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FOAH2002 - Projects for 2025-26

Exploring Neurodivergent Student Experiences in Liberal Arts Programmes

Project Lead: Caroline Starkey, PRHS

Liberal Arts programmes across the UK are quietly becoming a hub for neurodivergent students—but what are their experiences really like?

This student-led research project investigates the lived experiences of neurodivergent students within Liberal Arts programmes. Participants will work collaboratively to design and conduct qualitative research, including interviews and surveys, to explore how neurodivergent Liberal Arts students navigate academic, social, and institutional aspects of their interdisciplinary education. The project aims to identify both challenges and strengths, with the goal of informing more inclusive teaching practices and programme-level support systems. Students may have the chance to engage with University structures outside of the programme, including Disability Services and wellbeing services, and if the project team decide, we could widen the project beyond Leeds University, through the national network of Liberal Arts Directors. The ultimate aim of the project is to provide a practically-focused report, and possibly a pedagogical publication.

Through this project, students will develop a range of skills including qualitative research methods, ethical research practices, data analysis, teamwork, and writing skills. They will also gain deeper insight into neurodiversity, inclusive education, and the structural dynamics of higher education.

No prior expertise in neurodiversity or research methods is required to join this project, although I am particularly keen to welcome neurodivergent students to the team to help shape the project. We welcome students from all majors. This is a valuable opportunity to contribute to meaningful change while building transferable skills in research, communication, and collaboration.

Project outputs: A report, and also possibly a publication, but the project lead is open to other ideas too and will work with the team to design them. 

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Autistic flourishing and Christian faith

Project Lead: Tasia Scruton and Simon Hewitt, PRHS

Contextual theology means doing theology starting from the experiences of a group of people, in this case Christians with autism. Contextual theology provides a framework within which the voices of autistic people themselves have theological agency, pose questions, and proceed to engage in constructive theology on the basis of those questions. For this reason this project will begin with people’s experiences and work with the themes that emerge from that.

People with autism who are Christians often point to theological emphases that are important to them in relation to their autism. These theological emphases might include acceptance by God (even in the face of non-acceptance by others); the idea of the body of Christ (and [neuro]diversity of the Church); the preferential option for people on the margins.

At times, Christian with autism also encounter negative views relating to autism and spiritual flourishing, whether from people within the Church or in wider society. For example, consider the following:

Fred is a practicing Catholic, who regularly attends mass and confession and who prays daily. Fred received an autism diagnosis in his early 20s. After this Fred met someone who said that autistic people cannot really flourish spiritually with respect to the Christian life because autistic people are incapable of virtues such as compassion and empathy, and because they are only drawn to the ritual parts of religion rather than having a genuine form of spirituality. After this, Fred found himself wondering if his autism diminishes his capacity to flourish spiritually.

This is an example of what the philosopher Miranda Fricker calls ‘hermeneutical injustice’ (HI), where people are not given the conceptual resources they need to make sense of their experiences because they belong to a group who has typically been excluded from discussions where these conceptual resources are formed (Fricker 2007). This is an example of HI because the culture of which Fred is a part lacks the concept of ‘autistic spiritual flourishing’, in part because autistic people have been left out of conversations about what spiritual flourishing means.

Project Outputs:
On this project, you will be asked to compile a report comprising two parts: i) a group literature review (to be completed in Semester 1) considering both theological emphases people with autism find helpful and also hermeneutical injustice and autism; ii) interviews with Christians with autism (to be carried out in Semester 2) exploring questions arising from the literature review. In so doing you will help the project supervisors, Simon Hewitt and Tasia Scrutton, who are beginning a new project on autistic flourishing and the Christian life working with Catholic Christians in Leeds. The aim of this project is to better understand what spiritual flourishing is in a way that includes the perspectives of people with autism. 

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Leadership Ethics

Project Lead: Jamie Dow, PRHS
Project Partners: Church of England leaders, and others

Central research questions (of which students can develop more specific versions):
What is involved in leading ethically? How do the requirements of ethical leadership vary across different contexts - across different cultures, for example, or between different sectors like politics, business, the arts and religious groups? What are the main risks of unethical leadership that arise in each context? And what ultimately do good and bad leaders look like?

Students will address these questions by developing their understanding of ethics as it relates to leadership, and then applying it to two contrasting leadership contexts of their choosing. They will analyse examples of particular leaders past or present, evaluating the extent to which they have exercised leadership ethically - that is, in a way that meets the requirements of their context. This use of critically-engaged case studies will help show what good and bad leadership looks like in the real world.
• 2 case studies – could be video format like the existing ‘library’, could be written docs, or a combination of the two – e.g. telling the leader’s story on video, analysing it in more depth, and backed up by literature in the written piece.
• Contain some kind of critical evaluation of what ethical leadership requires in their context, and some level of engagement with the leadership ethics literature.

