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FOAH2002 - Projects for 2026-27

The Ethics of Direct Cremation 

Sarah Carter-Walshaw, IDEA in PRHS

The Ethics of Direct Cremation involves the cremation of the deceased shortly after death, usually without a viewing beforehand and without a funeral service (though the bereaved might opt to separately arrange a memorial service at a later stage). According to research by SunLife, direct cremation accounted for 20% of body disposals in 2023 and 2024. The majority of these were requested or organised by the deceased prior to death, but 10% of respondents to the SunLife study noted that they chose direct cremation due to financial constraints (SunLife 2025, pp.17-8).

In this project you will explore direct cremation and the ethical questions and issues that it raises. Some things that you might like to consider or investigate could include the ethical implications as related to:

  • The possible impact on the bereaved
  • Choosing this for oneself vs choosing it for another
  • How Direct Cremation is advertised
  • The reasons why people choose to have direct cremation
  • The wider socio-economic context of this changing approach to body disposal

You will be encouraged to explore the wider literature on body disposal and death studies as well as ethical and philosophical literature more generally in your work. You do not need to have pre-existing knowledge or experience of studying ethics, philosophy, or death studies more broadly. You only need to have an interest in body disposal and its related ethical considerations, and a willingness to undertake some research and produce an output with your colleagues.

Project outputs
I am open to the output that you might wish to develop; options can include but are not limited to:

  • A report, which can take the form of an ‘edited collection’ with an introduction written as a group and individual sections
  • One (or more, if students would prefer) of the following, which should be public-facing:
  • Activity or event
  • Webpage
  •  Leaflet or information pack
  • Podcast episode (or series of mini episodes)
  • Zine

Sharing the Voices of Medieval Female Visionaries

Marta Cobb, School of History

This project will involve creating public engagement activities relating to the lives and writings of medieval female visionaries.

People tend to assume that medieval women had to be silent and obedient. Some women, however, felt that, not only was God speaking to them, but that God wanted them to share his message. Having had these experiences, these women often felt called to another way of life, leading them to disobey their parents, abandon husbands and fiancés, and even, in some cases, criticise popes and lead armies. Some of these women would be recognised as saints; others would be condemned as heretics. Some, like Joan of Arc, are famous today, but many are much less well known. Will you help to share their stories?

Working on this project will hone your skills in research, project management, and communication, as well as giving you a chance to think creatively about how to engage audiences with a topic they might not know much about.

You don’t need expertise in medieval history or religion to apply for this project, just a sense of curiosity as well as a desire to learn more about the lives of medieval women and to share that knowledge with a wider audience.

Working times are flexible and will depend upon the activities you create and how you would like to present them.

Project outputs
This will largely depend upon participants, but possibilities could include creating a card or board game, a series of podcasts, or other events and activities. One option would be to present your work at Be Curious in May 2027.

Who Paid for the Welfare State?

Charlie Dannreuther, POLIS and West Yorkshire Archive Service

How did we start paying for the UK welfare system?
It seems impossible to think that there was a time when increasing welfare spending was a "good thing" but the Public Works and Loans Board archive saw dramatic increases in spending on welfare infrastructure investment across the UK throughout the C19th and early C20th. Students working on this project will find out how key welfare infrastructure investments (schools, sewers, hospitals, allotments) in West Yorkshire were imagined, proposed planned and financed by PWLB loans and changed the city forever. Alongside research into PWLB files at National Archives in Kew, the West Yorkshire archive will show how central loans funded important local buildings that changed the lives and future trajectories of places in Leeds.

The Leeds study is the first local study from this project. It will show how the PWLB invested in Leeds, under what legislation and under whose local leadership the applications were made and awarded and who benefitted from them. Students will examine how the local building program changed a part of Leeds (perhaps housing sewers or hospitals?) and research and tell a story about that building and its contribution to its place. This project brings history, politics, economics and sociology together to show how the dreams of the past link to the needs of the future through the decaying welfare capital assets (buildings!) of the present.

Students won’t need to know anything about any of these disciplines but they will need the imagination to see what these projects were hoping to do, the tenacity to dig out the connections and self restraint to not get lost in the archives!

