This project is the result of a series of conversations between the immediate project team (listed below) and colleagues from the wider Newcastle University and Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums. For more information about the project, please get in touch with either Professor Rhiannon Mason, or Dr Katie Markham, using the details below.

Professor Rhiannon Mason (Newcastle University and Project Lead)

Rhiannon Mason is Professor of Heritage and Cultural Studies and Head of the School of Arts and Cultures at Newcastle University and project lead on The Future of Civic Culture in the UK? Her research and teaching focus on questions of belonging, memory, and identity in relation to heritage. She has a particular interest in the public role of museums, as well as national identity and heritage.

Thomas Hopkin (Newcastle University)

Tom is a PhD student in the department of Media, Culture and Heritage at Newcastle University and is supported by the Northern Bridge Doctoral Training Partnership. His research is concerned with the marketisation of cultural policy and public contemporary art galleries. He is currently working with the Contemporary Visual Arts Network on a project that investigates what the ‘north’ means in the context of the visual arts.

Dr Katie Markham (Newcastle University) 

Katie is a Research Associate and Teaching Fellow in the department of Media, Culture and Heritage at Newcastle University. In her current role, she works closely with Professor Rhiannon Mason on a variety of projects, including the Future of Civic Culture in the UK and the EU-funded CoHERE project (lead by Professor Chris Whitehead and Dr Susannah Eckersley). Her own research interests are in the intersections between community heritage and tourism in post-conflict nations (particularly in Northern Ireland and South Africa) and she has written a number of articles and book chapters on this theme

Dr Bethany Rex (University of the Arts London) 

Bethany Rex is currently a research fellow at the Innovation Insights Hub, University of the Arts London, UK and a visiting research associate at Media, Culture and Heritage, Newcastle University, UK. Her research focuses on changes to the operation and function of local authority museums since the implementation of austerity policies and the negotiation of professional and institutional identity in this context.