Liz Stainforth to undertake Postdoctoral Fellowships

Liz Stainforth to undertake Postdoctoral Fellowships in Edinburgh and Melbourne

Lecturer in Heritage Studies, has recently embarked on a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH), University of Edinburgh.

Liz’s ongoing research explores digital heritage and memory cultures. Her doctoral research examined case studies including the European Commission-funded project Europeana and UNESCO’s Memory of the World programme.

Her fellowship at the University of Edinburgh will focus on the landscape of UK digital culture and heritage against a backdrop of political uncertainty about the future shape and extent of national heritage cultures. It will look at the humanities context for digital heritage, with an emphasis on the dialogue between digital practices, cultural policy and public heritage institutions.

The research will inform the work of a book-length project about digital archiving practices, in collaboration with Rhiannon Bettivia (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).

Liz has also been awarded an Endeavour Research Fellowship at the University of Melbourne for a project investigating Australian digital heritage projects. This Fellowship, beginning in June, will look at the ways in which digital cultures both enable and limit wider social transformations.

The study focuses on Trove, a digital heritage aggregator hosted by the National Library of Australia, which provides online access to a range of Australian cultural heritage resources. This initiative points towards the reimagining of library and museum spaces online and raises important questions about the negotiation of public space, collections preservation and cultural engagement in the digital environment.

Liz Stainforth said:

“I am looking forward to sharing insights from these fellowships with colleagues and students in the Centre for Critical Studies in Museums Galleries and Heritage, in addition to contributing to emerging research interests in digital heritage in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies.

“I am also keen to collaboratively develop digital methods and practice as part of the new teaching strands on the School’s MA programmes in Art Gallery and Museum Studies, Arts Management and Heritage Studies and Curating Science.”