The Heritage Institute is a university-level cross-disciplinary research Institute with the aim of bringing together researchers from the diverse disciplines currently engaged with the broad theme of ‘heritage’, as well as identifying new researchers and disciplines.
The inauguration of the Institute marks a significant milestone in our commitment to advancing research, education, and training in the field of heritage, its management and interpretation. In today's context, tangible and intangible heritage have emerged as vital developmental assets, particularly in the Global South.
Our commitment to fostering interdisciplinary connections will serve to enhance our collective impact and allow us to address complex societal challenges more effectively.
Heritage Institute team
Professor Soumyen Bandyopadhyay
Director of the Heritage Institute and Sir James Stirling Chair in Architecture.
Soumyen is the Sir James Stirling Chair in Architecture at the Liverpool School of Architecture (LSA), and Associate Dean for Research for the School of the Arts (SotA). Previously Head of School at LSA (2016-21), Soumyen has held professorial positions at the Manchester School of Architecture (MSA) and Nottingham Trent University since 2008.
He leads the University’s Heritage Research Institute and chairs the inter-university grouping, Heritage Alliance of the New Silk Road (HANSR). Soumyen also directs the Centre for the Study of Architecture and Cultural Heritage of India, Arabia and the Maghreb (ArCHIAM, www.archiam.co.uk), an interdisciplinary research forum with projects in Oman, Qatar, Morocco and India.
See Soumyen's staff page for more information.
Lois Thomas
Heritage Institute Manager
As Heritage Institute Manager, Lois works with the Director of the Heritage Institute and the Head of Research Development & Delivery to accelerate delivery of the objectives of the newly constituted Institute, and to facilitate its research and impact ambitions while also working to enhance the research environment. Lois’s role involves managing the Institute’s activities and contributing to the development and delivery of the Institute’s strategy. She has responsibility for grant capture, building on the existing portfolio and coordinates the delivery of strategic funding goals to include larger, longer duration grants and securing externally funded fellowships for researchers working in the areas of Heritage.
Her main role is to raise the profile of the Institute, via public engagement events and to build key strategic partnerships to boost existing activity as well as identifying new strands. Lois has oversight of the Institute’s impact portfolio and will directly develop bids for internal pump priming schemes to augment the significance and reach of our Heritage Research.
Lois is working on the development of a commercial CPD (Continuing Professional Development) offer and manages activity such as the Virtual Visiting Fellowship Scheme. She is reviewing the existing Heritage Postgraduate Taught offering to make it more relevant and inclusive and will contribute to initiatives that increase Postgraduate Recruitment intake.
Shelly Salmon
Heritage Institute Administrator
As Administrator for the Institute Shelly coordinates activities internally, across the university, and with local, national and international partners and stakeholders. She supports activity around grant capture, by setting up research development meetings, coordinating local peer-review and ensuring that any demand management processes are communicated, administratively supported, and that deadlines are adhered to.
She supports the delivery of our annual calendar of events, acting as the Institute’s point of contact for speakers and tracks the outcomes of the Institute’s collaborations and projects, liaising with colleagues across the institution and beyond to collect information in line with institutional and faculty policy.
Shelly is the Institute’s key point of administrative contact for internal stakeholders such as the Digital Innovation Factory, the Materials Innovation Factory and Libraries Museums and Galleries.
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