SOAR: Social Occasions of Access and Resilience: How Heritage Visits Support Wellbeing Across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland

About the project

About the Project About the project Visiting museums, historic houses and heritage sites is known to support people's health and wellbeing, and this has helped shape policy and practice in local authority heritage, culture, health and social services. But little is known about which specific activities, interactions and social behaviours actually produce these benefits, which makes it hard to evaluate and improve them. This PhD project will explore what happens during heritage visits that supports wellbeing, working with five sites managed by Leicestershire County Council's Heritage Services: the 1620s House and Garden in Donington le Heath, Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre, Charnwood Museum in Loughborough, Harborough Museum and Melton Carnegie Museum. It will pioneer the use of video to study how people interact with each other and with heritage spaces and objects. Visitors will be invited to wear lightweight smart glasses that record a first-person view of their own visit, which they control and can switch off at any point. The project will focus on older age communities, and in particular on people living with dementia and the practices developed at the five sites, such as "dementia trails" and object handling sessions. Participants will act as co-analysts of their own recordings, helping to identify the social processes that could be enhanced and shared with other groups. These include groups the County Council has identified as especially in need of improved health outcomes, such as minority ethnic and migrant communities. Inclusion is a priority throughout: the project will work with a deliberately diverse group of people living with dementia, and the lived experience of the researcher recruited will also help shape which groups the project engages with. The research aims to show how heritage engagement supports wellbeing, so that heritage and cultural organisations can plan and improve what they offer. The methods and evaluation frameworks developed will also be transferable to other heritage and cultural settings. The project brings together Loughborough University's expertise in applied interaction analysis, the University of Leicester's leading research in museum studies, and the County Council's award-winning heritage sites, and will inform future strategy, policy and practice. This project has been co-created with and is supported by researchers from Loughborough University and the University of Leicester, and partners at Leicestershire County Council. The successful candidate for this project will be enrolled at Loughborough University. Project Aims and Objectives The project objectives are: Identify the social and interactional mechanisms through which museum and heritage visits support the health and wellbeing of older age communities. Document how older age communities including people with dementia, their carers and companions access, navigate and make use of LCC heritage sites, including the dementia trails. Co-develop recommendations with visitors and LCC staff for more inclusive signage, interpretation, trail design, and events that support activities associated with identified health benefits. Advance participatory, in-situ methods for creative-health research in museum settings: participants record their own visits, control what is recorded, set and revise the terms of their consent through the research, and work as co-analysts of the resulting video in data sessions. What is Collaboratory? Collaboratory is a research programme, led by Universities for Nottingham and the Leicester Universities Partnership, that places community knowledge and experience at the heart of research. This eight-year initiative is pioneering a new approach to collaboration, working closely with local communities and community-focused organisations to develop and deliver research that addresses the needs and priorities of local communities. Who are we looking for? Collaboratory aims to bridge the gap between academia and communities through a holistic programme of co-created research that actively embeds public groups within its research. As we strive to establish an innovative approach to conducting PhD research, we seek candidates who can demonstrate a deep knowledge of and commitment to Leicester Leicestershire and Rutland and communities. Prospective candidates should demonstrate the extent to which they meet the project competencies, detailed in the full advert on the Collaboratory website. How to Apply Applications to all Collaboratory 2027 PhD studentships must be submitted through our online applications portal. It is strongly recommended that prospective applicants attend one of the online support sessions, prior to submitting their application. Full details of the Collaboratory programme, studentship funding, eligibility criteria and link to the application form can be found on our website at collaboratoryresearchhub.ac.uk/2027-studentships. Applications open at 11am on Monday, 5th October 2026 and close at 11:59 pm on Sunday, 29th November 2026.

Research areas