What is Connected Knowledge?
Connected Knowledge is a way of describing what happens when skills, insights and expertise from across different disciplines, subjects and sectors come together – particularly those across SHAPE and STEM.
Isn’t that inter/trans/cross disciplinarity?
Yes, it’s the same thing. The stories we’ll share initially showcase connections between SHAPE and STEM – but Connected Knowledge is broader even than that. It can be used to refer to collaboration within SHAPE and with sector experts, practitioners, and a wide range of other people, too.
What is SHAPE?
SHAPE is a collective term for the Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts for People and the Economy – in short, the subjects that are all about understanding the human world. That covers a huge amount of knowledge about our world – from languages to philosophy and the history of art, to behavioural psychology, business studies and economics. The E has been used interchangeably by some to stand for the environment instead of the economy.
Why have an acronym at all?
After launching 30 years ago, the STEM shorthand has been incredibly successful at generating interest in, and support for, the sciences, technology, engineering and maths, and is used extensively particularly within education. We felt that we needed a comparable term for the arts, humanities and social sciences in order to paint a more complete picture of the types of knowledge that power our world. SHAPE is an inspiring word, more so than previous terms such as AHSS (Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences) or HASS (Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences). It shows our disciplines on a par with STEM in their full breadth, rather than shoe-horning one part in the middle such as STEAM (Sciences, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths).
Don’t some subjects cross both SHAPE and STEM?
Of course: geography, architecture and archaeology to name but a few. Through Connected Knowledge we hope to show that there are lots of natural links across STEM and SHAPE than we are often led to think.
Are you saying that STEM and SHAPE coming together is a new concept?
No! This goes back hundreds – possibly even thousands – of years.
Consider research which has shown the key role of graphic design, media and film in raising public awareness of the link between cigarette smoking and lung disease, alongside mounting scientific evidence in the mid-20th century. And the pioneering surgeon Joseph Lister, who identified how his classics degree, obtained before his medical training, formed a core element of his well-rounded approach to treating patients in Victorian England. Or Benjamin Franklin, a newspaper editor, politician, pioneer of demography, inventor and scientist who helped found the United States of America and whose experiments established the single-fluid theory of electricity, the most important scientific breakthrough of his era.
What we hope to do is celebrate modern-day examples of Connected Knowledge in action, to show how it shapes our collective understanding of our past and present – as well as shaping a brighter future.
Are these the only examples of Connected Knowledge?
Not at all. Over the coming months, we’ll showcase examples of Connected Knowledge in action across many aspects of society: from health and social care to the fight against climate change, and from heritage and AI.
The stories we will tell are just a small glimpse into what happens when STEM and SHAPE come together. We hope they’ll spark many more examples from across different research organisations and individuals to show the benefit of knowledge from across both STEM and SHAPE.
We hope people will get involved by sharing their own research stories on social media with the hashtag #ConnectedKnowledge.
Do you think SHAPE is more important than STEM?
No – both are equally as important. Connected Knowledge is about showing how impactful research and innovation rarely exists in a vacuum – rather, the most cutting-edge research often involves collaboration across different subjects, disciplines and sectors.
Does the British Academy fund research that can be defined as “Connected Knowledge”?
Yes, while we are the national academy for the humanities and social sciences we fund a wide range of research across disciplines – some of it in partnership with other funders and organisations. Our APEX Awards, Innovation Fellowships and Public Engagement Awards, for instance, support projects that bring together different types of expertise.
What do you hope to achieve from promoting Connected Knowledge?
By promoting the value of Connected Knowledge, we want to make the case for supporting and investing in all kinds of research across SHAPE and STEM disciplines. Only by harnessing and investing in both can we make the UK’s R&D sector world leading.
Are you calling for more funding into STEM research as well?
We believe there should be sustained investment in research, development and innovation across all SHAPE and STEM disciplines – only with funding for both can we hope to drive productivity, raise living standards and provide answers to the most pressing challenges of our time.