Project Outputs
At the end of the project there will be an output for the community in the form of a flyer and website and possible event. There will also be enough material to provide a proof of concept case for a paper to back the grant application. We will also have made some progress on designing a template for local public works investigators to answer important questions about their local welfare infrastructure (when was it built, who paid for it, who paid the loan back and how (normally rates!) and who owns it now? These will include training people how to use an archive, track records and RQs and how to use a mobile phone to record documents and analyse them further.

The classroom then and now: learning across time

Dr Karima Gaci, LCS

Have you ever wondered what studying your subject would have looked like in the past?

In this project, you will explore what it meant to learn in the 19th century and compare these past experiences with your own as a student today. Starting from examples such as language learning (including French), you will investigate historical teaching methods such as grammar exercises, memorisation, and translation, before expanding your focus to consider a wider range of disciplines and learning environments. You will work with a variety of historical materials, including textbooks, classroom exercises, visual sources, and pedagogical writings, in order to reconstruct what everyday learning looked like in the past.

There may also be an opportunity to consult original archival materials held in Special Collections, giving you first-hand experience of working with historical sources.

Throughout the project, you will explore questions such as what it meant to be a student in the past, how different subjects were taught, and how and why educational practices have changed over time. Your own experience as a learner will be central to the project: by reflecting on how you study today, you will be able to make meaningful and insightful comparisons with past educational practices, enriching your interpretation of historical materials.

The project is led by a specialist in the history and historiography of language learning, and if you are interested in languages you will have the opportunity to explore this area further, although no prior knowledge of French or of the 19th century is required. Your own experience of education will be a valuable starting point.

Project outputs
The project will ideally result in a digital exhibition or website, showcasing what learning was like in the 19th century. You will work with historical sources (such as textbooks, images, and exercises) and present them in an engaging and accessible way, alongside short explanations and reflections. This approach particularly benefits from your own perspective as students: by reflecting on your own learning experiences, you will be able to draw meaningful comparisons between past and present, enriching your interpretation of historical materials.

Mapping women's roles in 20th century energy transitions

Graeme Gooday, PRHS
Project Partner: Archives & Library of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, London

How can we motivate people to adopt more sustainable decarbonized energy consumption?
Women have long played a major (but often overlooked) role in decisions about household energy management; so we can surely learn much by looking at the history of their role in past energy transitions. For this project you will study British women's 20th century campaign to end domestic coal consumption and adapt domestic life instead to electricity - despite considerable opposition from the coal industry.

Using appropriate AI tools, you will explore how this transition was promoted by the Electrical Association for Women (EAW) by analysing articles on fossil fuel consumption in the digitized EAW magazine 'The Electrical Age (for Women)' published from 1926 to 1986. This magazine is available online from the partner organisation IET Archives & Library at https://www.theiet.org/membership/library-and-archives/the-iet-archives and you will have the support of the IET Archives Manager, Anne Locker, in developing your project outputs.

Although knowledge of 20th century British history, feminist history, and digital humanities will be an advantage, these are not essential for this project's online search activities.
By taking part you will acquire advanced research skills, techniques of communicating about past energy transitions, and an understanding of how 20th century feminism informed the decarbonisation of UK homes.

Project outputs
These will be explored in dialogue with the partner organisation, but could include writing blogposts for the IET Archives https://ietarchivesblog.org/ or making short videos for social media sharing, or editing Wikipedia pages on the history of energy transitions.

Mapping and Co-Designing a Latin American Community Archive in the North

Anna Grimaldi, POLIS and  Patricio Simonetto

How do migrant communities become part of a city's historical record? Whose stories are preserved, and whose are overlooked?
Latin American migration to the UK has expanded significantly over the past two decades, yet the histories, experiences, and cultural contributions of these communities remain relatively under-documented, particularly outside London. Leeds and the wider North are home to diverse Latin American communities, but there is currently no dedicated archive bringing together their histories, memories, and experiences.

In this project, students will contribute to the development of a future community archive created with and for Latin American migrants in the North of the UK. Working with academic, library, and community partners, you will investigate how migrant histories are collected, represented, and shared. The project combines questions of migration, heritage, identity, public history, and community engagement.

