Royal Society embraces the Humanity

10 December 2009
 

Royal Society of New Zealand embraces the Humanities

From January 2010 the Royal Society of New Zealand, which promotes science and technology, will also be incorporating the humanities in its work.

A memorandum of understanding has been signed between the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Aparangi and Te Whainga Aronui The Council for the Humanities and takes effect from the New Year.

This means disciplines such as English, history, languages, religion, philosophy, literature and law will now also come under the Royal Society of New Zealand banner.

Royal Society of New Zealand President Dr Garth Carnaby says this is a landmark decision for both organisations.

“For the first time there will be an organisation in New Zealand that promotes excellence in research and scholarship across all the disciplines and areas of knowledge.”

Under the move, the Council for the Humanities becomes a committee of the Royal Society of New Zealand, and its Fellows join the ranks of the Academy of the Royal Society of New Zealand, boosting the total number of Fellows to 372.

The President of the Council for the Humanities, Professor Ken Strongman, says the move to incorporate the humanities is in line with countries like Scotland, Canada and Ireland which also have academies of scholars across a range of disciplines.

“We are looking forward to the opportunities it presents for encouraging wide-ranging discussion across many different areas of expertise.”

Professor Strongman is also a vice-president of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

The Royal Society of New Zealand has been operating as the national academy of scientists and technologists since 1867.

This week the Society is calling for nominations for 2010 for Fellows in the humanities in addition to the other science and technology disciplines it already covers.

ENDS

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