Students need an interest in ethics, and in applying it to the real world. You also need an interest in leadership and influence. You don't need to have a background in philosophy, but you do need to be willing to engage with some philosophical (ethics) literature, as well as social science literature about leadership.

There may be opportunities to work with external partner organisations to explore what ethical leadership requires in their context, if there is a good fit with the group's project.

You will deepen your understanding of leadership, of ethics, and of how they are related. You will use and develop creative and persuasive skills in communicating a picture of what ethical leadership (or unethical leadership) is like in different contexts.

Project Outputs: • Two case studies – could be video format like the existing ‘library’, could be written docs, or a combination of the two – e.g. telling the leader’s story on video, analysing it in more depth, and backed up by literature in the written piece.
• Contain some kind of critical evaluation of what ethical leadership requires in their context, and some level of engagement with the leadership ethics literature. 

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Soviets in Britain Revisited: The 1917 Leeds Convention

Project Lead: Yuexin Rachel Lin, History
Project Partners: Leeds Libraries, Leeds Trades Union Council, People's History Museum, Working Class Movement Library

In June 1917, a convention was held in Leeds to take stock of the first Russian revolution that had occurred in March of that year, make sense of Britain's continued involvement in the First World War, and decide on new directions for the British Left. The meeting called for peace, support for disabled veterans and their families, and greater attention to workers' conditions. Most controversially, it proposed that workers' and soldiers' soviets be set up in Britain. It was met with hostility and, distressingly, antisemitic violence against Leeds' Jewish community.

The project frames the Convention as a turning point in British left-wing politics and approaches to the Great War. It centres on the individuals and causes involved in the Convention, what they stood for before this event and how their evolved thereafter. Many of these individuals were, or went on to be, leading lights in British radical politics, such as Bertrand Russell, Sylvia Pankhurst and Ramsay MacDonald. The project also focuses on the broader industrial and inter-ethnic concerns in Leeds at the time, and how these informed the Convention itself.

Students will work with local archives, libraries and labour organisations to uncover the stories behind the Convention. This may involve archival research and oral history interviews facilitated by Leeds Trades Union Council and other partners.

Skills developed: Archival research, interviews, web design and use of digital humanities tools, communication with non-academic audiences
Skills needed: Analysis of written and oral primary sources, creative communication
Travel requirements: Students may wish to travel to potential project partners in Manchester, although this is optional. 

Project Outputs: The project's main output will most likely be a public-facing website on the Leeds Convention, targeted at a general audience. This website presents different facets of the Convention that will allow visitors to learn about the individuals involved, the causes and outcomes of the Convention, and the situation in Leeds at the time. Ultimately, the outputs generated by this website may be used for a larger commemorative project around the Convention, such as a Blue Plaque application for the building in which the event was held. 

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Super/Market

Project Leads: Louise Atkinson and Rob Knifton, FAHACS
External Partners: Harewood House

This project invites students to explore the historic Chinese wallpaper at Harewood House through academic research, visual analysis, and creative experimentation with Augmented Reality.

Created in 18th-century Canton, the wallpaper depicts the production of silk, tea, rice, and porcelain, drawing on Pictures of Tilling and Weaving (Gengzhi Tu), a set of 12th-century Chinese prints promoting Confucian ideals through agricultural processes.

Reinterpreted during the Qing dynasty to reinforce imperial power, these images combine Chinese symbolism with Western techniques like linear perspective. The Harewood wallpaper, from the Qianlong reign, reflects this visual hybridity, making it a rich site for exploring cultural identity, translation, trade and ecologies.

Students will conduct academic and linguistic landscape research, comparing the historical visual and textual languages of the wallpaper with contemporary equivalents found in Leeds-based Asian supermarkets. This includes analysing packaging, signage, and shop layouts as cultural texts that reveal diasporic identities, migration stories, and colonial legacies.

Questions could include:
How do messages of food production on the Chinese wallpaper relate to those in the Asian supermarket?
What colonial and migratory narratives emerge when we trace the trade in everyday food items such as rice and tea?
How can learning from these journeys help us rethink our relationship with food in a time of climate crisis?

Students will gain skills in visual analysis, creative technology, and critical reflection on food systems, migration, and climate. Knowledge of Mandarin or Cantonese may be beneficial, but it is not essential. 

Project Outputs: The research will result in data collection, potentially in the form of a website, online archive, or visual map which can be used by future collaborators or audiences. Using this research, students may choose to develop AR responses that reframe or annotate the wallpaper imagery with layered visuals, sound, or text. 

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To have and to hold: our relationships with musical instruments

Project Lead: Karen Burland 

This project is a research collaboration between Professors Karen Burland (UoL) and Alex Lamont (external) to explore how individuals feel and have felt about the musical instruments they play or use, focusing on acquisition, ownership, and disposal. We aim to uncover the nature of these relationships and how they shape future musical engagement in different musical traditions; the importance of the closeness between instrument and performer in supporting musical identities; and the value of ownership in broader cultural context.  