Students will work collaboratively while pursuing different strands of research. These may include mapping existing archival collections and community resources; exploring successful models of community archiving in the UK; conducting oral-history interviews with community members; and developing digital approaches to sharing histories with wider publics. Together, these activities will help establish priorities and foundations for future archive development. Students will also have the opportunity to gain experience in archival research, interviewing, qualitative analysis, community-based research, stakeholder engagement, project management, and public-facing communication.

The project is open to students from any discipline. No prior experience of archives, oral history, or Latin American Studies is required, although an interest in migration, culture, heritage, or social justice would be beneficial. Some visits to local partners and community organisations in Leeds may be required.

Project Outputs
The project will produce research and public-engagement outputs that contribute to the longer-term development of a Latin American community archive for Leeds and the wider North. The precise outputs will be determined collaboratively by the student team, project leads, and community partners as the project develops, however some potential outputs include:

  • A collective research report examining the representation of Latin American migration histories in archives, heritage institutions, and community collections;
  • A mapped directory of relevant archival holdings, organisations, and community resources;
  • Oral-history materials and thematic analysis generated through interviews with community participants;
  • Recommendations for future archive development, collecting priorities, and community engagement;
  • Public-facing outputs such as a website, digital exhibition, story map, or educational resource developed in collaboration with project partners.

Friends of Otley Lido

Ian Lawson, Friends of Otley Lido

At Friends of Otley Lido we are working towards reinstating an outdoor pool on the site of the former Otley Baths. Alongside the technical scheme, we have 'Every Day was Summer!: Capturing and Celebrating the Heritage of Otley Baths' and a range of of organisational projects and tasks.

Otley Town Council has also initiated 'Otley 800' - a celebration running from Spring 2027 through to Summer 2028 to celebrate 800 years since the town was granted its Market Charter (1227) and the bridge opened (1228). The aim is for the town to undertake a number of projects (e.g. a tapestry) and hold events as part of the heritage celebration - this is a a pretty broad spectrum of heritage given the impact of these on the town!

A couple of focal events are proposed:
28-31 May 2027 - events in the Market Place celebrating the town's market heritage
17-18 June 2028 - a Riverside Pageant (which we have offered to host at the pool) possibly combined with Otley Carnival

Whilst Otley 800 is not related to our project there is an obvious synergy alongside it providing focus, timetable, and potential partnerships with other organisations in the town.

The Riverside Pageant is likely to be a focal event for us and we are aiming to start to lay the foundations (noting Otley 800 is still its early phases and details are limited).

The town has also applied for UK Town of Culture 2028.

Our key 'foundational' projects are:
1) Archival searches and collating information on Otley Baths and/or (outdoor) swimming locally
2) Recording oral histories

These could potentially include development of how the outputs could be presented (e.g. pop-up museum, exhibitions, digitally, etc.).

Additionally, the town council is keen to co-design Otley 800 and therefore our organisation and projects could be part of this process. Similarly, we are open to ideas and flexible about projects linked to either Otley 800 or our project more widely - so if a course has ideas with a clear rationale we would be keen to hear their thoughts.

In this respect, there may be some obvious opportunities associated with:
- Performance, theatre, music, etc. linked to the Riverside Pageant in June 2028 or other events prior to this
- Media & Communications related to the wider project (e.g. promotional videos, social media, etc.)
- Digital
- Sustainability - we are seeking to become certified as a Carbon Literate Organisation and also a Water Literate Organisation. Additionally, as a riverside venue biodiversity, etc. is part of the equation too!
- Heritage linked to the pool or riverside more generally
- Creating educational resources related to the pool, wider riverside, heritage, sustainability, etc.

As an example project, BA Theatre & Performance recently undertook a project in partnership with ourselves and a local school linked to the Year 3/4 curriculum (which includes commencing swimming lessons). This included connecting to the curriculum learning related to Roman Baths, creative writing and drawing, children speaking with relatives who visited Otley Baths, classroom sessions, a scavenger hunt, etc. A major output was an audio tour of the pool / riverside area.

