Dear List Members, 
 
Please see below and attached a request from Diana Pritchard, of the British Academy Latin American and Caribbean Area Panel, for your help in completing a survey of UK based academics working in the area of Latin American and Caribbean research.  You will see from the attached that there are separate surveys for academics and post-grads.
 

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The British Academy and the Joint Initiative for the Study of Latin America and the Caribbean are working together to collect data on the current scenario of studies, teaching and research on the region, within the UK. It will provide information for prospective students and academic users, and will be used to identify current trends and challenges within these area studies.

 

The results and findings will be produced in two outputs that involve the following parallel activities.  

 

1.         The circulation of an electronic survey to all departments/faculties, researchers and research students to obtain information primarily on teaching activities and studies. This asks for the names of academic staff working on the region, with their country and research interests and selection of their publications, degree programmes on or relating to the region, and lists of PhD theses (completed and in-progress) on related topics. You may have already received this in the last month. If you have not yet received a letter inviting you to complete the survey we may have missed your details and would appreciate hearing from you (contact details: Christy Palmer, [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> ). 

This data will be entered into the Latin American and Caribbean Research Portal, known as 'the Handbook', which is hosted by the Institute for the Study of the Americas and can be viewed at http://handbook.americas.sas.ac.uk/ <http://handbook.americas.sas.ac.uk/> .  This is an online networking resource and database of UK expertise on Latin America and the Caribbean focusing on the humanities and social sciences.  It currently has information based on data collected in 2003. The data needs to be updated and a system is being established which will provide comprehensive information on academic offerings in relevant programmes.

2.        The dissemination of the attached surveys (one for academics, the other for postgraduates) which are being distributed via membership lists. This focuses on research and seeks to identify the various institutional configurations of those academics who focus on Latin America and Caribbean, their scholarly networks, collaborative relationships and publishing strategies.  

This will be incorporated into a report that has been commissioned by the British Academy, with a view to generating recommendations for future support of research and for presentation to, among other bodies, research councils.   

In order for this to capture the varied experiences of active researchers across the country, we need your inputs and would really appreciate it if you could take the estimated 15 minutes that are required to complete the survey and send it to Diana Pritchard ([log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> ). Dr Pritchard is preparing the report, under the guidance of the Latin American and Caribbean Panel. In addition, she will be requesting personal interviews with a selection of scholars from a sample of UK institutions in order to capture more detailed views and the range of experiences regarding the opportunities created by scholars and the obstacles they face. 

 


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