Title: Building Resilience Through Heritage in the UK: Connecting Refugee, Asylum and Host communities in Yorkshire
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bradford
Department Name: Faculty of Life Sciences
Abstract
The aim of this project is to successfully extend the use of heritage based virtual, augmented, and mixed reality (VR/AR/XR) presentation in community based activities to improve wellbeing and community cohesion. Individuals and communities are invited to share their rich and diverse heritage through personalised VR/AR/XR experiences and through sharing of more traditional heritage (e.g. music, food, dance). This sharing provides a gateway into communication and understanding within and between diverse individuals and groups.
This project translates prior international GCRF work, following-on from the AHRC 'BreaTHe project' in Jordan (AH/S005951/1), where digital heritage was explored using virtual reality in the Azraq refugee camp and Azraq township. That project invited refugees to come to workshops where they talked about heritage they valued and requested activities that would be useful in conveying it to other members of their new community and to family members. Parents were able to show children the cities that they are from and allow them to visit parts of those cities using virtual reality. Community members were able to share these experiences with sub-cultural groups to build mutual understanding and respect. This prior work succeeding in improving overall wellbeing in the camp and community spirit within the township see https://results2021.ref.ac.uk/impact/ece04e7d-0df5-4955-a4a7-b25168231a23?page=1) and Evans, A.A. et al. (2020). Virtual Heritage for Resilience Building. Published project poster. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3950360
The UK hosts a broad range of refugee and asylum seeking communities who can suffer from identity issues, lack a sense of place, and face challenges of social integration. These communities and individuals are located within new communities who themselves need support to understand and help integration occur with positive outcomes.
This project is in partnership with refugee support agencies in the Yorkshire region (Horton Housing, Bradford City of Sanctuary) and colleges (Shipley 6th Form College, Bradford College) with whom the project team will work to invite displaced community members and host community members to a series of workshops.
Activities of the project are focused around public facing 'community workshops' where a three step programme is followed. The first step is introducing those that attend to a virtual reality showcase and explain the idea. Time is given between this activity and the next for attendees to consider what they value and would like to share. At the second step attendees begin sharing their heritage and values as they brainstorm together on what variety of heritage based VR/AR/XR experiences they would like to present as part of a heritage showcase. The third stage is the main event, a cultural heritage festival, where these experiences (that have in the interim been created by the project team) are presented along with other modes of heritage sharing - e.g. food, photography, dress, and dance.
Carrying out this work in the UK will have a positive impact on society and will extend our knowledge base of practice of leveraging heritage research in wellbeing contexts. The research will be conducted in an evaluation framework that will allow it to be presented as a replicable program of work for further use national and international settings.
This project translates prior international GCRF work, following-on from the AHRC 'BreaTHe project' in Jordan (AH/S005951/1), where digital heritage was explored using virtual reality in the Azraq refugee camp and Azraq township. That project invited refugees to come to workshops where they talked about heritage they valued and requested activities that would be useful in conveying it to other members of their new community and to family members. Parents were able to show children the cities that they are from and allow them to visit parts of those cities using virtual reality. Community members were able to share these experiences with sub-cultural groups to build mutual understanding and respect. This prior work succeeding in improving overall wellbeing in the camp and community spirit within the township see https://results2021.ref.ac.uk/impact/ece04e7d-0df5-4955-a4a7-b25168231a23?page=1) and Evans, A.A. et al. (2020). Virtual Heritage for Resilience Building. Published project poster. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3950360
The UK hosts a broad range of refugee and asylum seeking communities who can suffer from identity issues, lack a sense of place, and face challenges of social integration. These communities and individuals are located within new communities who themselves need support to understand and help integration occur with positive outcomes.
This project is in partnership with refugee support agencies in the Yorkshire region (Horton Housing, Bradford City of Sanctuary) and colleges (Shipley 6th Form College, Bradford College) with whom the project team will work to invite displaced community members and host community members to a series of workshops.
Activities of the project are focused around public facing 'community workshops' where a three step programme is followed. The first step is introducing those that attend to a virtual reality showcase and explain the idea. Time is given between this activity and the next for attendees to consider what they value and would like to share. At the second step attendees begin sharing their heritage and values as they brainstorm together on what variety of heritage based VR/AR/XR experiences they would like to present as part of a heritage showcase. The third stage is the main event, a cultural heritage festival, where these experiences (that have in the interim been created by the project team) are presented along with other modes of heritage sharing - e.g. food, photography, dress, and dance.
Carrying out this work in the UK will have a positive impact on society and will extend our knowledge base of practice of leveraging heritage research in wellbeing contexts. The research will be conducted in an evaluation framework that will allow it to be presented as a replicable program of work for further use national and international settings.
| Description | The project evaluated the idea of using digital heritage, through virtual and mixed reality, as a initiation and central aspect of community workshops to build relationships between families and within families, particularly focused on the refugee community. The project work has had a positive impact on communities and had improved communication mechanisms between governance and community members. This has demonstrated a valuable contribution digital heritage can make to society and has led to the creation of similarly focused research. |
| Exploitation Route | The concept of using digital heritage as a conversational point, starter, and communication mechanism can be used by others in creating workshops and outputs that can directly support individuals and communities. |
| Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Communities and Social Services/Policy Creative Economy Education Leisure Activities including Sports Recreation and Tourism Culture Heritage Museums and Collections Security and Diplomacy |
| Description | This project has had an impact on the public in Jordan but in adaptation is showing success in engaging with displaced populations in the UK through associated engagement work with Bradford City of Sanctuary, BIASAN and and hosting activities in Bradford through the Unify festival. This project has resulted in the nucleation of a new research area as the collaborative team recognise the applicability of the approach developed in this project to a wide range of areas. This has resulted in the team discussing rolling this method out in other settings including in the UK and exploring how this research can be evaluated as a methodology in setting closer to those that are clinical in approach. |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural Societal |