Another project we have identified is creative design and/or marketing based developing the site to promote the project. We have circa 25m of hoarding plus other areas of the perimeter to utilise. We have utilised part of the hoarding including creative designs which have transformed memories into images (produced by Zeppo Creative). This needs further development both from a creative perspective and also from a marketing / promotional perspective.

In summary, whilst we have outlined above some projects we would also be keen to hear from courses or departments who can see potential projects that would support student learning and help to develop our organisation and heritage and wider projects. We have established local partnerships - e.g. schools, voluntary organisations, businesses, etc. which can be leveraged.

Project Outputs
There are obvious outputs linked to the archival searches and oral histories. However, how the information is presented is open for exploration.
Clearly there is a potential focal event of the Riverside Pageant in June 2028 (or possibly something linked to the Market Place event in May 2027).
Other outputs could be as varied as exhibitions, pop-up museum, performances, digital, etc, - we are very open-minded to opportunities that promote the project and showcase our work focusing on the pool and wider riverside (the riverside context is important) and three key themes: community, health and wellbeing, and heritage.

Feminist Art Making Histories

Elspeth Mitchell, FAHACS

Feminist Art Making Histories (famh.art) is a digital archive of long-form, oral history interviews with artists, curators and writers, exploring the encounter between art and feminism across Ireland and the UK from the 1970s to the 1990s. On this project, you'll work directly with this rich body of material to investigate how feminist ideas shaped, and were shaped by, art making in this period.

You'll spend time listening closely to these interviews and working to identify the themes, tensions and stories that run through them, or take particular interviews as a starting point for further research.

From there, you'll turn your listening into something others can engage with (defined by the group). You'll develop skills in archival and oral history research, critical analysis, collaborative working, and writing for public audiences.

You don't need any background in art history, feminist theory or oral history but rather an interest and investment in the politics of feminism in all its diversity and an interest in learning more about art in Britain and Ireland.

The archive is fully digital, so there's no travel involved and all the work fits within normal teaching hours.

Project outputs
Ideas include:

  • A curated digital 'listening trail' through the archive that guides a visitor through selected interview clips with student-written context.
  • A short exhibition (physical pop-up or digital) pairing extracts from the interviews with images of the artworks or movements they describe.
  • An educational or schools resource pack introducing feminist art history through the voices in the archive: accessible activities, discussion prompts, key terms.
  • A zine or printed leaflet that reinterprets the oral histories visually and textually, in the DIY spirit of much feminist art.
  • An edited collection: a group-written introduction framing the themes, plus individual chapters where each student digs into one artist, interview, or theme.
  • A set of 'annotated interviews' you might produce a critical companion essay situating it in its historical and artistic context.
  • A thematic report mapping recurring threads across multiple interviews (networks, institutions, exclusions, turning points).
  • A short podcast episode or audio essay responding to the interviews.
  • 'Liner notes' for the archive, interpretive guides to help future listeners.

A Dream of Belonging: Exploring the Janina and Zygmunt Bauman Archive

Jack Palmer and Tom Campbell, School of Sociology and Social Policy

In March 2028, the Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery will host A Dream of Belonging: The Century of Janina and Zygmunt Bauman, an exhibition celebrating the centenaries of two remarkable figures associated with Leeds and whose lives were shaped by the defining upheavals of twentieth-century Europe. This project offers students a unique opportunity to contribute to the development of this exhibition work with the internationally significant Papers of Janina and Zygmunt Bauman, held in the Brotherton Library Cultural Collections. Working alongside the project leads, exhibition staff from Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery, and archive specialists, students will investigate how archival materials can be used to tell compelling public stories about lives shaped by war, exile and the search for belonging.

About Janina and Zygmunt Bauman:
Janina Bauman (1926–2009) was a Holocaust survivor, memoirist and educator who published two influential memoirs based on her experiences. Zygmunt Bauman (1925–2017) was one of the world's most influential sociologists, renowned for his writings on modernity, morality, globalisation and the Holocaust. Forced into exile from the Polish People’s Republic in 1968, Janina and Zygmunt eventually settled in Leeds, where they made lasting contributions to the intellectual and cultural life of the city.

