Ulster and Western Scotland; Follow-up funding for community heritage research

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Through our Phase 1 Connected Communities project, the University of Ulster has established a researcher network across Ulster and Western Scotland including Queen's University, Belfast, Historic Scotland, Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Kilmartin House Museum and a diverse range of schools and community groups. Through archaeological survey and investigation, we are developing knowledge and understanding of the medieval period, when North East Ulster and the Western Isles of Scotland were intrinsically linked by a common set of cultural traditions, language and political structures. In recent history, these connections have all but disappeared, so we aim to build awareness of this shared past, creating opportunities to explore, question and share historic narratives across community boundaries and between generations, and challenging contemporary definitions of identity and place. Our researcher-community partnerships have enhanced community knowledge and understanding, developed community heritage skills and initiated new community-led archaeological research projects. In boosting community learning in this way our aim has been to contribute to community sustainability and resilience (Pelling 2011). Through Phase 2 Follow-up Funding, we will develop this research network, to provide opportunities for other interested groups to engage with the research, and to make a substantial contribution towards enhancing participation, learning and sustainability in project communities. The strength of the research network lies in the breadth of knowledge represented by the research team and the substantial existing experience that team members already have in engaging communities with the historic environment. We are able to support groups in developing archaeological research, surveying and excavation skills and in engaging wider audiences with their research through developing interpretive resources and learning activities. Through the project, our network also aims to develop a best-practice model for community learning and engagement that will demonstrate the potential for the historic environment to deliver real benefits in terms of social learning, sustainability and prosperity, enabling communities to address key contemporary societal and economic challenges.Additionally the project will involve intensive boundary working between community members, archaeologists, schools and heritage professionals to co-produce a significant new heritage resource for the respective communities and enhance the social learning capacity and adaptive capacity of the research network, and the participant groups in particular. A parallel programme of qualitative research will research and evaluate the social learning-heritage knowledge co-production-adaptive capacity process and develop frameworks to transfer this learning to other heritage contexts.