Welcome to The British Institute of Humour

The British Institute of Humour is the UK's first dedicated Research Institute for interdisciplinary work in humour and comedy. As well as highlighting current work in the field being carried out by University of Surrey faculty and students, the Institute will become the central point of contact for a wider internatonal network of academics, scholars, practitioners and performers. The British Institute of Humour website will work to keep you up-to-date with the ongoing work of the Institute and its projects, as well as with details of unmissable events being hosted at Surrey and further afield.

Aims of the Institute

• To bring together academics, researchers and students working in areas of humour and comedy across the humanities and social sciences.
• To host a range of seminars, symposia, workshops and conferences that showcase the best of current research in the field.
• To encourage closer links between disciplines and researchers, and to promote collaborative projects between scholars.

An exciting future aim of the Institute will be to move towards the development of a dedicated e-Journal of Humour Studies. Watch this space for more details ...

Work of the Institute

As part of its primary aim to disseminate the best work in studies of humour and comedy, the Institute will be hosting a range of events throughout the academic year. A fortnightly seminar series will introduce the work of invited speakers, and excerpts of these diverse papers will be available to hear again on the website.

The Institute will also facilitate active collaboration between researchers through themed symposia, workshops and the introduction of an annual conference. It is hoped that these events will bring together the growing body of work in Humour Studies emerging in areas as diverse as literature, performance studies, visual culture, psychology, philosophy, sociology ... and many more besides.