Who is this project for?
No prior experience of archival research is required. Students will receive guidance and training from the project team, Library Cultural Collections staff, and Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery staff in the handling, interpretation and use of archival materials.
Similarly, prior knowledge of the figures of Janina and Zygmunt Bauman is not essential. However, the project will be particularly well suited to students with interests in sociology, social and critical theory, Jewish studies, migration and refugee studies, and intellectual history.
A willingness to engage with and read autobiographical and archival materials is essential. Students will be asked to work closely with published memoirs by Janina and Zygmunt Bauman, and make connections between these and archival materials and personal documents in the collection. A curiosity about how individual lives – and the material traces that they generate - can illuminate wider social, historical, and political transformations will be particularly valuable.

Students will:
• Undertake archival research in the Janina and Zygmunt Bauman Archive.
• Identify and assess objects, documents, photographs and ephemera with exhibition potential.
• Explore connections between archival materials and major published works by Janina and Zygmunt Bauman.
• Work with curators and archivists to understand exhibition planning and object selection.
• Develop short object biographies and interpretive notes.
• Contribute to discussions about themes, narratives and audience engagement.

Skills Developed
Students will gain knowledge of and experience in:
• Archival research
• Cultural heritage, including regulatory and licensing frameworks that govern exhibitions
• Public history and public sociology
• Research writing and reporting
• Object-based learning
• Collaborative research and project work

Project Outputs
The principal output will be a scoping report for the exhibition team, including:
• An indicative selection of exhibition objects.
• Recommendations for thematic sections and exhibition narratives.
• Research notes on significant items and their relationship to key texts.
• Suggestions for future research and public engagement activities.
The report will contribute directly to the development of the 2028 exhibition and may also provide the foundation for a subsequent FOAH2002 student project in 2027/28 that would support the exhibition's final development.

Gregory Radick, PRHS

I'm the editor of a book-reviews journal in History and Philosophy of Science called METASCIENCE, and with encouragement from the publisher, Springer, I've been looking for ways of repackaging its large and rich back catalogue of reviews into topic collections that might be valuable to researchers, teachers and students. The students would basically take charge of the project, with guidance from me and, in a much more light-touch way, my contact at Springer, Agustina Perez Ryan.

The creative/research elements would involve: doing a survey of how such collections work at other journals; applying the lessons learned about best practice to come up with a proposal; working with me to curate the collections, commission introductions from academic specialists, publicize them on social media etc., and monitor usage.

I'm also interested in exploring productive use of AI in all of the above, consistent with the University's and Springer's regulations.

Project outputs

  • A plan for the production and promotion of topic collections.
  • 5-10 topic collections, comprising up to circa 20 review each, and with bespoke, commissioned introductions.
  • A social media campaign publicizing the above, along with a plan for monitoring uptake.
  • An infrastructure and plan in place for future students to make use of.

Roman Catholic responses to ecological and humanitarian injustice: finding active hope in a time of crisis

Tasia Scrutton and Simon Hewitt, Philosophy, Religion and History of Science

Our lives today take place against the backdrop of large-scale ecological and humanitarian crisis. Many of us are confronted with feelings of hopelessness. Coping strategies can range from despair to disavowal to wishful thinking that somehow we do not need to act because all will in the end be well. Religious responses sometimes perpetuate this latter attitude, whether because they promise ‘pie in the sky when we die’ or because they teach that it is ‘God’s job and not ours’ to sort out ecological and social problems.

A more helpful response is active hope – hope that, far from demotivating ecological and social justice activism, involves and sustains that activism. The Roman Catholic Church has promoted active hope through Catholic Social Teaching, for example in texts such as Laudato Si’. This has the potential to have a huge influence: the Roman Catholic Church is international rather than being based in one country or continent, and it is estimated that around 17% of the world’s population is Roman Catholic, amounting to around 1.4 billion people. If incorporated into Roman Catholic practice and spirituality, the teaching about ecological and social justice therefore has the potential to influence a significant part of humanity.

