Tender for Cultural Heritage and Climate Change Portfolio Consultantion
Lead Research Organisation:
Queen Mary University of London
Department Name: Drama
Abstract
How can we produce research that makes cultural voices an essential part of climate planning for the future?
The research produced by the original AHRC/DCMS cohort of nine grants awarded in 2020 has shown that culture needs to be at the heart of climate solutions. Nine collaborative research projects have demonstrated the diverse and disparate ways in which cultural heritage - both tangible and intangible - interconnects sites, rituals, customs, communities and buildings with the natural environment. They have also shown the value of the arts as a means by which humans produce emotional, sensual and social responses within creative industries that build economies which sustain people, places and environments.
In this proposed research consultancy, we will explore how learning from the Cultural Heritage and Climate Change Portfolio can address important gaps in understanding the planning for and adaptation to climate change. Approaches and methodologies that have emerged from within the current Portfolio will be important to sustain and build the impact of cultural heritage research on current and future climate change debates: Global North/South collaborations; learning from and working with the most vulnerable humans; inclusion of Indigenous researchers and research methods; identification of the interdependencies of tangible/non-tangible cultural heritage with climate, nature and justice; commitment to strengthening the global response to climate change by increasing the technical ability of all (policy makers, educators, researchers, cultural heritage organisations, local communities, artists) to adapt and build resilience, and reduce vulnerability; a sharp focus on the necessity to make change happen.
The overall aim of this research consultancy is to provide AHRC and DCMS with recommendations about how the current/expanded portfolio can increase the value and impact of research on cultural heritage within climate planning for the future, by identifying emerging research areas to inform future strategy and advising on the potential shape and structure of future funding opportunities.
We will achieve this through pursuing the following objectives:
- Investigate the potential of the portfolio - (a) Assess the impacts of existing projects (within the cohort of nine grants but also beyond in the wider AHRC portfolio of responsive and thematic modes projects); (b) Identify emerging and under-researched areas (geopolitical areas as well as different aesthetic forms and socio-historic structures of tangible and non-tangible cultural heritage)
- Identify relevant policy areas that cultural heritage and climate change research can address including: Areas of Research Interest (ARIs), Priority areas for Government Departments as well as relevant All Party Parliamentary Groups and contribution to the agenda of future COPs.
- Indicate key social challenges that need to be researched in relation to climate change and cultural heritage in the UK/internationally (e.g. mental and physical health; migration; food security etc.)
- Propose next steps for AHRC/DCMS to take on the strategic responsibility to bring research on Cultural Heritage into the mainstream of climate planning and solutions.
The research produced by the original AHRC/DCMS cohort of nine grants awarded in 2020 has shown that culture needs to be at the heart of climate solutions. Nine collaborative research projects have demonstrated the diverse and disparate ways in which cultural heritage - both tangible and intangible - interconnects sites, rituals, customs, communities and buildings with the natural environment. They have also shown the value of the arts as a means by which humans produce emotional, sensual and social responses within creative industries that build economies which sustain people, places and environments.
In this proposed research consultancy, we will explore how learning from the Cultural Heritage and Climate Change Portfolio can address important gaps in understanding the planning for and adaptation to climate change. Approaches and methodologies that have emerged from within the current Portfolio will be important to sustain and build the impact of cultural heritage research on current and future climate change debates: Global North/South collaborations; learning from and working with the most vulnerable humans; inclusion of Indigenous researchers and research methods; identification of the interdependencies of tangible/non-tangible cultural heritage with climate, nature and justice; commitment to strengthening the global response to climate change by increasing the technical ability of all (policy makers, educators, researchers, cultural heritage organisations, local communities, artists) to adapt and build resilience, and reduce vulnerability; a sharp focus on the necessity to make change happen.
The overall aim of this research consultancy is to provide AHRC and DCMS with recommendations about how the current/expanded portfolio can increase the value and impact of research on cultural heritage within climate planning for the future, by identifying emerging research areas to inform future strategy and advising on the potential shape and structure of future funding opportunities.
We will achieve this through pursuing the following objectives:
- Investigate the potential of the portfolio - (a) Assess the impacts of existing projects (within the cohort of nine grants but also beyond in the wider AHRC portfolio of responsive and thematic modes projects); (b) Identify emerging and under-researched areas (geopolitical areas as well as different aesthetic forms and socio-historic structures of tangible and non-tangible cultural heritage)
- Identify relevant policy areas that cultural heritage and climate change research can address including: Areas of Research Interest (ARIs), Priority areas for Government Departments as well as relevant All Party Parliamentary Groups and contribution to the agenda of future COPs.
- Indicate key social challenges that need to be researched in relation to climate change and cultural heritage in the UK/internationally (e.g. mental and physical health; migration; food security etc.)
