1. AHRC
Care for the Future:
Thinking Forward
through the Past
Town Meetings
May/June 2013

2. Andrew Thompson
University of Exeter
Theme Leadership Fellow
Fellow’s Project: “Afterlives of Empire:
Thinking Forward through an
Imperial Past”

3. Theme map
Created by Hattie Allsop, AHRC

4. Overview of the theme
• How the relationship between the past, present and future shapes our
understanding of the world around us.
• Critical reflection upon the concepts that are used to join together past,
present and future – including ‘memory’, ‘legacy’, ‘heritage’, and
‘progress’.
• Critical reflection upon the different emotions evoked by reflecting on the
past – denial, forgetting, trauma, nostalgia, mourning and celebration.
• Representations of the future of humanity can shed light on our hopes
and fears for the present.
• How we value cultural heritage, and the historical work that informs our
understanding of that heritage.
• Explore new ways of thinking about temporal relationships, including of
the notion of time itself.

5. Care for the Future: Sites of Engagement
5 major sub-themes:
• Questions of temporality and history
• Inter- and cross-generational communication, justice and
exchange
• Trauma, conflict and memory: transitions to new futures
• Cultural notions of the future
• Environmental change and sustainability
Collaborations with other AHRC/cross-council initiatives:
• Connected Communities
• Cultural Value
• Translating Cultures
• Researching Environmental
Change
• Living with Environmental
Change

6. Questions of temporality and history
Nelson, Deconstructing the Grand Narrative: Using Different Time Concepts and Temporal
Frameworks to Uncover New Voices and Meanings in Museum Collections
Source: http://www.datavis.ca/gallery/timelines.php

7. Inter-generational communication, justice,
and exchange
Archard, Generating Justice: The social, legal, political and ethical issues of ensuring justice across generations
Image: irrational.org – Heath Bunting

8. Trauma, conflict and memory:
transitions to new futures
Woodward, Caring for post-military futures: alternative development futures for former military sites in the UK
Image: Simon Burchell, Wiki Commons

9. Cultural notions of the future
Fyfe, Recreating the late Victorian popular science experience
Source: www.thequietus.com

10. Environmental change and sustainability
Lavery, The Future of Ruins: Reclaiming Abandonment and Toxicity on Hashima Island
Source: http://sometimes-interesting.com

11. Co-ordinating Centres for Community Research and
Engagement to Commemorate the Centenary of the
First World War
Future plans for the Theme
Source: Wiki Commons

12. September 2013 Conference
Centenary of the 1913 Ancient Monuments Act
with English Heritage, National Trust and Society of Antiquaries
Image: English Heritage

13. Future events – Scheduled & In planning
• Workshop for Early Career Researchers, January 2014 –
with call for ECR developmental awards
• ‘Making History Work’ Public Policy Workshop series with
the Institute for Government, January - May 2014
• Major International Conference for the Theme in 2015
• Cultural Value - Role of Culture in Post-
Conflict Transformation
© Carol Ormand, http://serc.carleton.edu

14. Theme Large Grants
• Beacons of the theme
• £1m - £2m FEC, up to 5 years, 2 – 4 awards
• Nature of large grants
– Ambitious, transformative projects
– Collaborative: across institutions, disciplines, sectors & internationally
– Building research capabilities