Unfortunately, this potential is hampered in various ways. One of these is conservative Roman Catholic influence, as we see evidenced in some politics in the USA. But some of it is simply that the Catholic Social Teaching has not filtered through into ordinary Catholic communities, perhaps because core documents seem too abstract to many people, or are not widely or accessibly distributed.

This project seeks to remedy this by attention to Roman Catholic theology and practice that enables people to find and sustain active hope. As part of this project, you will examine Catholic Social Teaching about ecological and social justice such as Laudato Si’, form links with local Roman Catholic churches, and interview some Roman Catholics who are ecological/social justice activists. We anticipate that your findings about what sustains active hope will include theological and other ideas and beliefs, religious and non-religious practices, exemplars ranging from St Francis of Assisi to Greta Thunberg, and documents, texts and pieces of music.

You will develop skills including theological literacy, textual analysis, qualitative research methods, building relationships with non-academic partners (such as churches), and design, production and dissemination of accessible publications.

You do not need to be a Roman Catholic or any kind of Christian to do this project but you do need to be interested in religious belief systems and in the ways in which they can support (or alternatively undermine) ecological and social justice, and respectful of people’s religious beliefs. You will also need to be sensitive to the challenges raised by ecological and social injustice (e.g. climate change; poverty; war) and sympathetic to appropriate activism aimed at justice.

Project outputs
You will co-create a zine or pamphlet involving ‘stories of hope’, which will draw on your analysis of texts and your conversations with activists. People can often relate to other people and the narratives they tell rather than more abstract ideas and so, while the design is ultimately up to you, your pamphlet/zine could be designed to take a person- or narrative-centred approach. Your output will be accessible and public-facing, and will be distributed to Roman Catholic churches to inspire people to incorporate ecological and social justice into their faith.

The interdisciplinary project Mapping Emily and Anne Brontë’s Gondal: a fantasy saga and/or a multiverse analyses how Emily and Anne Brontë’s 19th century Gondal juvenilia prefigures narrative and communicative practices from our contemporary Internet era

María Seijo-Richart, Institute for Transport Studies

The Brontë children created a game of rival kingdoms (Glass Town), akin to fantasy worlds like Game of Thrones (Franklin, 2016). Around 1832, Emily and Anne created their own separate imaginary world: Gondal, which we must outline through their poems and diary papers (the prose notebooks detailing events were lost). In contrast to reconstructions of the juvenilia as a saga (Ratchford, 1955), recent studies describe Gondal as alternative universes (Gezari, 1992), roleplaying games (Ashley, 2011) or a fandom (Seijo-Richart, 2025).

Using these primary sources and specific studies, students will compile Gondal characters and relationships, design a map of the kingdom and a net of narrative threads, either chronological or alternative. We will evaluate how textual practices available to the Brontës precede modern multiverses. Emily and Anne could travel virtually through their newspapers (an innovation back then): real life Arctic explorers Parry and Ross were characters in Glass Town. Gondal authorship is collective (like oral storytelling), anticipating online fanfiction, which derives from 17th century archontic literature (Derecho, 2006): unofficial continuations of a pre-existing text, offering an uncensored space of self-expression to subordinated groups (women, ethnic minorities): Gondal’s cruel queen challenges 19th century ideals of femininity.

No previous knowledge of the topic is needed, just willingness to investigate storytelling practices and early forms of long-distance communication.

Project Outputs
We will compile and present our findings (the map, the list of characters and the narrative threads) in a webpage, which we can create using CampusPress. We will share this webpage for teaching and learning purposes.
The main output expression will be a creative response bridging one of the textual practices studied to contemporary digital forms. Mirroring the multiple types of media involved in the Gondal juvenilia (prose and poems, drawings, roleplaying), the response can take the form of a picture, an art piece, a fanfiction story, a roleplay video recording.
It will be accompanied by a short personal reflection (around 250 words) on what this response means for the student and how it relates to their learning during the project. The responses and reflections will be included on the webpage, subject to prior consent from the student.

