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Activity Funded

CHAM — Centre for the Humanities

CHAM — Centro de Humanidades

Reference
UIDB/04666/2020
Project Start Date
2020-01-01
Project End Date
2024-12-31
Principal Investigator
Funding Program
Concurso de avaliação no âmbito do Programa Plurianual de Financiamento de Unidades de I&D (2017/2018) - Financiamento Base

Abstract

10.2 Summary in English for general dissemination purposes In 2018-2022 CHAM will focus on ´Questioning Frontiers. Historical and Contemporary Perspectives`. The term frontier has acquired considerable centrality, showing great analytical potential across the Humanities, allowing for the study of the conditions in which contact takes place, the mechanisms involved, and its effects. CHAM will reflect upon the frontier as a social construct, questioning essentialist visions of borders and the entities they separate, of analytical concepts and nomenclatures. At a time of rising international conflict and alarming new waves of migration, few topics feel as pertinent. CHAM has a governance model suited to its research agenda, based on a stable and effective structure. CHAM is organized in 9 research groups defined by area of study and 8 thematic lines that function as interdisciplinary meeting zones, all contributing to a multi-perspectival approach to the frontier. This project comprises 4 Work Packages. Activities, deliverables, and milestones are defined for each WP. WP1. RESEARCH AND SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTION CHAM will hire researchers through FCT programmatic funding to develop tools across its groups, consolidate areas already developed, and direct it towards new ones aligned with the current scholarly and societal challenges. It will continue to develop its own e-learning MA program, and to support the various PhD programs it is involved with, namely through a fellowship programme. To increase international visibility, CHAM will continue to support translation of academic work and to pursue the indexation of its journals. WP2. COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH CHAM will continue to foster collaborative research within the RU and to enhance cooperation with other RUs and other universities; as well as further enlarging its network of partners outside academia. In addition, it will continue to support participation in formalized networks and infrastructures. CHAM envisions collaborative research as the most efficacious way to maintain a useful and effective dialogue with society and to put the knowledge created to its best possible and most impactful usage. WP3. DISSEMINATION AND OUTREACH CHAM´s research papers and monographs are available in institutional repositories, its journals are online and past issues are being digitized, it edits an e-books series, and will support the creation of online research tools. Scholarly gatherings will be planned in conjunction with academic and non-academic institutions both in Portugal and abroad. CHAM will also develop more joint initiatives with companies in the economic sector. A variety of multimedia projects are ongoing. WP4. MANAGEMENT AND SELF-ASSESSMENT CHAM will continue to invest in its research management team. Risk management and data management plans will be developed. The implementation of the project is overseen by its board, which will appoint leaders to monitor the implementation of each WP. A policy of performance (self) assessment is in place and will be perfecte 10.3 Summary in English for evaluation For 2018-2022, CHAM has selected as the organizing theme of its work ´Questioning Frontiers. Historical and Contemporary Perspectives`. The term frontier is particularly fraught with meaning and requires disentangling, giving attention not only to realities but also the theoretical and methodological approaches used. The frontier has also acquired considerable centrality, proving to be an object of analysis of great potential across the Humanities, allowing for the study of thespecific conditions in which contact takes place, the mechanisms involved, and its effects. The large heuristic potential of the frontier as a contact zone will thus be at the centre of CHAM´s new project, aiming to study interactions and exchange processes, selective adoptions and rejections, constructions and erasures. The frontier is the interstice between historically, physically and ontologically defined entities. It makes manifest the world´s diversity, made up of realities that circumscribe one another, and can be porous and conducive to harmony, or impermeable. The frontier functions as a contact zone governed by rules that can be either inflexible or accommodating. History is the foundational discipline of CHAM, and within the Humanities it is a field where discussion of frontiers is uncommonly ubiquitous, both in its most everyday sense of geographic boundary between territories ruled by distinct forms of power, but also because the work of the historian consists partly in establishing temporal boundaries between historical periods. Thus, tackling chronological and conceptual limits in a critical manner is paramount for the historian. The frontier is also a prominent concept in the research agendas of other disciplines in the Humanities which have dealt with topics such as the interaction between different literary and artistic traditions, the dialectics between opposing epistemological systems, linguistic dialogues, and the contacts between societies with different cultural patterns. CHAM will reflect upon the frontier as a social construct, questioning essentialist visions of borders and the entities they are meant to separate, as well as the analytical concepts and nomenclatures involved. Institutionally, CHAM has acquired stability in the recent past and very few changes are needed in its organization. Its governance structure will remain as it is. Researchers will be organized in 9 groups defined by area of study, as before (with minor adjustments in their designations), although they will be given greater financial autonomy in the coming years. Furthermore, 8 research lines (with 2 new additions - History of Women and Gender, and African Studies) are organized around themes that cut across several of the groups and function as interdisciplinary meeting zones. Groups and lines will contribute to a multi-perspectival approach to the frontier. In order to achieve its goals, the current project comprises 4 Work Packages, each with its own implementation overseers. Several activities and deliverables as well as a calendar of milestones have been programmed for each WP (11.1). WP1. RESEARCH AND SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTION CHAM will continue to invest in its human resources, which we consider the cornerstone of excellence and innovation. CHAM will hire researchers through the FCT programmatic funding to develop theoretical and methodological tools across our research groups, consolidate particularly productive and innovative areas already developed, and direct it towards new areas aligned with the current scientific and societal challenges. Academic training will continue to be a major concern: we will continue to develop our own e-learning MA programme and to support the various PhD programmes we are involved with, namely through our fellowship programme. Increasing our international visibility is also a major goal: we will continue to promote the translation of academic work and to provide publication support for our members, as well as proceeding with the indexation of our journals. WP2. COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH Collaborative research has always been at the heart of CHAM, and these efforts will be redoubled. In addition to encouraging more applications to collective projects, CHAM will enhance its cooperation with other RUs at NOVA FCSH and in other universities. CHAM will also maintain and further enlarge its network of partners outside academia. It will continue to support researchers´ participation in national and international, formalized networks and infrastructures. CHAM will play a prominent role in NOVA FCSH´s collaborative lab ´City Cultures`. We envision collaborative research as the most efficacious way to maintain a useful and effective dialogue with society and to maximize the impact and utility of the knowledge we create. WP3. DISSEMINATION AND OUTREACH CHAM has invested in the Open Science Policy. The results of our work are made available in institutional repositories, our journals are now electronic while past issues are being digitized, and we edit an e-books series. The creation of online research tools will continue to be a priority at CHAM. Academic gatherings are planned in conjunction with academic and non-academic institutions both in Portugal and abroad. We will amplify our engagement with the public through the organization of exhibitions, collaborative programs with non-academic institutions, joint initiatives with companies in the economic sector, and diverse multimedia projects. WP4. MANAGEMENT AND SELF-ASSESSMENT CHAM will continue to invest in the expertise of its research management team. A risk management plan and a data management plan will be implemented. The implementation of the project and the coordination between groups and lines of inquiry is overseen by CHAM´s board. A systematic structure of annual reports is in place. The current policy of performance assessment will be perfected. The CHAM board will appoint two leaders to oversee the implementation of each WP.

Institutions

Main Institutions

  • CHAM Centro de Humanidades (CHAM/NOVA FCSH/UNL)
  • Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL)

Other Institutions

  • Universidade dos Açores (UAc)

Funding 2.485.602,06 €

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - Portugal

2.485.602,06 €