'Building and Enriching Shared Heritages: A Toolkit for Community Organisations'
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leicester
Department Name: Sch of Historical Studies
Abstract
This project will help to realise the value and application of arts and humanities research skills to the development of the community and voluntary sector. Through devising and delivering face-to-face workshops and online training resources and mentoring the project will equip the HLF local groups to enhance their research projects. The project aims to build on the successful phase I project in which the University's public engagement strategy has led to a series of working relationships between the community and researchers to empower the groups to deliver their grants. In conjunction with this is the opportunity for further development of a stimulating local and regional research culture in which local community members and academic researchers can engage in dialogue about research findings in the fields of heritage and local history. The main aim of the project is thus to further develop relationships with the community and to exchange knowledge in both the skills needed to conduct historical research and the content of the projects carried out by the local community groups. Finally, the University of Leicester has a rich tradition of public engagement in its arts and humanities research. This award will facilitate the consolidation of existing outreach and community engagement work to complement the wider University drive to embed public engagement in its research strategy.
Planned Impact
The aims of the project are to empower local community groups through enhancing their research skills and to develop networks between and amongst local history and community heritage groups and University researchers. In doing so the University's public engagement capacities will be further developed. Furthermore this project will help to realise the value and application of arts and humanities research skills to the development of the community and voluntary sector.
The impact of each of these objectives will be demonstrated through the following short, medium, and long-term activities:
Short-Term: The award period will begin with the consolidation of existing researchers devising research training in history and archaeology. This will allow for knowledge exchange between different types of historical and archaeological researchers. The delivery of the workshops will have an immediate impact on the capabilities and capacity of the local heritage groups to conduct their research.
Medium-Term: Following on from the workshops the local community groups will also benefit from the online mentoring and site visits by the ECRs and members of the steering group. Further to this the podcasts from the workshops will also be uploaded and will thus be a consistent reference point for the groups.
Long-term: The online toolkits will be uploaded on to the project website to allow local community groups to access the training resources throughout their project. Furthermore, the University will work closely with the NCCPE and the HLF to manage the longer-term use of the resources. For example, the resources can be linked from the NCCPE and HLF websites to ensure that the work remains available for other community groups.
Throughout the project the dialogue between researchers and the local community groups concerning their project findings will lead to fruitful debate. Longer-term the potential for further co-produced and co-designed research bids will be enhanced through shared knowledge and through building up working relationships between the University and the community.
The impact of each of these objectives will be demonstrated through the following short, medium, and long-term activities:
Short-Term: The award period will begin with the consolidation of existing researchers devising research training in history and archaeology. This will allow for knowledge exchange between different types of historical and archaeological researchers. The delivery of the workshops will have an immediate impact on the capabilities and capacity of the local heritage groups to conduct their research.
Medium-Term: Following on from the workshops the local community groups will also benefit from the online mentoring and site visits by the ECRs and members of the steering group. Further to this the podcasts from the workshops will also be uploaded and will thus be a consistent reference point for the groups.
Long-term: The online toolkits will be uploaded on to the project website to allow local community groups to access the training resources throughout their project. Furthermore, the University will work closely with the NCCPE and the HLF to manage the longer-term use of the resources. For example, the resources can be linked from the NCCPE and HLF websites to ensure that the work remains available for other community groups.
Throughout the project the dialogue between researchers and the local community groups concerning their project findings will lead to fruitful debate. Longer-term the potential for further co-produced and co-designed research bids will be enhanced through shared knowledge and through building up working relationships between the University and the community.
Organisations
| Description | The project was not so much about our research as facilitating the research being conducted by community groups in receipt of HLF funding. In the process of the project we 'discovered' the following points: 1)the success of the HLF schemes, and notably All Our Stories, in funding community heritage projects has generated a very clear demand for the provision of training and support for local groups who want to undertake history related research. 2) that there are still strong barriers between the university and the wider community and projects such as this are essential in breaking these down, as well as essential for sharing research expertise. 3) that there is a particularly strong demand for training in oral history. This feeds into our strategy for the University's East Midlands Oral History Archive. 4) We learned about the importance of networks between the community groups: in the course of the project we have been amazed at how much the different groups have learnt from each other -- as well as from academics -- through the seminars and workshops and at the events held to report upon their own research. We had not predicted or expected the degree to which this would take place and it is a valuable experience to take forward to future projects. |
| Exploitation Route | The online resources that we have created can be downloaded by anybody and are already being used by other community groups. As a follow up to the project we produced a short film (which will be uploaded to the website when completed) in which participants discussed their experience of working with the university: this has some useful insights on what worked and what could be done better and also highlighted the importance of making it clear to the groups with which we work some of the constraints under which we operate as an institution (particularly with regard to library accesss for example). |
| Sectors | Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/history/outreach/besh |
| Description | Building and enriching shared heritages' consolidated and built upon existing relationships between the University and the wider community by exchanging knowledge in the skills needed to conduct historical research. Through workshops, online training resources and one-to-one mentoring we equipped 28 HLF local groups with the skills to enhance their research projects and gave them the capacity to deliver on the grants for which they were funded. Thus local history and community heritage groups were empowered through enhancing their research skills and developing their own networks with other groups and with University researchers. Workshops were demand led and topics covered ranged from provision of training in historical research skills and methods, to enhance the groups' capabilities and capacity to conduct research, to publishing a book. Following on from the workshops the groups were able to benefit from online mentoring and site visits by the ECRs and members of academic staff. A durable legacy for the project has been created with a website hosting podcasts and online toolkits, based on the workshops. A book has already been published by one of the community groups, facilitated by the support we were able to provide. Longer-term, the potential for further co-produced and co-designed research bids has been enhanced through shared knowledge and through building up working relationships between the University and the community. We ran 9 workshops, addressing a total of 23 different topics in 7 main areas, given by experts based in the University of Leicester. These were attended by a total of 57 people, a number of whom attended multiple workshops. One-to-one support was also provided online, over the phone and in person by the early career researchers and the workshop coordinator to different community groups. Site visits were made to Diseworth and Leicester Transport Heritage Group; assistance onsite at the local record office was provided for two groups ( Diseworth and Brightsparks) a guided tour of a former asylum was provided for Brightsparks. 32 online guides in 5 main areas have been written, covering everything from recruiting and managing volunteers, finding and interpreting sources to producing books and exhibitions. We also held 3 events at which the groups came together to report on and learn about the research of other participating groups. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2013 |
| Sector | Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Description | New legacies of heritage research:Experiments for understanding the outcomes, impacts and legacies of Connected Communities projects |
| Amount | £1,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Aberdeen |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2014 |
| End | 09/2014 |