"Once Upon A Sheep"

Judith Simpson, School of Design

This project aims to unpack the multiple “stories” attached to an educational film, called “Once Upon a Sheep” made in West Yorkshire in the 1940s, and make these accessible to a lay audience with an interest in local or textile history.

I have inherited some data and collated some myself, but what I now have represents the output of a community project which deserves to be showcased and shared. Possible outputs could be a video or an exhibition.

The existing body of data includes:

  • A digitised version of the original film (it is silent: we are not sure if it ever had a soundtrack).
  • Video and sound recordings of an event held at Bradford Industrial Museum where people who worked in the textile industry and lived locally add their insights and interpretations.
  • A set of newspaper articles relating to the making of the film and to its exhibition around the country.
  • Assorted archival material relating to those who contributed to the film.

Students will gain experience in interpreting a historical artefact and communicating its importance to a lay audience. There are also opportunities to gather additional data through interviews and archival investigations.

No prior knowledge or experience is required for this project (we can tailor the outputs to the expertise of the group) and any travel or out of hours activity would be entirely optional.

Project outputs
Possible outputs could be a video, an exhibition or a report.

Filling The Void: Social Media Reaction to Active Crime Cases and The Dangers of Contempt of Court

John Sinclair, School of Media and Communication

A heinous crime is committed. A suspect is arrested. Tensions run high. The police seem tight-lipped about the potential perpetrator. Social media users take to their keyboards to fill the information void. A familiar situation?

You might not know that those who speculate online about active criminal proceedings risk committing 'contempt of court,' which could result in a prison sentence of up to two years and/or an unlimited fine. Despite these potential sanctions, many social media users, following the detection of a crime, spend much time gossiping online. Public-facing posts range from actual witness testimony, to hearsay, to outright misinformation/disinformation. In all of these cases, there is a danger that social media posts may undermine or prejudice court proceedings, or interfere with the administration of justice. In other cases, this may lead to the identification of victims of sexual offences or children whose identity is protected by law.

The government is trying to get this message across to the public – but, given febrile online speculation following notorious real-world crimes, it seems to be failing to change online behaviours.

This proposed study aims to survey social media users. Possibly in the same age range as our undergraduates.

The proposed areas of research (subject to negotiation) are:

  1. Social attitudes of young people towards the tension between freedom of speech and the legal doctrine of postponing the release of information to protect the course of justice.
  2. The views of young people as to if (and how) social media platforms should adjust content to meet the strict requirements of the law.

It is envisaged that students come to this topic without any pre-existing knowledge or viewpoints. What we are looking for is a curiosity about what drives social media engagement with crime stories and social attitudes towards the concepts of ‘justice’ and a ‘fair trial.’

Students can gather research data in their own time.

Fieldwork can take place on campus and/or across the Leeds community as a whole.

About your supervisor
Students will work with John Sinclair from the School of Media and Communication. They will design and execute research methodologies to answer agreed research questions. John is a lecturer in Journalism who, in a former career, spent many days attending the courts, reporting criminal trials. Now he teaches rookie journalists in the basics of responsible court reporting. He is looking for a team of inquisitive interdisciplinary undergraduate researchers to investigate an area of online activity that is causing much concern across government and the legal profession.

Project outputs
Possible outputs include a group-work report e.g., a quantitative questionnaire survey of public knowledge of contempt law and/or a qualitative focus-group investigation into public attitudes towards the concepts of justice and/or aversion to information voids.

Historic Cinemas as Community Spaces: Negotiating Identity and Belonging in Leeds and Bradford

Priyanka Singh, LCS

Cities like Bradford (the first UNESCO city of film), and Leeds (key centre of film culture) are also home to iconic historic and cultural spaces such as Hyde Park Picture House and Alhambra Theatre, which serve as important sites for showcasing independent, regional, and historic films. These two sites are over a hundred years old, and their legacy is well recognised across England, serving as key venues that promote cinema as a vital medium through which diasporic identities are negotiated. Film festivals such as the Yorkshire Indian Film Festival, Leeds Indian Film Festival, Leeds International African Arts Festival, and Leeds International Film Festival act as platforms for negotiating diasporic identities. Through these festivals, unique hybrid identities and transnational connections are created and maintained. Essentially, these festivals showcase films in the aforementioned historic spaces, creating a significant cultural bridge that strengthens diasporic dialogue, identity and belonging, cultural heritage and trans-culturalism. The films offer a crucial lens through which migration, belonging, identity, and transnational connections are explored. This project aims to examine the role of diasporic audiences in these cities, emphasising how they engage with iconic cinema halls and recurring festivals as both a connection to their homeland and a way of negotiating the complexities of British identity and multiculturalism. Ultimately, the project will assess the geographical significance and patterns of cultural engagement of Bradford and Leeds in fostering diaspora connections.

