Arts board gets in gear

THE new Arts and Humanities Research Board will shortly be calling for bids for research project money, it was agreed this week.

Details of the board were worked out in talks between the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Department of Education for Northern Ireland and the British Academy, previously in charge of the Humanities Research Board, which held its final meeting last week.

The 18-member board will include representatives from the Council of University Deans of Arts and Humanities and the Conference for Higher Education in Art and Design. Up to six will be from the existing 16-member Humanities Research Board.

These will distribute just more than Pounds 36 million in its first year, provided by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the British Academy and DENI, and about Pounds 44 million in 1999-2000.

Paul Langford, Oxford professor of modern history and chairman-designate of the HRB, has been appointed chief executive. Other members will be appointed ready for the first meeting in October.