e-Science
e-Science is not the same as e-Research; it does not include all research uses of ICT. It stands for a specific set of advanced technologies for collaboration and sharing resources across the Internet: so-called grid technologies, and technologies integrated with them, for instance for authentication, data-mining and visualization. Click here for further information about e-Science.
AHRC-EPSRC-JISC Arts and Humanities e-Science Intitiative
Jointly funded by the AHRC, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the UK's Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), this Initiative extends the UK e-Science programme to arts and humanities research. e-Science has already had a transforming impact on UK science, technology, medicine, and increasingly the social sciences as well; its impact on the arts and humanities is potentially just as great.
The Initiative is primarily concerned with the development of research in the arts and humanities, not with technological development for its own sake. It comprises the following activities:
- e-Science Research Grants and Postgraduate Studentships
A joint AHRC-EPSRC-JISC call for bids was issued in 2006, which included e-Science research projects to a total value of £2m, and six 4-year e-Science postgraduate studentships. Seven awards were made across a wide range of subjects in both the arts and the humanities, from dance and music to museum studies, archaeology, classics and Byzantine history, and a wide range of e-Science technologies: click here for details. - e-Science Scoping Survey
The AHRC ICT Programme has also funded, under its ICT Strategy Projects Scheme, a survey by Sheila Anderson, Director of the AHDS, on ‘Scoping e-science and e-social science developments and their value to the arts and humanities’. Details of the survey are available at the survey web page. The Final Report is also available. - e-Science Support Centre (AHeSSC)
As a part of the Initiative, JISC has awarded funding to King's College London to host an Arts and Humanities e-Science Support Centre (AHeSSC). Now located at the Centre for e-Research at KCL, the Centre's funding has been extended until August 2010. AHeSSC exists to support, co-ordinate and promote e-Science in all arts and humanities disciplines, and to liaise across the e-Science, e-Social Science, computing and information sciences communities. - e-Science Workshops and Demonstrators
These projects have now been completed. Further details and links to final reports are now available. Results of the 2005 call for applications can be viewed here.
Steering Committee
The joint Initiative is overseen by a Steering Committee consisting of officers representing the three funding agencies and the following:
- David Robey (Chair: Director of the ICT in Arts and Humanities Research Programme)
- Alison Allden (University of Bristol)
- David de Roure (University of Southampton)
- Robert Gaizauskas (University of Sheffield)
- Derek Hill (University College London)
- Rob Procter (University of Manchester)
- Seamus Ross (University of Glasgow)
- Anne Trefethen (University of Oxford)
For further information on the Initiative, contact the Arts and Humanities e-Science Support Centre (AHeSSC)