Fiona Robertson

Musem, Galleries and Heritage Postgraduate Research Student

Project Title: By the Book? – alternative approaches to economic/social impact appraisal of museums in regeneration settings

Supervisors: Professor Rhiannon Mason and Dr Emma Coffield

Before joining Newcastle University I worked in UK museums and cultural bodies nationally, regionally and locally and led cultural regeneration projects including Perth Museum, Scotland (opened 2024). I also worked in central and local government public policy roles including senior posts in culture and heritage, community empowerment, Gaelic language, and anti-poverty.

Project Description: I work on the economic and social difference which museum projects in regeneration settings can make and how that’s evidenced, particularly beyond the city/urban contexts which most UK policy and funding programmes have targeted since the 1980s. My research focuses on how we move beyond binary debates about economic versus social impact, and develop new impact appraisal tools to evidence how/why they both matter. I’m particularly interested in how museums act as vehicles for wider regeneration narratives of place, identity and renewal and the implications of this for collecting, interpretation and public programmes policy and practice. Wider research interests: nostalgia and heritage nostalgia, landscape and national/local identity. 

Presentations: Economic versus social impact – must it be either/or?’ Heritage International Experience Conference, University of Oslo, October 2024