Reaching out across the pond

AHRC CEO Rick Rylance (left) and Richard Kurin, Smithsonian Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture.

The Smithsonian and the Arts & Humanities Research Council have signed an agreement to make it easier for postdoctoral scholars from the United Kingdom to become Smithsonian Fellows.

The Smithsonian, funded with a bequest from Englishman James Smithson in 1846, is the largest museum and research complex in the world. The Arts & Humanities Research Council is one of seven research councils in the United Kingdom. It provides approximately £102 million each year ($158 million) to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed August 20 by Smithsonian Under Secretary for History, Art, and Culture Richard Kurin and AHRC chief executive Rick Rylance. Kurin noted Smithsonian’s deep British roots and and said the agreement is an opportunity to increase research in the arts and humanities, “We are pleased to be a part of this collaboration.”  Rylance agreed, saying that AHRC fellows are global scholars, eager to explore the vast resources of the Smithsonian.

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