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Research

Centre for Culture and Heritage

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Who we are

The Centre for Culture and Heritage is comprised of innovators passionate about showcasing our cultural heritage - past, present and future. Our mission is to be the hub of Creative Suffolk, leading contemporary research in the Arts and Humanities, linked to community engagement and impact across East Anglia and the wider world.

What we do

We pride ourselves on working with stakeholders on cultural projects that link to our commitment to being a transformational Civic University. We engage in research and knowledge exchange that has social value and impact. We prioritise community co-creation partnerships with cultural and heritage bodies via joint projects, exhibits, training, consultancy, and heritage development.  

We are focused on how cultural heritage can transform the health and well-being of individuals and groups in society. Through creative and cultural projects, underpinned by the rigour of world-leading scholarship, we celebrate sustainable heritage emphasising people, place and positive cultural change. 

Vision 

  • Be a leading hub of creative excellence for innovative and collaborative research and creative projects in the Arts Humanities
  • Inspire a pride in our history and culture through research, exhibitions, events, education and outreach activities
  • Work with communities, individuals, and organisations in order to support the culture and heritage of our region
  • Foster and promote a passion for the heritage and culture of East Anglia and beyond
  • Engage with international partners and contribute to being global citizens 
  • Be the hub for Creative Suffolk 

Find out more about the Centre for Culture and Heritage

Events

Upcoming events within the Centre for Culture and Heritage.

Find out more
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PhD's in Creative Writing/English

Embarking on a PhD in Creative Writing/English at the ¹ú²úÊÓƵ in the Centre for Culture and Heritage offers you a dynamic community of students, writers, researchers and academics. As a student with us, you are encouraged to join and take part in the writers’ Talking Shop programme of events that includes creative writing workshops, guest speaker events with published authors, literary agents and publishers, literary festivals, symposiums and conferences and publishing opportunities. We have a Royal Literary Fellow who works with students across the university to help support good writing, and a programme of free, personal and professional development training for all our PhD students in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities and a Creative Writing publishing house The Talking Shop Press which produces our highly successful Suffolk Anthologies series. Many of our students present papers at conferences and publish in literary magazines and journals.
Current PhD Students

Name: Anne McGee
Subject: History
Working Title: The reality and representation of female criminality in rural Suffolk between 1780 and 1820

Name: Andrew Worrall
Subject: Creative Writing
Working Title: The Inheritance of Peter Tye, a novel. The archives as a framework for historical fiction

Name: Amanda Markwell
Subject: History
Working Title: “Such methods of barbarism” An exploration of the violence towards women during the British campaign for women’s suffrage, 1906-1915

Name: Jayd Green
Subject: Creative Writing
Working Title: The Stranger Sea: a novel.  A Rewilding of Nature Writing in the context of eco-criticism and environmental activism

Name: Muriel Moore-Smith
Subject: Creative Writing
Working Title: H’s Code, a. novel. A creative re-assembly of a hidden life. Writing Historical Fiction and Family Memory. 

Name: Richard Glass
Subject: History
Working Title: Suffolk Agrarian Change 1840 - 1875

Name: Kavari Woodward
Subject: Creative Writing
Working Title: A Memoir of Marginalisation and Exclusion: Exploring the Quest for Identity and Belonging Within my Bi-Racial Family

Name: Molly Britton
Subject: Creative Writing
Working Title: The Muse of Vienna, a novel: Seeking truth in biographical research

Name: Adetomiwa (Tommy) Ademuyiwa
Subject: English/Linguistics
Working Title: Language Acquisition and Learning amongst students with special educational needs towards achieving academic excellence. A case study of Federal College of Education, Oyo, Nigeria

Name: Rose Dawn Gant
Subject: English Literature
Working Title: ‘For hope and sadness mingle in his heart’: Loss, Grief and Hero-Worship in the works of Branwell Brontë

Name: David Stone
Subject: Art and Creative Writing
Working Title: Ghosts in the Landscape: Commemorating the Forgotten: developing art practice and creative writing to investigate the realism both forms seek to reach.

