broadly. 

We will maximise the reach and accessibility of our research through open access publishing. To facilitate the positive impact of our research, we will build on our existing strengths to further deepen our public engagement, knowledge exchange, and policy influence. 

We are committed to increasing, even as we support individual curiosity-driven research, opportunities for researchers to engage with innovation, consultancy, and commercialisation, where doing so enhances our research impact. 

As a faculty, we prioritise the wellbeing of our staff and recognise that nurturing an inclusive and sustainable research culture is essential for supporting researchers at all stages of their careers. 

We are committed to expanding the support available to researchers seeking to develop themselves as leaders, while continuing to embed equity, diversity, and inclusion as foundational to our activities. We will also embed robust processes for research ethics and upskill colleagues in open science practices, ensuring the integrity and accessibility of our work. 

We recognise that different research projects require different resources and embrace the diverse forms of knowledge-making and practice across our disciplines. As the bulk of our research is supported by QR funding awarded via the Research Excellence Framework, we must prepare strategically for REF2029. 

To ensure sustainability, we must continue to attract grants and fellowships from major research funders, including those outside the UK. We will also leverage the resources available within UCL, including internal seed funding as well as research capital investment funding. Finally, we will seek philanthropic support to help realise our research ambitions.