Through this project, students will develop skills in archival research and the critical analysis of identity, diaspora, multiculturalism, and cultural heritage by drawing on a wide range of sources. The students will also gain professional skills in data collection, analysis, presentation, and the public dissemination of research.
The group will gain experience communicating with cinema managers, film festival curators, and audiences of these historic venues. They will also gain a deeper understanding of diaspora and multiculturalism.

Project Outputs
The output of the project depends largely on the direction the student group decides to take. The creative output could take the form of interviews, archival research, podcasts, blogpost or a report.

Using our Natural Dye Garden

Pammi Sinha, School of Design

The University of Leeds Natural Dye Garden in the “Clothworkers Courtyard” outside the Clothworkers North building and Baines Wing was originally established by the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers in 1985. An EU funded project Colour4CRAFTS (www.colour4crafts.eu), working with the School of Design, LITAC and the University of Leeds Estates group, refurbished it with new plants and an improved purview (completion April 2026).

This project wants to understand how to maintain the relevance and value of the Natural Dye Garden. You may use one or more of the research questions below or propose your own:
• How do we embed teaching of natural dyes into the curriculum?
• How can we extend the Natural Dye Garden into a place for mental well-being?
• How can we encourage holistic and inclusive communities of researchers that includes students at all levels of study and multidisciplinary academics?

You will initially be introduced to the Natural Dye Garden and the web-based resources (plants, cultivation, harvesting, colours produced etc.). You would then conduct a literature review about cultivating natural dye gardens to identify main issues such as – the benefits, problems and who tends to make the most use of them. An interview schedule/qualitative survey based on the literature review analysis would be developed and you will be supported by the project lead to interview staff and students across the university.

You will have the opportunity to learn about natural dye plants, see and experience nearly an annual cycle of growth (September-May), develop skills in conducting literature reviews, putting together interview schedules and conducting interviews, transcribing and analysis of qualitative data collected.

There is no need for prior knowledge about dyes or textiles or gardening! A positive and enthusiastic attitude would be an advantage!

Project Outputs
A report would be the most useful outcome but I am open to other formats that students might suggest.

Navigating the Abortion Debate

Alison Toop, PRHS

You will be assisting the project lead in putting together a brand-new teaching resource for teaching the ethics of abortion to both philosophy and non-philosophy students (e.g. medical or discovery students) at an undergraduate level. Over the course of the year you will research both the philosophical topic, and different forms of teaching resources (including digital platforms), with the aim of producing an easily navigable and visually engaging teaching resource for this complex topic.

You will mainly be working with the project lead (Alison Toop), but other partners from the university might be brought in where appropriate (e.g. colleagues from the digital teams). Work will be varied, and is likely to include:

  • Researching relevant academic and non-academic literature/sources
  • Writing summaries of relevant sources to be used in the output
  • Researching pedagogical literature
  • Researching/trialling different forms of teaching resource to find something that would work for this topic.
  • Producing the output: a teaching resource to be used in PRHS and medical school teaching, which could be made more widely available online.

You will develop a variety of knowledge and skills during the project. You will gain knowledge of an important and continuing philosophical debate and of university pedagogy. You will develop academic research skills, verbal and written communication skills, as well as employability skills (particularly for those wanting to work in education).

No prior knowledge/experience is required. You do not need to be familiar with the topic, or have experience of teaching – just a willingness to engage with the topic and think creatively about how to communicate complex ideas.

There will be no 'out of hours' work on this project.

Project outputs
Teaching resource for undergraduates