Being Human Festival 2021

Being Human is the UK’s only national festival of the humanities.

A celebration of humanities research through public engagement, it is led by the School of Advanced Study at the University of London, the UK’s national centre for the pursuit, support and promotion of research in the humanities. The festival works in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy to support humanities public engagement across the UK.

Every year we help researchers in the humanities – from literature and history, languages and philosophy, art history and classics, and more – produce enjoyable events for public audiences that emphasise working with local communities to share ideas for mutual benefit.

The festival asks, What are the humanities?

The festival defines the humanities broadly to encompass the subject areas traditionally associated with the study of the human world. This includes, for example, art history, archaeology, architecture, classics, cultural studies, history, film, languages, literature, musicology, philosophy, theatre studies, and religious studies.

The festival is not limited to humanities research but builds upon it, welcoming knowledge from all disciplines in addition to core study of the humanities. We celebrate humanities “plus” – social science, natural science, performing and fine arts, medicine, all areas of research can work with the humanities to enhance understanding.