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The àËÅöÊÓƵ believes that research should reflect and seek to answer society’s most pressing concerns. Humanities research has a vital role to play in society and is directly relevant to the lives of individuals and communities.

Engaging the public with our research and actively involving them brings huge benefits: people can feel confident about contributing to research and innovation, while researchers can gain new skills, improve the quality and increase the visibility of their research.

Our priority is to support researchers to connect with community and cultural partners, particularly facilitating the development of co-produced public engagement – involving the public from the beginning to ensure events and performances are designed with, not just for, the audience, and improving equality, accessibility and inclusion of our engagement.

Being Human Festival

The is the UK’s national festival of humanities research. The festival is led by the School of Advanced Study with the support of the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy. 

The festival aims to celebrate and demonstrate the ways in which the humanities inspire and enrich our everyday lives, helping us to understand ourselves, our relationships with others, and the challenges we face in a changing world. 

We invite researchers at universities and other research organisations up and down the country to collaborate with local community and cultural partners. Each November, the festival presents hundreds of free, exciting and engaging events and projects, open to all. 

Being Human 2023 in numbers:

• 279 events and activities
• 18,000 attendees
• 49 towns and cities
• 63 universities and research organisations
• 96 lead organisers
• 122 venues and locations
• 5 festival hubs