North-Eastern Heritage Partnership

The aim of this project is to develop a series of workshops and masterclasses on a range of topics to help support and develop community-driven initiatives to research the history and heritage of the North-East of England. The topics of these sessions will include practical organisational matters (publication;archiving) and research skills (using historic archives; recording historic buildings; palaeography). A central element of this training will involve the chance to experience archaeological fieldwork as part of the University's major excavation project at Binchester Roman fort. The precise range of courses to be delivered will be assessed following a training needs analysis carried out as part of a dayschool held early in the project. These will be delivered by a range of university staff drawn from academic departments (Archaeology; History), and other sections of the University, including the University Museums and the Library Special Collections. The sessions will be held at both the main university campuses (Durham and Stockton), and other appropriate locations.

Local community groups will be particularly encouraged to utlise the wide range of archives and resources held by Durham University. These include the local studies collection held by the library, as well as the extensive collection of archives, including documents, maps and photographs. Other resources include archaeological equipment available for use by local groups, as well as regionally significant museum collections. The programme of workshops will be supplemented by a website providing additional material, as well as hosting a wiki and blog to encourage collaborative work between the University and the Community. The project will conclude with a second day-meeting which will provide the participants to meet with Durham academics and other local groups in exploring ways further collaborative research projects might eb developed in the future.

This project is intended to build on the extensive existing community heritage engagement activities being carried out across the University, building on existing partnerships with local groups including the Durham Local History Society and the Architectural and Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland.

Pathways to Impact

This project is predicated on the notion that heritage research carried out in Durham and the Universities research resources are able to make a valuable contribution towards the interest and knowledge in the local heritage in the wider community.

The project intends to role out a series of training events which will allow local community groups to become skilled in history/archaeology research, developing and enhancing regional capacity in the study of the historic environment.

In addition to upskilling the existing third sector research community, it is also anticipated that through the processes of attending the workshops, the dayschools and via the website, that valuable synergies will be developed between the Univerity and partner community organisations. It is hoped that this will allow new research projects to be developed which incorporate both university and community engagement and are structured on the notion of co-enquiry.

For further details see the Case for Support