Name: Michelle Pocock
Subject: Art with Creative Writing
Working Title: A phenomenological exploration of the lived experience of long-term illness as a transformative process in memoir and photography

Name: Laura May
Subject: Creative Writing
Working Title: No Expectations: how visual images can act as a catalyst for creation and build a body of ekphrastic poetry

Name: Zoe Gilbert
Subject: Creative Writing
Working Title: Enchantment and the Folk Fantastic in short fiction

Name: Charlotte Yule
Subject: English Literature
Working Title: Great Women’s Houses: Building Becoming in the Lives and Works of Woolf, Du Maurier, Christie and Winn

Name: Loretta MacInnes
Subject: Creative Writing
Working Title: Fractured: A multi-dimensional memoir of the impact of a rare disease diagnosis on a family

Name: Caroline Roberts
Subject: English Literature
Working Title: Peril in the House: Investigating motherhood in the works of Agatha Christie

Student Quotes

¹ú²úÊÓƵ is large enough to have a diverse and stimulating creative writing community yet small enough to be personal.
My supervisions have been insightful and encouraging, thus giving me the necessary support to produce the best of work of which I am capable.
The expertise of the supervisors and their interest in the students and their work is second to none.
You need to be passionate about your creative ambition but prepared to see it become very different from what you originally intended.
Having the supervisor who is right for you is crucial. I have been fortunate to have someone so engaged with what I'm doing: challenging, rigorous, encouraging, and endlessly supportive.
I have met other students whose writing and vision I really admire.

  • Gill Lowe – Visting Fellow in English
  • Ashley Hickson-Lovence – Visting Fellow in Creative Writing
  • Zoe Gilbert – Senior Visiting Fellow in Creative Writing
  • Jamie Bernthal-Hooker – Visiting Fellow in English and Creative Writing
  • Cristian Ilbury – Visiting Fellow in Linguistics
  • Charlotte Newson - Visiting Professor of Arts

Our People

Professor Brian McCook

Brian is Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Humanities.

Brian McCook staff profile photo

Dr Amanda Hodgkinson

Amanda is an award-winning internationally published novelist, journalist and writer.

Amanda Hodgkinson staff profile photo

Dr Michael Sauter

Michael is Associate Professor of History and an historian of early modern Europe, with specialisations in intellectual history and the history of science.

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Dr Keith Ruiter

Keith is Senior Lecturer in History.

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Dr Lindsey Scott

Lindsey is Course Leader for MA Creative and Critical Writing and award-winning lecturer specialising in children’s literature and adaptation.

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Dr Susan Barnet

Originally from Los Angeles, Susan works across multiple media and has an MFA in film from the California Institute of the Arts.

Susan Barnet 1

Aishani Jayasinghe

Aishani is a Senior Lecturer in Architecture and a practising architect of 20 years. Originally from Sri Lanka, she has a portfolio of more than 150 projects.

Dr Matthew Bowman

Dr Bowman is a widely-published art critic and historian. His research focuses on twentieth century and contemporary art, criticism, photography and more.

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Dr Andrea Smith

Andrea is Lecturer in English and Creative Writing. Her career prior to joining the University included working for two Suffolk newspapers and the BBC.

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Dr Louise Carter

Louise is a Lecturer in History, whose interests include gender in Georgian society, early-modern witch hunts and the impact of war on childhood.

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Nigel Ball

Nigel Ball joined the ¹ú²úÊÓƵ in 2007 and is a Senior Lecturer in Graphic Design and Head of Arts.

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Dr Jenny Amos

Dr Jenny Amos is a socio-phonologist who specialises in modelling dialect variation, lecturing in Linguistics at the ¹ú²úÊÓƵ.

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Vivienne Aldous

History lecturer Vivienne Aldous spent more than 20 years as a professional archivist and brings practical archival research experience to the University.

Dr Darragh Martin

Darragh is Course Leader, BA (Hons) English and writes novels, plays, and stories for children.

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Dr Harvey Osborne

Harvey is Course Leader for History at the ¹ú²úÊÓƵ and a historian of modern Britain.

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Nicola Foster

Nicola is an Associate Professor in Visual Arts.

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Dr Mark Edwards

Dr. Mark Edwards is a renowned practitioner and academic with his work exhibited in major photographic collections such as the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A).

Mark Edwards staff profile photo

Dr Marco Spada

Urban planner and architect Marco specialises in urban narrativity, sustainability and circular economy, as well as the steel industry in developments.

Marco Spada staff profile photo
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Students sitting the mock court room
Suffolk Reflections books