Research
Urban cultural Policy and culture-led regeneration
Major events: Olympic Games cultural programme (Cultural Olympiad)
I have been conducting research on the Olympic Games cultural dimension since 1999, focusing on the Cultural Olympiad or official Olympic Arts Festivals. I have conducted fieldwork on every single Summer and Winter Olympic Games host since Sydney 2000. From 2004 to 2010, I acted as academic observer and advisor to the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad and in 2011 I was appointed to conduct its Legacy Evaluation. Between 2008 and 2013, I was a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Research Grant Advisory. Since 2015, I am a member of the IOC Culture and Olympic Heritage Commission and in 2019, I have been appointed the first formal Culture advisor to the IOC.
Major events: European Capital of Culture programme
I have researched the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) initiative since 2002 and have documented the experience of all ECoC hosts up to 2019 (over 65 cities, in more than 30 European countries) since the initiative’s launch in 1985.
My research has focused on studying the symbolic regeneration potential and long-term cultural legacies of hosting an ECoC, as well as its economic, physical and social impacts.
The Institute of Cultural Capital was created in 2010 to pioneer methodologies for the analysis of the multiple impacts of major cultural interventions and has become a world referent in comparative indicator analysis and longitudinal studies. Liverpool has been a focal point for my studies, but the research framework I devised in 2006 has also been applied in the study of the legacy of Glasgow 1990 and is a referent in other ECoC research programmes, from Stavanger 2008, to Turku 2011, Marseille-Provence 2013, Aarhus 2017 and Leeuwarden 2018.
Research grants
Impact And Legacies Of Creative Clustering: The New Culture And Education District, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
ARTS AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL
February 2017 - March 2018
Liverpool 2018: Evaluating the legacies of the European Capital of Culture 10 years on
ARTS AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL
January 2016 - June 2016
The value of global cultural policies at the Olympic Games: Building bridges between Olympic cities and the Olympic Movement through transnational cultural narratives
INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (SWITZERLAND)
June 2016 - September 2017
Brazil's urban brand images and cultural narratives in the wake of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS (UK)
September 2016 - September 2017
Heritage, Pride and Place. Exploring the contribution of world heritage status to a city's future development.
ENGLISH HERITAGE
May 2012 - February 2013
London 2012 Impact Evaluation/Scotland’s Cultural Plan 2012 – 2014
THE LONDON ORGANISING COMMITTEE OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES AND PARALYMPIC GAMES LIMITED (UK)
October 2012 - April 2013
The Status of 'European Capital of Culture' - Long-Term Effects
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT (BELGIUM)
January 2013 - December 2014
London 2012 Cultural Olympiad Legacy Evaluation
THE LONDON ORGANISING COMMITTEE OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES AND PARALYMPIC GAMES LIMITED (UK)
October 2011 - February 2013
Experiencing arts and culture. Understanding and measuring quality in physical and virtual environments.
ARTS AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL
October 2008 - September 2009
Towards London 2012: Non-accredited Media, Cultural Discourses, and Olympic Host City Identity.
BRITISH ACADEMY (UK)
February 2006 - January 2008
Cultural Programming at the Beijing Olympics
UNIVERSITIES CHINA COMMITTEE IN LONDON (UK)
April 2008 - March 2009
Cultural sustainability? Liverpool 2008: the theory and practice of cultural policy
ARTS AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL
January 2008 - December 2011