Liverpool University and Museums Review Joint Projects
The University of Liverpool and National Museums Liverpool (NML) have held a sharing event to review an 18-month programme of joint projects, paid for by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Impact Accelerator Account.
Researchers, curators and partnership leads from both organisations took part. They shared what the projects had achieved and named practical priorities for future research. The event helped shape the next phase of the partnership.
Three projects
Dr Alan Greaves and doctoral researcher Charlotte Bell, both from Archaeology, led "Digitising the Past: A Northern Partnership for Romano-British Women's Heritage". It brought together small museums and community partners across the North of England to build a network, and laid the groundwork for a £250,000 National Lottery Heritage Fund bid.
A second project added music to House of Memories, the NML's dementia awareness programme. Professor Lisa Shaw, Professor Sara Cohen, Dr Jacqueline Waldock, Dr Richard Smith and Louise Bruton, archivist for the university's Institute of Popular Music, co-created playlists and a music-led activity toolkit. The resource was built to support older people from Merseyside's Chilean and Yemeni communities, and their carers.
In the third, Dr Beatriz Marín-Aguilera worked with Meghan Backhouse, Lead Curator for Global Collections at NML, and her team at the World Museum. The aim was to bring Indigenous perspectives into curatorial and research practice around the museum's Circum-Caribbean collections. The project connected with Indigenous communities, their descendants and UK residents from Latin America and the Caribbean.
Professor Alison Fell, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Head of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, said the programme "demonstrates the value of investing in early-stage ideas that have the potential to grow into significant research and cultural initiatives".
Laura Pye, Director of National Museums Liverpool, said the partnership brings together academic research and museum expertise to "explore new ideas, share knowledge and create meaningful opportunities for collaboration".
The two institutions formalised their partnership with a Memorandum of Understanding in 2019 and renewed it in 2025.
Source: University of Liverpool