- Propose next steps for AHRC/DCMS to take on the strategic responsibility to bring research on Cultural Heritage into the mainstream of climate planning and solutions.
Publications
Poppy Spowage
(2023)
Future Directions for AHRC-DCMS Cultural Heritage and Climate Change Research
| Description | This research marked a moment of reflection: over four months the team at People's Palace Projects (PPP) explored with academics, artists, activists and cultural heritage stakeholders potential future directions for AHRC and DCMS's Cultural Heritage and Climate Change Programme. The research culminated in a set of recommendations to AHRC and DCMS on what the next phase of the programme might focus on, through identifying emerging research areas, exploring how the portfolio can enhance the value and impact of research on cultural heritage in climate planning and advising the potential format and structure of future funding opportunities. An urgent need to align, coordinate and effectively disseminate research in this field became clear. As outlined by HE Sheik Salem bin Khalid Al Qassimi (Minister of Culture and Youth, UAE) and HE Margareth Menezes (Minister of Culture, Brazil) in a joint op-ed on Culture-based Climate Action at COP28: 'The escalating climate crisis is rapidly evolving into a cultural emergency that threatens some of the world's most valued heritage sites. But leveraging cultural diversity can also play a pivotal role in mitigating and adapting to climate change, unlocking innovative strategies, and promoting inclusivity (Al Qassimi & Menezes, 2023). This research will help maximise the impact of UK arts and humanities research, and ensure it supports cultural heritage and cultural voices to play an essential role in climate planning for the future. Summary of key findings/recommendations: Themes, Contexts and Geographical Reach #1: Expand scope of future call(s) to explicitly consider the ways in which tangible and intangible cultural heritage can also build resilience and contribute to climate action. #2: Encourage interdisciplinary collaborations in all future funding calls. #3: Encourage - and support - research that is co-designed and co-produced with the cultural heritage sector. #4: Seek geographical diversity of cohort, but don't underestimate the challenge - and the necessary investment - of making disparate voices and places coherent. Methodologies and Approaches: Co-creation and equitable partnerships #5: Provide a transparent, long-term vision for UK cultural heritage and climate research to support more impactful and long-term interventions, teamed with application/project cycles that support collaboration with partners. #6: Increase dialogue and training between funders, academics and research managers to align expectations and support effective and appropriate grant administration, particularly with international partners. #7: Maintain the flexibility of the programme; provide a key point of contact for researchers; keep a focus on diversity and inclusivity within research teams. #8: Reposition the centre of the research away from Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) to local communities: structure funding calls to include scoping visits, sustainability and network building, early and robust stakeholder mapping/engagement; and embedding Community Co-Investigators (Co-Is) into the programme. #9: Re-centre traditional knowledge, recognising its material value in devising post-carbon futures alongside the devastating injustices experienced by Indigenous peoples. Outputs and Impact: Public and Policy Engagement #10: Move beyond mapping: focus on the impact rather than the output of AHRC/DCMS funded research. #11: Incentivise risk-taking in future calls, investing in the discovery of creative and affective ways to tackle climate issues, and valuing the process alongside potential outputs. #12: Set big research questions so that the aims, objectives and outputs of research simultaneously serve academic institutions, policy makers and communities. #13: Encourage and support projects that have a focus on long term impact from the outset. #14: Coordinate AHRC/DCMS research in cultural heritage and climate change to support dissemination, wider stakeholder engagement and policy impact. #15: Ensure that DCMS/AHRC research on cultural heritage and climate change has a prominent role in COP30 (2025). #16: Continue to build on the cohort model, establishing a Research Observatory on Cultural Heritage and the Climate Crisis. |
| Exploitation Route | These findings/recommendations are being taken forward by AHRC-DCMS who have incorporated them into the next funding call, which will be published in April 2024. The funding call will be accompanied by the launch of a website presenting all research projects that have been part of the portfolio to date, and the next cohort will participate in a policy-research engagement and capacity building programme alongside selected research projects. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Environment Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
| Description | All work in the current AHRC-DCMS cultural heritage and climate change portfolio is undertaken with international research teams, community partners, artists and activists predominantly from the global majority. This research and its findings looks to demonstrably influence the ways non-academic partners engage with research initiatives, how their knowledge is valued and represented within research, whilst ensuring that the process of undertaking research with academics (local and international) also benefits the communities that the work is focused on. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2024 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Environment,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural Societal Policy & public services |
| Description | Recommendations to inform new funding call including a policy-research engagement programme |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Description | Additional Funding, Research Grant, Follow-on Funding Impact & Eng |
| Amount | £5,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | AH/Y001966/1 |
| Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2024 |
| End | 04/2024 |
| Description | Queen Mary ISPF Institutional Support Grant (ODA) Rapid Response Call - Extend |
| Amount | £14,981 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Queen Mary University of London |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2024 |
| End | 03/2024 |
