Directory of Research and Expertise

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Research Summary and Profile

Research interests:

Communities, Classes, Races, Cultural memory, Culture, Digital resources, English Literature, History, Medieval History, Metropolitan history, Modern History

Research keywords:

medieval, history, literature, heritage, digital, place, story, coproduction, creative, public, generative AI

Summary of research interests and expertise:

Place and identity; medieval history, literature and culture; medievalism and uses of the past; heritage; place-making and management / interpretation of historic places; co-production, collaborative methods and creative practice; digital approaches

Publication Details

Related publications/articles:

Date	Details
01-May-2020	The St Thomas Way and the Medieval March of Wales: Exploring Place, Heritage, Pilgrimage Edited Book The St. Thomas Way is a new heritage route from Swansea to Hereford that invites visitors to step into the rich and complex history of the medieval March of Wales. This volume brings together studies and reflections by those involved in the project, explores the St. Thomas Way as a visitor experience, and offers new insights into commemoration, "sense of place," and pilgrimage today. This book is for readers interested in medieval cults of the saints and pilgrimage traditions, especially those of St. Thomas of Hereford; medieval and modern day pilgrimage; those with a professional interest in heritage, tourism, and regional development; and scholars interested in the process of developing research into public-facing projects and in the application of digital methods and tools in heritage contexts.
15-Mar-2019	Medieval Cityscapes Today Monographs This book explores medieval cityscapes within the modern urban environment, using place as a catalyst to forge connections between past and present, and investigating timely questions concerning theoretical approaches to medieval urban heritage, as well as the presentation and interpretation of that heritage for public audiences. Written by a specialist in literary and cultural history with substantial experience of multi-disciplinary research into medieval towns, Medieval Cityscapes Today teases out stories and strata of meaning from the urban landscape, bringing techniques of close reading to the material fabric of the city, as well as textual artefacts associated with it. Deriving from the author’s own experience in urban regeneration and heritage interpretation projects, case studies — such as the development of a public art installation at a medieval ruin site and the development of a pavement marker trail — provide ways into exploring broader questions about relationships between the medieval and modern city.

Additional Publications

Government/policy work:

Date	Details
2024	Promoting diversity and place attachment through place-based histories: hybrid material-digital infrastructures and the public realm Social and cultural infrastructure for people and policy: discussion papers | The British Academy (2024) Written with Jon Winder

Research Projects & Supervisions

Research projects:

Details
Invisible Worlds: Place-Making, Augmented Reality, and Alderley Edge Institute of Historical Research Project period: 01-May-2020 - 30-Jun-2023 Research interests: History
City Witness: Place and Perspective in Medieval Swansea Principal Investigator (2013-14) Funded by the AHRC
Creative Repurposing and Levelling Up: History, Heritage and Urban Renewal IHR project co-led with Matthew Bristow, and researchers Rachel Delman, Mark Liebenrood and Jon Winder, 2022
Discover Medieval Chester Principal Investigator (2012-13) Funded by the AHRC
Invisible Worlds: Place-making, Augmented Reality and Alderley Edge Co-Investigator (2020-22) Funded by the AHRC
Mapping Medieval Chester: Place and Perspective in an English Borderland City, c. 1200-1500 Principal Investigator (2008-09) Funded by the AHRC
The St Thomas Way: A New Heritage Route from Swansea to Hereford Principal Investigator (2017-18) Funded by the AHRC
Towns and the Cultural Economies of Recovery: A New Multi-disciplinary Mapping AHRC-funded research scoping study, 2021 (Co-Investigator).
Victoria County History of England Director (2019 -)

Available for doctoral supervision: Yes

Relevant Events

Related events:

Date	Details
08-Mar-2024	AI and Women on the Edge of the Archive (Paper at 23:15.) An invited talk at an event for International Women's Day 2024, hosted by the Society of Antiquaries, from the 'Beyond Notability' project.
01-Jun-2023	Absences, Ghosts, Ethics: Using AI to Re-Visit Gaps in the Historical Archive (Paper at 2:34). A conference on 'ChatGPT and Other Creative Rivals' hosted by the Institute of Philosophy, June 2023.
16-Mar-2022	Imagining Microplaces: Medieval to the Present York Medieval Public Lecture
26-May-2021	Making places: heritage, renewal and site-specific medievalism University of Southampton Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Culture, Reuter Lecture 2021
26-Apr-2021	Reading trauma in early medieval English texts University of Manchester Toller Memorial Lecture, 2021
16-Mar-2021	Sensing Place Heritage, Renewal and New Public Realms The Inaugural Lancaster University Castle Lecture
16-Sep-2020	What is Local History? Keynote Lecture, British Association for Local History AGM, 2020

Knowledge transfer activities:

Details
All history is local: Wilton, 1066, and the VCH past, present and future Lecture for the Victoria County History of Wiltshire at Wiltshire Museum (virtually).
Pilgrims and Phantoms: The St Thomas Way and the Medieval March of Wales F.C. Morgan Lecture, Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club, Hereford
Future History Workshop Public workshop for the Being Human Festival, 2021
BBC Radio Four Lost Worlds: pilot episode Advisor on research and expert consultants.
Future Maps workshop Public workshop for the Being Human Festival, 2021

Consultancy & Media

Available for consultancy:

Yes

Media experience:

Yes

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