Dr Helen Graham

Helen’s research lies at the intersection of political theory and participative and action-led forms of research. With museums, heritage and place as a focus, Helen investigates how participatory work can be combined with ‘whole system’ change. In York – in collaboration with architect Phil Bixby – Helen is involved in staging large scale public engagement processes (My Future York / My Castle Gateway / My York Central) in key areas of urban regeneration and city-level development.

These projects have combined the personal through narrative, story-telling and imaginative methods to enable personal articulation (hence the ‘my’ in the project titles) with developing a new form of public sphere via inquiry-led forms of debate and discussion and an approach to change that actively links institutional/government-led infrastructures and investment with tactical experiments and community-led action.

Through ‘Bradford’s National Museum: Connecting Bradford and the National Science and Media Museum’ Helen is working with the museum staff, other researchers and a number of project partners to explore connections between the museum and Bradford. Linking all the key issues – Bradford, the museum, communities, science and technology – is an exploration of relational approaches via action-led and experimental methods.