| Title | Qualitative Interviews with Cultural Heritage and Climate Change Sector Stakeholders |
| Description | Undertook 45 qualitative interviews via zoom with cultural heritage and climate change sector stakeholders, participants included: Alison Tickell (Founder and CEO of Julie's Bicycle), Bryony Butland (Director of Research and Innovation at QMUL), Ed McGovern (Programme Lead - Climate at Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation), Ferdinand Saumarez (Project Developer and Curator at Factum Foundation), Inua Ellams (Nigerian-born British poet, playwright and performer), Jurema Machado (Consultant in heritage and cultural policies and former president of the Brazilian National Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage), Kate McGrath (Director and CEO at Fuel Theatre), Leandro Valiati (Senior Lecturer and Programme Director in Creative and Cultural Industries at the University of Manchester), Louisa Hrabowy (Programme Lead - Culture at Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation), Luana Campos (Executive Secretary at International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) , (Brazil)), Murilo Yudjá - Juruna Indigenous community (Member of Slow Food Brazil), Nick Merriman (Director of the Horniman Museum and Gardens), Pedro Ferreira (Research and Programme Consultant at United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)), Richard Couldrey (Programme Manager at Transition Network), Shoubhik Bandopadhyay (Head of Programme - Arts at Paul Hamlyn Foundation) and Tim Bell (Senior Producer at Complicitè). |
| Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
| Year Produced | 2023 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | These qualitative interviews created data that was used in the research to inform 16 recommendations, report and executive summary as part of the consultation. |
| Description | Research-Policy Connections |
| Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | After successfully securing a tender supported by DCMS and AHRC, we have been working closely with partners AHRC to shape the future directions of their cultural heritage and climate change portfolio, following a report of recommendations this collaboration includes developing a new website to enhance communication about the cohort of projects the programme currently supports, and designing a policy-research engagement programme to sit alongside the next highlight notice advertised by Arts and Humanities Research Council. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Arts and Humanities Research Council have contributed funding for this programme, we also collaborated on facilitating a 2-day workshop in Manchester for representatives from the previous grant cohort, DCMS and British Council which informed some of the research and recommendations we are now collaborating on. |
| Impact | Report of Recommendations; Executive Summary; Website; 2024 Grant Programme. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Research-Policy Connections |
| Organisation | Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | After successfully securing a tender supported by DCMS and AHRC, we have been working closely with partners DCMS to shape the future directions of their cultural heritage and climate change portfolio, following a report of recommendations this collaboration includes developing a new website to enhance communication about the cohort of projects the programme currently supports, and designing a policy-research engagement programme to sit alongside the next highlight notice advertised by Arts and Humanities Research Council. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The Department of Culture Media and Sport have contributed funding for this programme, representatives also attended a 2-day workshop in Manchester which informed some of the research and recommendations we are now collaborating on. |
| Impact | Report of Recommendations; Executive Summary; Website; 2024 Grant Programme. |
| Start Year | 2023 |
| Description | Research and Scoping Visit to Belém in the Amazon Legal |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Building on the original research commissioned by the AHRC/DCMS, in March 2024, the research team organised a partnership development and scoping visit to Bélem in the Amazon Legal, to support the development of a programme to extend cultural heritage and climate change research in the lead-up to COP30 in Belém (Brazil) [November 2025]. The original research brought together academics/artists/activists/cultural heritage stakeholders in the Brazilian Iron Quadrangle and identified an urgent need to build capacity in the cultural sector, engage the public, and coordinate and disseminate research findings. The recommendations from PPP's DCMS/AHRC-commissioned report (2023) will inform a new funding programme to be launched in April 2024 and in preparation this engagement scoping visit was undertaken to establish new partnerships with HEIs, Indigenous activists and cultural institutions in one or more of Brazil's 9 Amazonian states ahead of COP30. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Talk for British Council's EUNIC delegation on Future Directions for UK Cultural Heritage and Climate Change Research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | This was a discussing for representatives from British Council's Global Research and Insights Team, Cultural Heritage Protection Fund and attendees participating in the EUNIC delegation, which included head of the Maltese and Ukrainian Arts Council's. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Talk for QMUL's Policy Associates on Future Directions for UK Cultural Heritage and Climate Change Research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Presentation for QMUL's Policy Associates on People's Palace Projects research and programme of work with the AHRC-DCMS on the future directions of UK cultural heritage and climate change research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Workshop Exploring AHRC-DCMS Cultural Heritage and Climate Change Portfolio |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Research team facilitated a workshop exploring research teams experiences of being part of AHRC-DCMS's Cultural Heritage and Climate Change portfolio. It also included explorations of potential future directions for UK research in this area and offered an opportunity for other research teams to present their research to policy-makers from DCMS and British Council. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |