DHeritage Invites Applications for September 2021

DHeritage is a unique professional doctorate in heritage, hosted by the School of Humanities with the School of Creative Arts at the University of Hertfordshire. Now entering its eight year, DHeritage provides an academic context for heritage professionals, whether in the private or the public sectors, in planning, museums, archives, community history, archaeology, and social and cultural sustainability, among other fields

Typically, DHeritage students will have been working in the heritage field, broadly defined, for a minimum of five years and often much longer, 12-20 years. So, in addition to providing each student with a supervisory team of two and sometimes three expert supervisors, we also provide a suite of training workshops on campus to facilitate a return to higher education and ensure a cohort learning experience. The bespoke DHeritage workshops are supported by the Doctoral College events and particularly the Researcher Development Programme, which delivers a series of 70+ research skills training sessions for doctoral students across the University.

DHeritage is unique:

• It is currently the only professional doctorate in heritage of which we are aware
• We provides a cohort experience through bespoke training workshops
• DHeritage is distinctively interdisciplinary; the programme is housed in the School of Humanities with the School of Creative Arts and we draw on staff expertise from across the University
• Students benefit from the University’s excellent Heritage Hub and UHArts, our multi-disciplinary arts and culture programme for the region
• DHeritage is available as a part-time programme intended for completion over 6 years to fit around students’ professional work, but it can be completed in 4+ years depending on successful progression assessments
• In addition to a dissertation, students submit a portfolio which can take a number of forms, from a series of published works, an exhibition and catalogue, a documentary film, a policy briefing, code of practice, or a teaching pack, among others
• DHeritage is offered as a campus degree and as a distance learning degree. All students are provided with an online managed learning environment and online equivalents to the campus-based bespoke DHeritage workshops.

The University of Hertfordshire is based in Hatfield, Herts, 25 minutes by train from London and with good rail and road links across the country. The campus is within easy reach of both Luton and Stansted airports.

Fees and Funding

Fees for the DHeritage are published on the University’s website here with options for UK students and overseas students.

For September 2021 entry, DHeritage is able to offer a competitive fees-only bursary and study allowance. The bursary provides fees funding for six years, subject to successfully completing the standard registration and doctoral progression assessments. Please indicate in your application if you wish to be considered for the fees-only bursary.

Next Steps

• Discover more about DHeritage on our webpage https://www.herts.ac.uk/courses/doctorate-in-heritage where you can also access our Programme information sheet

• Learn how to apply here and download the application form

• Contact Doctoral College Admissions with questions doctoralcollegeadmissions@herts.ac.uk

• Discuss your research proposal with the Programme Director, Professor Dr Grace Lees-Maffei g.lees-maffei@herts.ac.uk and request our Guidelines for Preparing a DHeritage Research Proposal

Apply Now

To apply for a place on the DHeritage you will need to email your application, comprising a research proposal, completed application form, qualifications, references and supporting documentation to DoctoralCollegeAdmissions@herts.ac.uk

• Applications are due by 7th June 2021.

• Interviews will take place on 21st June 2021.

  
  

  
  
  

  
  

Applications now open for DHeritage, the Professional Doctorate in Heritage!

Applications are now invited for prospective students to join DHeritage, the world's only Professional Doctorate in Heritage. DHeritage offers an opportunity to reflect on and explore in-depth an issue arising from your professional work in a way that creates an original contribution to the global heritage community.

This broad-based, flexible qualification was developed in association with experts from across the heritage sector and is aimed at professionals who work in, or desire to work in, the heritage field broadly defined, whether in the public or private sectors. It interests those who are employed in tourism, planning, museums, archives, community history, archaeology, social and cultural sustainability and any area of work which engages heritage. DHeritage appeals to practitioners who want to reflect on and contribute to the latest thinking in what is a dynamic and ever-changing sector crucial to many economies and to local and national identities.

DHeritage is part of the School of Humanities and draws on expertise from across the University

Students follow the programme as part of a cohort, supported by a series of regular bespoke training workshops, generic research training and supervision shaped to their particular needs from across the disciplines of History, Education, Digital Humanities, Creative Writing, Creative Arts, Law, Business, and Tourism, and beyond. The programme integrates scholarship on a range of interdisciplinary themes, including professional ethics, sustainability, cultural memory and heritage policy. Students select their topic and training according to individual needs and interests, and current developments in the field. On admission, successful candidates are allocated a Principal and one or two Co-Supervisors based on the research area they have set out in their research proposal and at interview.

DHeritage is offered part-time only, as typically our students work full- or part-time in the heritage sector. The degree usually takes 6 years to complete, but it is possible to complete it in 4-6 years depending on successfully passing the phased assessments. The programme is available through a campus registration or as a distance-learning route - in either case campus-based workshops are supported with online equivalent workshops using Canvas Studynet, our web-based managed learning environment. Fees for part-time home and EU students were £2,300 per annum in 2018/19 (different rates apply for overseas distance-learning students).

Senior Visiting Fellow Judy Faraday with Dean of Humanities Prof Anne Murphy and DHeritage student Helen Casey

You can find about more about DHeritage on our website https://www.herts.ac.uk/courses/doctorate-in-heritage or via the University's world class Heritage Hub (or by clicking the DHeritage tag on this blog).

Apply by sending a completed application form (available here), research proposal and supporting documents (qualifications, certificates etc.) via our Doctoral College doctoralcollegeadmissions@herts.ac.uk by 10th May 2019. A guide sheet to help you prepare a research proposal is available from Prof Dr Grace Lees-Maffei, Professor of Design History and Programme Director for DHeritage. If you have any questions about the programme or want to discuss it further, please contact Prof Lees-Maffei or the Doctoral College. We look forward to hearing from you!

The De Havilland Aircraft Company is an important part of the University's Heritage

Between ‘Revere’ and ‘Remove’

Students on the DHeritage programme at University of Hertfordshire met for one of the regular programme of workshops on 14th May 2018. Convened by Professor Sarah Lloyd, the programme for the day focussed on the concepts of ‘Remembering and Forgetting’.  It brought together students and staff at UH involved in the DHeritage with several external speakers addressing issues of ‘memory’ within their research. The day covered issues of migration (Dr Eureka Henrich), slavery (Dr Jessica Moody) and the heritage of tomorrow (Dr Esther Breithoff) in addition to contributions from students dealing with these questions in professional practice.

By chance, the workshop coincided with one of a series of evening debates organised by Intelligence² and Historic England and held in Westminster Revere or Remove? The Battle Over Statues Heritage and History’. This discussion, led by historians and journalists, addressed the subject of memory, and how such a contested concept is dealt with publicly, particularly in the multicultural and multi voiced 21st century context.

Managed by Jonathan Freedland, Guardian columnist and author, the Panel comprised Peter Frankopan, Research Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford; writer and broadcaster Afua Hirsch; author Tiffany Jenkins, Honorary Fellow at the University of Edinburgh; and David Olusoga, Historian and Broadcaster.  Each presented a position statement generated initially in response to the ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ campaign (https://rmfoxford.wordpress.com), which has recently campaigned to remove a statue of Cecil Rhodes from Oriel College in Oxford, and the decision to remove a statue of confederate general Robert E Lee from a park in Charlottesville, USA.  In many ways the responses and positions described were personal and reflected the experiences of the speakers.  Olusoga spoke with passion about the statue of merchant and slaver Edward Colston in Bristol, contrasting his own confidence in dealing with such memorials with that of others without his depth of historical knowledge.  He deconstructed the purpose of such statues and demonstrated both their erroneous portrayal of history and the changing nature of their meaning in contemporary society.  He urged the removing of Colston to a different site where his legacy could be debated in a context based on learning, not on the reverence that is hard to avoid when a viewer is physically required to ‘look up’ to a statue.  Jenkins took the position that relocation of statues simply relocated the issues. She noted the poor aesthetic quality of many such memorials and invoked the concepts of current relevance and the passing of time as determinants of the appropriate actions and responses to memorials.  As the contested statues are primarily in public places, her position was to leave responsibility with the public.  Where memorials are wanted they will be cared for, where no longer relevant they will be neglected and decline.  This approach reflects an emerging debate within the museum and heritage world regarding the potential for ‘managed decline’ of objects and places which are difficult to maintain for a range of reasons.  The need to forget as well as to remember was referenced although in a situation where the issues which some statues symbolise clearly continue to remain unaddressed, it seemed premature to move directly from ‘revere’ to ‘remove’ without further consideration.

All of the panellists at some point found themselves at risk of entanglement with the intricacies of this debate.  Hirsch urged the removal of the statue of Cecil Rhodes but also described the importance of monuments as part of the relationship of the present with the past.  Frankopan offered the view that the ‘winds of history’ mean that all statues will eventually fall, and that indeed, it is their ultimate function.  All felt that there should be some critique of each circumstance and a greater understanding of the history that each monument represents.  While an obvious response to the situation under discussion, this led inevitably to a discussion of the limitations of history teaching and public knowledge and to the fact that many statues are symbolic reductions of complex situations.  Their original meanings may have been lost and may be of limited relevance for the majority of those who view them today.  While some statues have little meaning at any one time, some have disproportionality significant meaning, becoming symbols of contemporary concerns. Olusoga pointed out that the Bristol statue of Colston was erected two hundred years after his death.  In this situation is the statue more realistically considered as something of the 19th rather than the 17th or 18th century?  Jenkins in particular cautioned about the dangers of being ‘enslaved to the past’.  If Bristol was provided with a statue of Colston in the 1890’s as part of a battle for power within the city’s merchant class, then it seemed entirely possible by the end of the debate that by removing it, Bristol could be signifying a sense of itself for the future, not seeking to remove an unpleasant figure and an unpalatable sense of its past.

Edward Colston, Bristol ©Barbara Wood

Reflecting on the workshop and the evening debate it seems as if the issues of both were less concerned with the meaning of statues and memorials at the time of erection and more about their function in establishing new identities for places and for society for the future.  A contributor from the audience, part of a campaign group aiming to remove the Colston statue spoke about the fundraising to establish a memorial to the 32000 people who died because of Colston’s’ activities and a museum of slavery in Bristol.  Meaning changes and develops even within living memory. Centuries after they were established, many of the remains under discussion seem inconsequential in themselves. It was their currency in the present that was important. It is surely our opportunity and responsibility to erect statues and memorials to what is important today, if - as Frankopan pointed out - anybody is interested enough to do that. 

Barbara Wood

Doctoral Candidate (DHeritage Programme)

@CuratorSW 

References

DeSilvey, C. (2017) Curated Decay Heritage Beyond Saving. University of Minnesota Press.

Jenkins, T. (2016) Keeping their marbles How the treasures of the past ended up in museums and why they should stay there. Oxford University Press. 

DHeritage Professional Doctorate in Heritage Recruitment Now Open for September 2018!

DHeritage, the University of Hertfordshire's unique Professional Doctorate in Heritage, is now in its fourth year. Our programme enables heritage professionals working in the public and private sectors to reflect on the industry, broadly defined, and make an original contribution to knowledge and understanding in the field based on their professional practice.
Our students work across the heritage area, and are engaged in impactful heritage studies research on topics such as authenticity and authority, dark tourism, conservation and restitution, digital heritage and how museums serve and represent local communities, to name a few. Read about their research here: http://tvad-uh.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/DHeritage 

DHeritage is hosted by the Department of Humanities with contributions from world-leading staff working in History, Philosophy, Education, Creative Arts, Hertfordshire Business School and the University’s flagship Heritage Hub, among others, and including Prof Sarah Lloyd, Prof John Styles, Dr Susan Parham, Prof Jonathan Morris, Dr Nika Balomenou and Prof Grace Lees-Maffei. DHeritage is offered part-time and is delivered through campus-based workshops and online equivalents. This doctorate is available for home (UK and EU) and international students. The University of Hertfordshire is twenty minutes from London by train, and is served by national rail and Luton, Stansted and the other London airports.

**New for the 2018 entry is our distance-learning registration, which provides a complete suite of online workshops in addition to some campus participation.**   

We are now recruiting students for the 2018/19 academic year. Applications are invited by Monday 28th May for a September 2018 start:

Read more about DHeritage here: http://www.herts.ac.uk/courses/doctorate-in-heritage and on the Heritage Hub site here

Contact mail Programme Director Professor Grace Lees-Maffei for more information about DHeritage, a guide to preparing a research proposal and an application form: g.lees-maffei@herts.ac.uk 

Apply direct: http://www.herts.ac.uk/apply/how-to-apply-for-a-course#directly

We look forward to welcoming you to DHeritage at the University of Hertfordshire!

Where to Publish? An Interdisciplinary Guide

When research is externally evaluated, and even when it isn’t, the choice of venue for your research publications could hardly be more important. The journal you choose, or the publisher you contract with, determine the readership for your research writings, and – to some extent - determine, in addition, the quality ascribed to your work. Whether or not this is as it should be is a separate issue to that of having to respond (a) to the fact that different journals and publishers have diverse strengths and weaknesses, and (b) that hierarchies of judgement will be applied to your work on publication.

In my field, design history, there are only a handful of dedicated journals. The Journal of Design History is world-leading, while Design Issues and Design and Culture each relate to design cultures in distinctive ways. Beyond this small group, many of the journals in which design historians choose to publish are either design journals, more broadly defined, or journals representing the large number of neighbouring or other fields which connect in various ways with the diverse subject of design and its histories. The former group includes The Design Journal, and more specialised journals such as Interiors, Fashion Theory etc.

See the following on design journals:

• ‘Design Research Journal Ranking Study: Preliminary Results’ by Ken Friedman, Deirdre Barron, Silvana Ferlazzo, Tania Ivanka, Gavin Melles and Dr. Jeremy Yuille (2008).
• Ranking of Design Journals Based on Results of the UK Research Excellence Framework: Using REF as Referee, Neil J. Mansfield, The Design Journal 19:6 (2016): 903-919.
• ‘Quality perceptions of design journals: The design scholars’ perspective’, Gerda Gemser, Cees de Bont, Paul Hekkert, Ken Friedman, Design Studies 33: 1 (January 2012): 4-23.

Beyond design, there is a wealth of resources available to colleagues wishing to make an informed choice about which journals, or presses to publish with. Some other rankings for specific disciplines that TVAD researchers may be interested in are:

• ERIM, the Erasmus Research Institute of Management which ranks journals in management through its ‘ERIM Journals List (EJL) 2016-2021’ (updated 29 January 2016).
• AACSB International—The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) publishes a ‘Journal Rankings and Indices of Research Productivity’ which covers mostly business. 

More broadly, a standard resource is the European Reference Index for the Humanities and the Social Sciences (ERIH PLUS). It was produced by the European Science Foundation (ESF) in 2008. It is now maintained by the Norwegian Centre for Research Data. Initially it covered the humanities only, but now it also covers the social sciences.

Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature across the sciences, arts and humanities. It offers ‘CiteScore’, ‘essentially the average citations per document that a title receives over a three-year period’.

The most well-known indicator in the JCR is the Journal Impact Factor (JIF). This provides a ratio of citations to a journal in a given year to the citable items in the prior two years. Journal Citation Reports® (JCR) published by Clarivate Analytics (2017) offers a combination of impact and influence metrics from 2016 Web of Science source data covering more than 11,000 journals from 81 countries.
 

Eigenfactor was set up in January 2007 by Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West to use ‘recent advances in network analysis to develop novel methods for evaluating the influence of scholarly periodicals, for mapping the structure of academic research, and for helping researchers navigate the scholarly literature.’ It focuses on sciences and social sciences.

Princeton’s Wendy Laura Belcher has worked with some Princeton students on this digest of ‘Reviews of Peer-Reviewed Journals in Humanities and the Social Sciences’ (Princeton 2017) https://journalreviews.princeton.edu/ranking-peer-reviewed-journals/ This blog reviews more than 70 journals. Belcher recommends her own book Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success (SAGE 2009) and the introduction and chapter one can be downloaded from the SAGE website.

Judgments about journal quality can directly inform perceptions of a researcher’s worth. See David Adams', Publish or Perish v. 5 (2017). Consider also this promotion document from the London School of Economics: http://www.lse.ac.uk/intranet/staff/humanResources/reviewingAndRewarding/promotionAndReview/pdfs/JournalsLists-16-17.pdf

The information is arranged by subject area, including some interdisciplinary topics such as gender studies. The journals regarded as the best are shown for each field. The document also advises on academic publishers with some surprising results: Palgrave Macmillan may not be so closely associated with the group of university presses by everyone who expresses an opinion. Conversely, Bloomsbury Academic is a relatively new addition to the Bloomsbury publisher which may not yet have made an impression on the compilers of such lists.

*

Prof Grace Lees-Maffei with Dr Veronica Manlow.

Last call for 2017 applications for DHeritage!

Last call for 2017 applications for DHeritage, the Professional Doctorate in Heritage at the University of Hertfordshire! DHeritage is a unique professional doctorate for heritage professionals who wish to undertake original research related to their professional concerns, and to contribute knowledge and understanding of heritage, broadly defined. DHeritage is hosted by the Department of Humanities at the University of Hertfordshire, with contributions from staff working in History, Philosophy, Education, Creative Arts, Hertfordshire Business School and the University’s flagship Heritage Hub, among others. The doctorate is offered part-time and is delivered through campus-based workshops and online equivalents. The deadline for applications is Monday May 15, and interviews are scheduled for Wednesday 14 June.

• Read more about DHeritage here: http://www.herts.ac.uk/courses/doctorate-in-heritage 
• Application is by application form and research proposal: http://www.herts.ac.uk/apply/how-to-apply-for-a-course#directly 
• Contact DHeritage Programme Director Dr Grace Lees-Maffei for advice on preparing a proposal: g.lees-maffei@herts.ac.uk 
• Read about some of our students’ ongoing research here: http://tvad-uh.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/DHeritage 
• Visit the Heritage Hub website here: http://www.herts.ac.uk/heritage-hub   

Please circulate this opportunity to potential applicants in your network, thank you.

Applications open for DHeritage, the Professional Doctorate in Heritage

DHeritage is a unique and flexible part-time doctorate aimed at professionals who work in, or desire to work in, the heritage field broadly defined, whether in the private or the public sector. It is hosted by the School of Humanities and the Heritage Hub at the University of Hertfordshire, UK.

DHeritage attracts students who are employed in tourism, planning, museums, archives, community history, archaeology, and social and cultural sustainability. It appeals to practitioners who want to reflect on and contribute to the latest thinking in what is a dynamic and ever-changing sector crucial to many economies and to local and national identities.

Our students follow the programme as part of a cohort, supported by research training and supervision shaped to their needs from across the disciplines of History, Education, Digital Humanities, Creative Writing, Creative Arts, Law, Business, and Tourism. Students select their topic and training according to individual needs and interests, and current developments in the field. Workshops cover interdisciplinary issues such as professional ethics, sustainability, cultural memory and heritage policy.

Applications are now open, with a deadline of Monday May 15th, 2017. Interviews are planned for Wednesday June 14th, 2017. How to apply:

• Read more about DHeritage on the University of Hertfordshire's website: http://www.herts.ac.uk/courses/doctorate-in-heritage 
• Look at some of our students' ongoing research on the TVAD Research Group blog http://tvad-uh.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/DHeritage
• Download and complete an application form: http://www.herts.ac.uk/apply/how-to-apply-for-a-course#directly 
• Prepare a 2000 word research proposal with your application. Guidance on preparing a DHeritage research proposal is available from the Programme Director, Dr Grace Lees-Maffei g.lees-maffei@herts.ac.uk
• Send your application, together with a research proposal, your qualifications and other supporting documents to the University of Hertfordshire's Doctoral College, research-degrees@herts.ac.uk

We are very happy to discuss applications, proposals and any questions you might have. We look forward to welcoming you to DHeritage!

ResDev16 - The University of Hertfordshire's Second Biennial Researcher Development Conference

Dr Grace Lees-Maffei, Chair, Researcher Development Working Group.  

This week, researchers from across the University of Hertfordshire met in our wonderful Weston Auditorium for the second biennial researcher development conference. The first, in September 2014, sought to promote understanding and awareness of the value and practice of researcher development and the development opportunities for researchers available within the University and externally, through organizations including, most notably, Vitae. But we also took a good look at the actual research being conducted within the University's ten Schools through a dynamic PechaKucha session which promoted, particularly, the work of our early career researchers. 

Theme Champion for Global Economy, Dr Chamu Kuppuswamy, takes a selfie with Prof John Senior, Pro-VC Research and Enterprise, and Dr Sylvie Magerstadt, Heritage, Cultures and Communities Theme Champion.

ResDev16 adapted this winning formula. Following an introduction by Prof John Senior, our Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research and Enterprise), the six research 'champions' spoke about their respective themes:  Professor David Barling who leads the University's research on Food drew attention to the parlous ratio of 2 billion obese and 1 billion malnourished people in the world. Work in the CRIPPAC research group analyses the importance of environment and culture in our food choices and opportunities, Prof Barling noted. Dr Chamu Kuppuswamy continued the Global Economy emphasis in introducing work in her area, calling for research to cross boundaries as well as geo-political borders. Speaking of research in Health & Wellbeing, Dr Frances Bunn outlined the sheer breadth of areas of enquiry that it engages. She highlighted the importance of work on the lifecourse, pointing to Prof Claire Goodman's work on dementia. Dr Sylvie Magerstadt champions research in Heritage, Cultures & Communities. She followed up Frances Bunn's point about the importance of communicating our research to academic and non-academic audiences by outlining her plan for a 'Culture Talks' channel on YouTube to promote research on the Heritage, Cultures and Communities theme. Next, Dr Farshid Amirabdollahian introduced the Information & Security research theme as extending from the secure handling of data to cutting-edge research in toxicology, with safety being paramount in each case. Innovation occurs on the friges of discplines, he enthused. Finally, Dr Philip Lucas explained that the University already has researchers working on space in disciplines ranging from from astronomy to fine art. He referred to the prominence of UH researchers in the recently publicised identification of Proxima b, an earth-like planet which may have the potential to host life. Dr Lucas plans to extend research on Space by instituting a buddy system for researchers.

Dr Helen Barefoot, Deputy Director for the Learning & Teaching Innovation Centre talked about the importance of Research-Informed Teaching and Research-Rich Teaching for connecting two core pillars of the University's activity as reflected in our strategic plan: teaching and research. Dr Barefoot explained that teaching and research are not inherently connected, as we sometimes assume; rather the connections between them need to be fostered, and explicitly drawn out. The Learning and Teaching Innovation Centre hosts an online toolkit for doing just that.

Dr Helen Barefoot discusses Research-Informed Teaching and Research-Rich Teaching. Photo: Grace Lees-Maffei.

The next session showcased the work of 18 researchers in just over an hour! How? Using the 3 -Minute Thesis (3MT®) format, we were given snapshots of 8 doctoral projects from finalists in a competition run by the Doctoral College. Speakers included Hayley Goode, who bravely began the session, and Alex Hocking, Jean Petric and David Turner. They talked about topics as diverse as the recognition and experiences of informal carers (Akua Owusu Nyantakyiwaa) and the impact of environment on galaxy evolution (Nancy Hine). The final 3MT addressed the difficulties faced by homeless men, whose lives are precarious and very short, typically extending no further than the forties, as Coral Westaway poignantly explained. Kathryn Kellett won the prize of £1000 in travel vouchers or cash equivalent. All other participants received runner-up prizes of £50 book vouchers.

Akua Owusu Nyantakyiwaa introduces her doctoral research on informal carers. Photo: Wendy Wills.

Prize giving for the ResDev16 3MT Competition. Photo: Frances Bunn.

While the judges deliberated, conference delegates were treated to a whistle stop tour of research being undertake across all ten Schools, again using the three-minute format. From the School of Life & Medical Sciences, Dr Rosalind Fallaize introduced her work ‘E-Nutri: The Future of Digital Personalised Nutrition Advice?’. Law's Dr Thomas Dunk outlined ‘The Role of the Individual in the Process of International Law Creation’. Dr Annabel Jay (Health & Social Work) examined 'How Women Experience an Artificial Onset of Labour’, with her study of 'Being Induced' concluding that the experience is one of liminality, betwixt and between two separate states. From the School of Education, Barry Costas outlined the usefulness of his literature review for uncovering a wide range of different perspectives on ‘The Voice of the Learner’ and its importance in education. For Engineering & Technology, Dr Saeid Safavi spoke about his project ‘Objective Control of Talker Verification’. New recruit to the University, Dr Ceri Houlbrook (Humanities) itemised some of the surprising things that people have put up chimneys and into the fabric of their homes, as has been discovered in her research with Prof Owen Davies in ‘The Concealed Revealed'. From Computer Science, Dr Ben Torben-Nielsen showed vividly how ‘Beautiful Brains Keep Us Healthy’ by examining some medical imaging which makes clear the different patterns witnessed. Next, Dr Wendy Williams (Physics, Astronomy & Maths) explained ‘The Evolution of Radio-Loud Active Galactic Nuclei using Low-Radio Frequencies’ and Dr Nika Balemenou (Hertfordshire Business School) changed the subject completely with her talk about her 'pseudo-longitudinal study from 2003 to 2016' into 'the development of Kavos, Corfu, into a tourism destination and the impacts on the local community’ as one of ‘Utopia or Dystopia?' Finally, Dr Silvio Carta from the School of Creative Arts gave us a snapshot of his research into big data, and 'How Computing is Changing Public Realm Data and Physical Space’.

Dr Silvio Carta (School of Creative Arts) talks about big data and public space. Photo: Grace Lees-Maffei.

Many more researchers from across the University exhibited their ideas at a Poster Session in the Atrium where delegates networked over lunch.

Hock Chye Gan presenting his research poster. Photo: Suzanne Fergus.

Suzanne Culshaw exhibited her poster with a useful mechanism for gathering feedback.

The conference then moved to our Law Court Building for two rounds of four parellel sessions, with each delegate choosing two topics from the following: 'Research-Informed Teaching and Research-Rich Teaching' with Dr Helen Barefoot; 'Setting Up a Mentoring Scheme' with Jill Lees; Bridget Russell and Frances Harris' introducing 'Ways to Raise Your Research Profile'  and Kevin Flinn on 'Career Progression'.

Dr Kevin Flinn puts the roof on the house of career progression. Photo: Beverley Brathwaite.

Throughout the day, colleagues were tweeting positively about what they saw and heard. Take a look at the #ResDev16 twitterfeed for a flavour of the proceedings. Now delegates can reflect on what we have learned and begin to put that into practice, while the Researcher Development Working Group can reflect and use the feedback we will receive to start planning #ResDev18 See you there!

Selfie by Francesca Batzella of colleagues from the Law School in the audience at #ResDev16

New Podcast Series, 'Your History'

In 2015 the University of Hertfordshire’s Heritage Hub commissioned Nick Patrick, the producer of Radio 4’s Making History, to create six podcasts addressing the value of public history, heritage, and academic-community partnerships in contemporary society.

The podcasts are based on interviews with a range of academics, leading heritage and public engagement professionals, and community-based organisations. They consider the ways historians, artists, and social scientists conduct and share their research with people outside the academic community.

They are now being made freely available thanks to a partnership with the London Centre for Public History. They will be released individually over the next few weeks, each accompanied by an introduction from a practitioner in the relevant field. 

Listen to the first podcast in the series, 'Universities as Anchor Institutions in Local Communities' and read the introduction by Dr Susan Parham, Head of Urbanism at the University's Centre for Sustainable Communities, here: http://www.herts.ac.uk/heritage-hub/exploring-public-history/universities-as-anchor-institutions

This podcast picks up some of the issues raised by Dr Parham, Sarah Lloyd and Alix Green in their article 'Living heritage: Universities as anchor institutions in sustainable communities' in the International Journal of Heritage and Sustainable Development (2013). Read and download the full article here: http://www.ijhsd.greenlines-institute.org/volumes/2013/IJHSD_2013_V03_01_Green_7_19.pdf

Join the debate around the issues raised by each of the podcasts @UHertsHistory and using the hashtag #uhyourheritage

New Research by Students of DHeritage, the Professional Doctorate in Heritage

Now in its second year, the University of Hertfordshire's innovative Professional Doctorate in Heritage, DHeritage, is the only programme of its kind in the world. So, it makes sense that the research our students produce is also innovative and promises to make a significant contribution to knowledge and practice in the heritage sector, broadly defined. Here is a snapshot of our students' work in progress.

