NEW CHALLENGES IN RESEARCH ON CULTURE: Research priorities in the cultural field of the EU

Abstract

The aim of this article is to identify the priorities of research on culture in the early 21st century within the framework of the European Union (EU). In order to do so, we have extracted the priorities of European programmes and public policy from the main political documents dealing with culture. The EU’s funding opportunities have then been identified by analysing the European programmes which provide funds for research on culture and some examples of projects which are already being funded by the EU are also provided. The analysis of both kinds of bibliographic sources makes it possible to deduce what challenges researchers face in the field of culture in the EU. The results of this compared analysis show that new thematic areas form fields of culture in which there are some research niches. Although this article will focus on these new thematic areas, the analysis shows that internalisation and networking, as well as knowledge transfer, are also among the main research priorities according to the main political documents. Consequently, research projects tackling these issues are expected to become of key importance for researchers and will be more likely to find funding through EU programmes in the coming years.