top of page

Follow us on
social media
:

‘With the issues Twitter is currently facing, we’ve decided to start the move over to Threads. We will be maintaining our Twitter account for the moment and dual posting, but we would love you to join us on Threads.

When a feed tool for our posts on Threads becomes available we will place it here.’

We are an association of learned societies that work together to promote the interests of the arts and humanities, particularly with respect to higher education and research policies within the UK​.

The AHA Co-Chairs for 2022-2025 are:

Professor Emma Cayley of the

Professor Thea Pitman of the 

The figure of Chak Mo'ol in the Maya Hall of the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Ph

About

Mission

The Arts and Humanities Alliance is a UK organisation that represents the broad span of Arts and Humanities subject associations and learned societies. The AHA exists to facilitate the exchange of views between subject associations and provide a coordinated voice with which to articulate the collective values and concerns of our disciplines to policy makers and public bodies. AHA currently represents nearly 50 associations with a combined membership of more than 20,000.

History

The Alliance was initially formed as the Arts and Humanities User Group (A-HUG) in 2008. It first emerged out of a joint intervention by the Council of University Classical Departments, the British Philosophical Association and the Society of Legal Scholars, when they voiced their collective concerns to the AHRC about the European Science Foundation’s European Research Index in the Humanities (ERIH). In its first years A-HUG’s role was principally to co-ordinate subject association meetings with one another and with the AHRC. Working across a range of subject associations we successfully encouraged the AHRC to withdraw from involvement with ERIH.

Our Work

Over time, we have addressed concerns such as: changes in RCUK and AHRC funding policies, REF and impact, open access, recruitment trends, graduate funding, and the status of British International Research Institutes. In 2016, the Alliance submitted a response to the Green Paper on Higher Education entitled 'Fulfilling our Potential'. It is currently represented on the UUK Open Access Monographs Subgroup and is centrally involved in the British Academy Flagship Skills Project. In all these areas AHA articulates and defends the specific needs and practices of the arts and humanities.

Past Coordinators

  • Susan Bruce, University English and Martin Halliwell, English Association (2016-2018)

  • Peter Mandler, Royal Historical Society (2012-2016)

  • Robin Osborne, Council of University Classical Departments (2008-2012)

Library, Trinity College Dublin. Photograph by Alex Block (@alexblock - Instagram)

AFFILIATES

If you represent a learned society that is not yet a member, please contact t.pitman@leeds.ac.uk to join. Membership is free. We hold one meeting per semester, run events and campaigns, and coordinate action via a jiscmail list and a WhatsApp group. You can also follow us on Twitter @ArtsandHums.

Image of an audience in profile facing stage. Taken in Los Angles by Edwin Andrade.

Activities

AHA News

 

  • Read our recent letter to the Australian Catholic University about planned redundancies there in arts and humanities, September 2023.

  • Our most recent affiliates meeting was held online, 10:00-12:00, 9 June 2023. Our next meeting will be in Autumn 2023 (date tbc).

  • We are currently developing a new toolkit to help strengthen arts and humanities departments around the country.

  • We are currently consulting on the appointment of a small group of AHA Ambassadors to help promote the organisation and the disciplines we represent.

  • We are committed to drafting a Constitution for the AHA by Autumn 2023.

  • We have worked hard in 2023 to set up the new website that you are reading now. We would like to express our gratitude to all affiliated societies that kindly donated to support the design of the new site.

AHA Statements & Correspondence

Excavation of Çatalhöyük - a large Neolithic proto-city settlement in southern Anatolia. P

Resources

News

Toolkits

Other Resources

  • The Scottish Arts and Humanities Alliance (SAHA) is a joint initiative of Scottish Higher Education institutions, the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities. Established in 2019, it aims to give a public and collective voice to the Arts and Humanities in the context of Higher Education in Scotland,  promoting more widely the contribution of arts and humanities disciplines to positive change in society, to economic progress and to cultural understanding. 

khara-woods-KR84RpMCb0w-unsplash.jpg

Contact

The co-chairs of the AHA for 2022-25 are

Professor Emma Cayley
(University Council of Modern Languages)
e.cayley@leeds.ac.uk

Professor Thea Pitman
(Society for Latin American Studies)
t.pitman@leeds.ac.uk

Follow us on Twitter @ArtsandHums

Slate It. Photograph by Jakob Owen (@jakobowens - Instagram)
bottom of page