Helen Casey is tracing the impact of the move of heritage online, as here with the Europeana project, http://www.europeana.eu/portal/

Helen Casey is a filmmaker and Director at Magic BeansMedia. She is a second year DHeritage student working on online heritage.

Digital Decisions: The rise of information technology since the turn of the millennium and its effect on heritage professionals and the sectors in which they work

 

At the turn of the millennium, when the internet was new, it seemed that, for heritage professionals, a shiny new dawn awaited. Technology would allow records to be digitised, artefacts to be experienced through virtual reality, and expertise to be shared worldwide at the touch of a button. Technology would democratise our heritage, allowing more people to access, experience and learn from it. At the same time, there were warnings that the use of gaudy information screens in exhibitions would distract from the object, immersive technology allowing sensory perception would cheapen and simplify the visitor experience, and expensive technology used to digitise and share heritage would become obsolete within ten or even five years, wasting valuable resources and creating a ‘digital black hole’ where digitised artefacts would go to die. So, how many of these predictions came to pass? And what can we learn from the experience of heritage professionals since the turn of the millennium that could help them plan ahead in a world of rapid and unpredictable technological change?

The communication of authority and authenticity in scenarios such as this one interests DHeritage student Barbara Wood

Barbara Wood is a curator at The National Trust. Her doctoral research examines authenticity, authority and heritage. She is currently in her first year of study for the DHeritage.

Authenticity, integrity and sharing information or manipulation of experience, restricting access and managing information?  Who has the authority to communicate knowledge and the power to control experience in the heritage sector?

This research addresses issues which are relevant across the heritage industry and the historic environment. It will explore who takes ownership of material and information and consider how this has changed over time, reflecting the requirements of funders, the expectations of visitors and the interests of individuals.

The work will consider whether it is possible to engage directly with heritage or whether experiences are always managed and manipulated to reflect the interests of individuals or current sectoral objectives. It will debate on what grounds authority to manage experience is allocated and will ultimately consider whether that authority is appropriately allocated and the effect of this delegation on visitors and users of heritage.

Using a series of case studies, this work will undertake new primary research, in order to reflect directly upon professional experience and to make use of museological and heritage theory. A series of questions will be framed around issues of authenticity, the use and manipulation of heritage and the purpose and integrity of the dialogue between those who use historic resources and those who care for them. Recognising that practice within the heritage and museum sector may always be compromised, it will seek to move the debate further to consider why or if there will always be an accommodation to be made, whether users of such resources can ever find an authentic experience and whether this matters.

Should old bathrooms be conserved in some historic buildings? Charlotte Reynolds' research considers the options

Charlotte Reynolds works as a Heritage at Risk Project Officer at Historic England and is a first-year DHeritage student. Her research examines the significance of historic bathrooms in today’s homes.

In Need of Modernisation? The place of historic toilets and bathrooms in our homes

A cold and unwelcoming outside toilet, and unfixed bath, are within living memory for a declining number of older people. The addition of an indoor toilet and plumbed-in bath, whether an earlier installation in 1840 or a later one in 1980, were a significant investment and noteworthy change to a building, and the lives lived in it.

Despite being of fairly recent social and architectural history for our homes, this change is all too easily overlooked. A decreasing number of privies and outside WCs survive, and often little significance is given to remaining early bathrooms. They are not usually seen as desirable ‘period features’. Once common-place fixtures are becoming rare, within a culture that has created a ‘need’ for multiple fashionable bathrooms.

This project considers what has driven the modernisation of facilities in the past and present, and the impact this has had on our buildings. I am interested in where old toilets and bathrooms survive, and how these are perceived today, particularly within a planning and listed building context. The research addresses my professional concerns over the lack of guidance currently available on the heritage significance of such features, and whether, or how, to conserve or record them. 

DHeritage students at Cumberland Lodge for the University of Hertfordshire's annual Department of History conference

Further information about the DHeritage is available on the University website and from the Programme Director, Dr Grace Lees-Maffei.