The research will generate original data from a wide variety of sources in classical, jazz and popular music including the beginner musician, the lifelong amateur and professional performer. Does owning a musical instrument make a difference to our commitment to music? How do our relationships with instruments shape our engagement, our performance, and our sense of self? Does quality matter? 

Students will interview individuals (online, or in person) to explore these questions and will develop skills of interviewing, transcription, data analysis and interpretation. Previous experience is not essential as training will be provided during our meetings, and there are plenty of resources to draw on within the university. An interest in people and their stories would be an advantage though!

Project Outputs:
We are flexible about the outputs - this could be a research report, a public-facing website of stories, a podcast, a portfolio of all of these things - we'd like the students to think about the best ways of consolidating and sharing the insights they gather. 

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Somatic Practices and Chronic Pain

Project Lead: Maria Kapsali, PCI
Project Partners: Somatic Practices and Chronic Pain Network

The project involves supporting an international research network, comprised of academics, practitioners and stakeholders in the area of dance and chronic pain called the Somatic Practice and Chronic Pain Network. It is coordinated by Emma Meehan from the Centre for Dance Research at Coventry University, with members from performing arts, nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, e-health, and people with lived experience of chronic pain. The network has international board members and participants, in Europe, Asia and South America.

You will be involved in the network's regular board meetings (one meeting every 6 weeks aprox) to decide our focus for the coming months, and arrange monthly activities for the public, including webinars and movement sessions, mainly online. You will also be asked to undertake original research, contacting and collecting data (either from interviews and/or online survey) on the work of contemporary professionals of somatics on chronic pain. You will develop skills of designing research questions and questionnaires, data analysis and interpretation, and if applicable, interviewing and transcription. Previous experience is not essential as training will be provided during our meetings, and there are plenty of resources to draw on within the university. An interest in people’s embodied experience and somatic work would be helpful!

Your involvement in the module will include: 

  • Learning about how board meetings work and how to take /circulate ‘minutes’ and ‘actions’  
  • Supporting communications with wider membership of the network, including promoting events through social media, mailing list, a WordPress website. 
  • Exploring how to improve network processes and reaching new audiences. 
  • Learning about building relationships with network members, respecting inclusion and diversity. 
  • Engaging in forwarding planning and completing of tasks on time for delivery of events/webinars 
  • Supporting online events including zoom/Teams webinars 
  • Learning about dance and movement with/for chronic pain 

The activities you will be asked to undertake include: 

  • attend board meetings (2 hours every 6-8 weeks) 
  • one event planning meeting (2 hours) 
  • activities/actions to deliver following meetings (2 hours) 
  • stakeholder engagement (4 hours) 
  • support event delivery (2 hours) 
  • undertake background research on a topic of interest related to developing the network activities or engagement processes 
  • undertake ethnographic research on current provision for chronic pain within professional somatic practice and produce a report on the topic 

Maria Kapsali, with occasional input from the network lead Emma Meehan, will be the main contact person who will introduce you to the network activities, website and social media, as well as exploring learning interests, and reflecting on what has been learned. There will be an opportunity to meet other network board members who may be able to support you in your learning journey. 

Project Outputs: A report on the topic of the network following engagement with practitioners and stakeholders 

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A Somali Village in Colonial Bradford

Project Lead: Fozia Bora, LCS
External Partners: Bradford District Museums and Art Galleries (Cartwright Hall)

This project is a cutting-edge and highly impactful collaboration between the University of Leeds (Professor Fozia Bora) and the Ango-Somali Society, Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Everyday Muslim, Bradford City of Culture, University of Bradford and Bradford Literature Festival.  As a student group, you will be working with community partners and academics to help uncover the buried history of 'A Somali Village in Colonial Bradford' - a brand new collaborative project. 

In May-October 1904, the Great Exhibition in Lister Park, inaugurating Cartwright Hall and promoting Bradford's businesses, displayed its star attraction: the Somali Village. 60 Somali individuals lived in a walled compound –  men, women and children – attracting 348,550 visitors, the most profitable of the entertainments. We will tell the stories of these ‘Villagers’ – often polyglot cosmopolitans – by centring British Somalis in the public reinterpretation of this history, and enabling the local and contemporary art/culture scene to address issues including the white ethnographic gaze and “looking back” as an act of resistance, crucially avoiding re-display of the Somali community in its internal diversity. Somali voices, often absent or deeply obscured in metropolitan and provincial colonial archives, will speak back from the past through recovery of family and oral histories of the carwo (“people of the fair”), and co-create both the research and the cultural outputs. 

Together with the project leads and community partners, you will be working on some important outputs for the project. These will be decided collaboratively with the group and leads, and might include blogs, events with a UoL student society, catalogue of archival material, websites etc. 

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