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Harald is a trained objects conservator and archaeologist whose research on how pasts are used and constructed in the present - spanning collections, buildings and landscapes. His work is centred around museums, heritage and archaeology, with a particular focus on public participation and engagement – both in-person and online. Since completing his PhD on participatory approaches to caring for heritage places, he has worked on research projects exploring contemporary collecting and disposal in museums, how to care for heritage buildings in landscapes undergoing unavoidable change and how to understand and evaluate public benefit from development-led archaeology.
Director of Studies MA Museum Studies
Publicity Officer
In my research, I work to trace connections between theory and practice - how we think about museums, heritage and archaeology and how that relates to how go about our work in these fields. I am particularly interested in public facing and participatory work and most of my research is collaborative and participatory. In general, I am more interested in people than things and the present than the past. In addition to my interests in participatory approaches, I research heritage values and try to understand why things, places and practices are important to people in different ways. I’m particularly interested in understanding how these perceptions change and are impacted by change. As a result, I like to think of heritage as a process of recycling and am interested in how heritage and museums connect with issues relating to sustainability and change. A current list of my publications is available on my Google Scholar page.
BESPOKE OPEN, COLLABORATIVE AND CREATIVE APPROACHES TO HERITAGE DOCUMENTATION (BOCCAHD)
The BOCCAHD project explores ways of questioning, opening up, remixing and creatively engaging with heritage documentation. Working with heritage sector partners based in Yorkshire, the project is centred around a series of public-facing and internal workshops to share insights from project members’ and partners’ research and practice, culminating in the design and testing of a prototype creative cataloguing application.
PI: Harald Fredheim (University of York)
Co-Is: Arran Rees (University of Leeds) and Clare Fisher (University of Sheffield)
Funder: White Rose Collaboration Fund
The Museum of TAT in Leeds
The Museum of TAT (@museumtat) is a collaboration between Harald Fredheim and Lynda Burrell (Creative Director at Museumand). Together, we collect unwanted, unused and unneeded museum items and work with creatives to find ways to give new life to these items by transforming them. Our first exhibition was at Leeds Industrial Museum, where we displayed pieces that Yorkshire-based creatives Alice Bradshaw, Alex Harwood and Clare Fisher had made for us, using deaccessioned objects from Leeds Museums and Galleries.
PI: Harald Fredheim (University of York)
Co-I: Lynda Burrell (Museumand)
Funders: York Impact Accelerator Fund and University of York Economic and Social Research Council Impact Acceleration Account
I welcome applications from prospective PhD candidates with interests in the roles heritage, museums and archaeology play in society – and in particular from those who would like to pursue research relating to the following topics:
Current research students:
Former research students:
Year 3:
Presenting Archaeology and Heritage
Contemporary Issues in Museums
Museums, Audiences and Interpretation
I have peer-reviewed articles for a number of academic journals including:
04/2022: Invited Discussant at a Nordic TAG 2023 session titled Heritage at an Arm’s Length, organised by Herdis Hølleland and Elisabeth Niklasson.
09/2021: Invited keynote speaker for a FARO conference on participatory approaches to assessing significance and coping with profusion in museums, Mu.ZEE in Ostend, Belgium.
04/2021: Invited speaker for the GRASCA graduate school in contract archaeology at Linnaeus University (with Sadie Watson and Kate Faccia).
02/2019: Beyond Ethics of Convenience. Researching Digital Cultural Heritage: Ethics of Using Digital Media in Arts and Humanities Research. Manchester, UK.
10/2017: Positive Tips and Challenges of Being at the ECR Stage [Panellist]. AHRC Heritage Priority Area Postgraduate and Early Career Heritage Researcher Workshop, London, UK.