In the run-up to the Third Research Assessment Exercise, individuals and departments in Arts and Social Sciences are making decisions that will vitally affect the future direction and prospects of research in their disciplines. The Conference offers the chance to take a creative overview of an academic landscape transformed by the expansion of higher education, the tightening application of selective funding policies, and the reorganisation of the research councils. Workshops will focus on key issues of principle and practical solutions. How can excellence by sustained and promoted in an underfunded system? How can research resources and opportunities be spread fairly and effectively across institutions and regions? How can the national reputation for research-led teaching be maintained? And how, within the politics of wealth creation, are we to construe our own academic values?