‘The whole of history is about hopes being sustained, lost, renewed,’ wrote John Berger in reflecting on the life and work of the poet Nazim Hikmet. ‘And with new hopes come new theories.’ In 2021 the Humanities Research Centre is inviting scholars from across the world to explore the historical and contemporary significance of hopes sustained, lost, and renewed across theories, cultures, and scholarly disciplines.

While hope has been understood as virtuous, like faith and love, hope has also been seen as deceptive, the ambiguous contents of Pandora’s Box. Whether political, theological, or technological, one person’s hope may well be another person’s fear, especially in our increasingly diverse and febrile contemporary societies.

Through individual research projects, as well as public lectures and conferences, we invite scholars from across the humanities to ask: how has hope been expressed through literature, film, music, and the visual arts? How has the principle of hope informed philosophy, theology, and social and cultural theory? How have public institutions such as museums or universities sought to exhibit or embody hope? How have technologies of the past and present sought to materialise hope? Where should we place our hope today?

The Humanities Research Centre looks forward to welcoming scholars from across the world and across the disciplines as Visiting Fellows as we explore a topic that springs eternal.