This article provides a retrospective on the formation of the Engaged Humanities Lab at Royal Holloway, University of London. It sets the lab’s development within the broader history of labs in the humanities, setting out how the Engaged Humanities Lab aligns closely with Pawlicka-Deger’s description of “infrastructure of engagement” rather than the physical spaces that characterise science laboratories. We also explain why the sub-category of “engaged” humanities was selected over the broader and more established “public” humanities. The second half of the article provides reflections on the activities and achievements of the Engaged Humanities Lab, focusing on how intra-institution collaboration between an academic school and the Research and Innovation Department supported the formation and governance of the lab, allowing for ongoing dialogue and co-creation between subject area experts and research management professionals with expertise in research funding, policy, and knowledge exchange. This article also illuminates what is needed from university leaders to ensure the success and longevity of infrastructures of engagement like the Engaged Humanities Lab.

This introduction to the special issue “Performance, Projection, Provocation! Relational Creativity in Contemporary Japan” presents a history of group-based creative practice in Japan, from the amateur endeavors of sākuru (circles) to the professional creativity of international production companies. The special issue applies the concept of “relational creativity” to a series of case studies to better understand how creative practices shape relationships and other social forms, institutional and less institutional.

Multi-institutional scientific research projects are increasingly common. Nevertheless, regulations and guidelines do not yet adequately address which entity should assume responsibility for research misconduct proceedings in multi-institutional research. This article explores the challenges of determining jurisdictional roles in research misconduct matters in collaborative science and proposes the application of a “jurisdictional interests test” as a framework for determining jurisdiction in multi-institutional research misconduct proceedings.

This article explores the concept of partnerships in public humanities as both a process and a vital outcome. Drawing from experiences within a classroom environment, where university students and community members learned and engaged together, we identify three key precepts for sustaining effective community-university partnerships: centering human relationships, leveraging institutionalization, and redistributing risk. These strategies do not aim to avoid the challenges inherent in collaboration but rather use complexities as opportunities for deeper engagement. We argue that community-university partnerships should themselves be viewed as a valuable and meaningful form of public humanities.

E-commerce applications have significantly changed how people transact with each other. This includes digital advances that drive illegal wildlife trade. In Indonesia, the Conservation Act of 1990 was enacted before the internet revolution and does not, therefore, adequately cover online illegal wildlife trade. In this study we identified wildlife traded illegally through advertisements published by five large national e-commerce companies and one social media platform operating in Indonesia, using 39 keywords. We also analysed data on wildlife cybercrime court case outcomes, associated criminal networks and their modus operandi. Over 12 months, we found 996 advertisements for wildlife and wildlife products, including of 45 nationally protected species, from 421 accounts. Amongst the six platforms monitored, Facebook Marketplace had the highest illegal wildlife trade traffic. We found that those prosecuted for online illegal wildlife trade were given low sentences. Our analysis of wildlife legislation, focus group discussions and expert interviews showed that the Government of Indonesia Trade Law (2014) and Law on Electronic Information and Transactions (2008) cannot be used to prosecute online illegal wildlife trade cases because these laws do not acknowledge regulations for protected species. Our study emphasizes the urgency of revising the Conservation Act and changing the definition of trade to include advertisements of protected species. We recommend development of screening tools for advertisements and accounts on e-commerce platforms, review of community/user guidelines to prohibit trade of protected species, and strengthening the approach of combining multi-context laws with stakeholder cooperation to prosecute online illegal wildlife trade cases.

The Earth suffers from metabolic disorders. Disruptions in natural cycles, global warming, and species extinction lead to an indigestibility of being (Marder 2019), where the planet’s metabolism becomes increasingly dysfunctional, akin to the “clogged pores of existence” (Marder 2019). In his essay On Art as Planetary Metabolism, Marder proposes an intriguing remedy: art as a form of metabolism, capable of counteracting these global dysfunctions. In this work-based essay, we examine selected contemporary works from the fields of Eco Art, Bio Art, Bio Design, and Socially Engaged Art to explore how these, in the context of Marder’s theory, can metabolically counteract the dysfunctions of planet Earth. The starting point is the publication’s central question: “How can biotechnologies and biomaterials shape and sustain habitats in extreme and space environments?” We focus on planet Earth as an extreme environment based on the symptoms of the climate crisis. At the centre of the investigation is the thesis that art, as a field of experimentation, can unite scientific and sociological findings, envision alternative realities of life and stimulate sustainable social transformation processes. This gives rise to the following questions: How can artistic explorations of biomaterials and biotechnologies sustainably shape living spaces in extreme environments, such as planet Earth? What can art works teach us about global metabolism? How can they integrate past knowledge, react to the present and sensitise us to the future? Materially, aesthetically, technically and ethically. For the work-based essay, we have selected four works that are the subject of our respective research. Following Marder’s theory, we assume that the works contain metabolic aesthetic moments that can lead to a stimulation of the global metabolism. The following works will be analysed: Life (from the Protocells Triptych) (2022) by artist Shoshanah Dubiner; Internal Burial Suit (since 2008) by Jae Rhim Lee; Fermenting Futures (2022) by Anna Dumitriu and Alex May; and Return to Sender (2022) by Nest Collective. Following this sequence, we describe each work and connect analytical insights with theoretical perspectives to build upon Marder’s ideas. Our essay is positioned within the theoretical discourses from the humanities on post-anthropocentrism, new materialism, and ecocentrism. In response to the multiple crises of the Anthropocene, these discourses advocate for a decentred view of the human being, seeing it as an integral part of a connected environment. Matter is understood as vibrant, possessing ‘intrinsic vitality’, with particular emphasis on its self- organization and emergence (Witzgall 2014). Therefore, we place the following theoretical sources alongside our works: Donna Haraway’s work ‘Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene (2016), ‘Metamporphosis. Life has many forms. A Philosophy of Transformation’ (2020) by Emanuele Coccia and ‘Degrowth and the Arts’ (2022) by Daphne Dragona.

In this article, we reflect on our experiences co-producing a podcast about literary books mostly written by women of color. We describe how and why we started the podcast and how our podcast provides a model of skills that are key to doing humanities, and offer some practical advice about making podcasts.

It is not often that international collaborations are sustained for any significant period, let alone for three decades. However, despite relying on largely voluntary contributions of individuals within its member institutions, the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA) has not only been an example of sustained collaboration over 30 years but also an example of how an initially modest collaboration can grow and thrive. Current and former serving Chairs and secretariat of the Network have come together to review network documents and outputs and reflect on the history of INAHTA, since its inception in Paris in 1993. Building on the paper from Hailey et al 2009 that documented the growth of the network after 15 years, we have considered and documented the factors that we believe have helped sustain the network and enable it to flourish in the subsequent 15 years. We have also considered the various challenges experienced along the way, as these too can aid in making a collaboration stronger. Future directions for the network have also been contemplated, given the evolving nature of HTA and the regional collaborations that have recently emerged. We hope that by sharing the lessons learned from this living example of international global collaboration relationships between like-minded organizations can be similarly fostered and enhanced into sustainable collaborations, for the benefit of all.