After an uncertain year, it is a real joy to be able to confirm the return of the ESRC Festival of Social Science.

The official ESRC Festival runs throughout the whole of November 2021, but the Greater Manchester Hub (UoM, MMU, and Salford Uni) will be running from 1^st – 21^st November 2021.

Last year was the first time the Festival had been hosted entirely online, and 2021 will be another ‘first’ for the Festival as it is the first time that the ESRC are welcoming both online and in-person event proposals.

The team behind the University of Manchester’s Festival of Social Science 2021 (FoSS21) is:

• Professor Dimitris Papadimitriou: Academic Lead
• Hannah Clark (ESRC IAA Manager): Festival Organiser
• Sophie Theis (External Relations, SoSS): Festival Communications Coordinator

The 2020 event ‘Teenage Kicks’ was an online exhibition sharing the stories of five teenage girls growing up in the swinging sixties.

Having organised the FoSS20, the team have definitely earned their stripes and hope that once again the festival will be able to engage the public in a variety of exciting and engaging events and displays.

Dimitris said: “The opportunity to offer a blend of online and face-to-face events is going to be key this year. Inclusive participation has always been at the heart of the Festival, and this blended approach to delivering it will hopefully ensure that there really is something for everyone.”

The events from 2020 can be seen at: www.esrcmanchesterfest.ac.uk.

This Music and Wellbeing Workshop was hosted in 2020 via Facebook. Guest speakers included Mark Radcliffe, University of Manchester alumnus and radio broadcaster.

Another first for FoSS21 is that the ESRC has asked for 40% of the Festival programme to be events that relate to the environment or climate change. This is because the Festival will run in tandem with COP26 and at this critical time for the global climate crisis, the ESRC feel it is important to show solidarity.

For that reason some priority will be given to applications that focus on environmental issues, but there is no expectation that all applications should. We still want to achieve a balanced programme of events that showcases the breadth of our university’s incredible social science research.

How to apply

Applications are open from 9^th June – 9^th July 2021 and all staff and PhD students at the University of Manchester are welcome to apply. Funding for events is available up to a value of £1000.

For more information and to download and application form visit: ESRC festival | School of Social Sciences | StaffNet | The University of Manchester.

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