New communications campaign celebrates collaboration between SHAPE and STEM

Today the British Academy launches Connected Knowledge, a communications campaign to demonstrate and celebrate the impact of different disciplines, subjects and sectors coming together, particularly those across SHAPE and STEM.

Through a range of examples designed to showcase research collaboration – as well as offering reflections and insights from the people behind the research – the campaign will show that SHAPE (Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy) and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) are often complementary, and will highlight the immense value to people and societies when they are connected.

Over the next few months, the British Academy will share on its social media channels a series of case studies highlighting Connected Knowledge in action across multiple aspects of society – from guiding safe and ethical use of AI technologies to addressing climate change and understanding people and planet in the past, present and future.

It is hoped that other organisations will join the conversation on social media using #ConnectedKnowledge and share their own examples from their research or organisation.

Professor Julia Black, President of the British Academy, said:

“As the fantastic research and innovations showcased through our campaign will show, successful research – and its application to real world problems – is most often the result of different disciplines, skills and expertise coming together.

“Through Connected Knowledge we want to demonstrate that SHAPE and STEM are equal knowledge partners, that their insights, skills and research are often of most benefit when combined, and that their value is often intrinsically interlinked.

“As the national academy for the humanities and social sciences, we make the case for the value of SHAPE disciplines, but we always look beyond narratives which pit our subjects against those of STEM. Only by harnessing and investing well across the disciplines can we make the UK’s R&D sector world leading, for the prosperity of all.”