Abstract

This study explored conceptually and empirically the ways in which thoseengaged with university-based arts and humanities research (researchers,managers, partners, beneficiaries) construct and respond to the challenges ofgenerating, interpreting, and demonstrating the cultural value of research.Cultural value is a contested concept, beset by philosophical, practical and polit-ical tensions. We argue that interpretations of value–cultural or otherwise–are part of complex ecologies of cultural life, creation and understanding, whileat the same time underpinning economies of description, prescription, inscrip-tion and ascription. Meaning, expression, narrative and practice, combined andrecombined in experience, are core themes in our participants’description ofthe arts and the humanities. However, more needs to be done across all levelsof the research governance system so that meaningful engagement is sustainedand narratives in cultural terms are not perceived as a risk in accountabilitycontexts.