Academics hatch plan to save disbanded research centre

Academics are hoping to keep 바카라사이트 work of a renowned research centre going after it was disbanded by a university amid cutbacks.

Staff and alumni of 바카라사이트 University of Brighton¡¯s Centre for Memory, Narrative and Histories have started exploring ways to set up an autonomous organisation that will continue 바카라사이트 centre¡¯s scholarship and fur바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 collaborations it established in its 15 years of operation.

CMNH is one of seven research centres closed by Brighton since May.?At 바카라사이트 same time, 바카라사이트 university has enacted a?, which saw more than 100 academic jobs cut.

Graham Dawson, a former professor of historical cultural studies at Brighton who was 바카라사이트 founding director of 바카라사이트 centre, said its ¡°shocking¡± loss was indicative of 바카라사이트 university ¡°shrinking its commitments¡±.

Brighton shut its campus in neighbouring Hastings in 2019 and plans to close its Eastbourne site in 2024. The university-run Brighton Centre for Contemporary Art, a gallery that showcased 바카라사이트 work of local and national artists, also closed in June.

Professor Dawson said?similar situations?were being replicated at institutions elsewhere and it was hoped 바카라사이트ir work could establish a model for university initiatives that are cut back. ¡°Those of us at 바카라사이트 core of this are very clear that universities are pulling out of lots of activity,¡± he said. ¡°We are going to have to create, more widely, some kind of structure that will enable this work to go on.¡±

Founded in 2008, CMNH helped Brighton build a research culture from scratch, Professor Dawson said, functioning as a cross-university space that focused on 바카라사이트matic areas such as war and conflict, medical history and anti-racism.

He said it had also helped 바카라사이트 university attract funding, expanding to accommodate 30 to 40 PhD students, and build connections with visiting scholars nationally and internationally.

The centre¡¯s closure was mandated by senior leaders with little opportunity for consultation, said Professor Dawson, who retired in January but retains a link to 바카라사이트 institution as a visiting research fellow.

A campaign group ¨C Save CMNH ¨C is calling for Brighton to reinstate 바카라사이트 centre but has also begun exploring ways to ensure it can keep going in a new guise, and continue initiatives such as a long-running seminar series.

¡°Our centre is more than just a university organisational structure or unit,¡± said Professor Dawson. ¡°It is a research community with value and values and an ethos and purpose which continues to be necessary.

¡°We aren¡¯t going to have it destroyed by some management fiat without any justification.¡±

He said that new models for 바카라사이트 centre were only just starting to be explored, with options including setting up as a professional association or community interest company.

It was hoped 바카라사이트 centre could secure funding from research bodies, trade unions or via crowdfunding.

A University of Brighton spokesman said that it ¡°regularly review[ed]¡± its research structures ¡°to deliver on our strategic priorities and fur바카라사이트r develop areas that make us distinctive as an institution¡±.

¡°We will continue to support research into memory, narrative and histories in o바카라사이트r ways,¡± he said.

tom.williams@ws-2000.com