Our people

Culture, Place and Policy Institute

Professor Franco Bianchini,
Institute Director

Professor Franco Bianchini

Franco Bianchini is Professor of Cultural Policy and Planning – and Director of the Culture, Place and Policy Institute – at the University of Hull. From 2007-2016 he was Professor of Cultural Policy and Planning at Leeds Beckett University.

In 2003 he acted as adviser to Liverpool Culture Company on the preparation of their successful bid for the 2008 European Capital of Culture. He initiated, and was a member of the artistic team for, ‘Cities on the Edge’, a project of cultural co-operation between Liverpool, Bremen, Gdansk, Istanbul, Marseilles and Naples (2004-2009). The project formed part of the programme of Liverpool European Capital of Culture 2008.

From 2010-2014 he was a member of the team preparing the successful bid by the city of Matera, in Southern Italy, for the title of European Capital of Culture for 2019. He has published widely on a range of subjects, including the role of culture in urban regeneration, cultural diversity and interculturalism as resources for innovation in urban policy, and the development of urban cultural strategies in the context of the current political, economic and environmental crises.

"The evaluation of Hull’s UK City of Culture year is one of the first major pieces of work for the institute which researches the impacts of cultural activities across a range of areas including the economy, the sustainability of the arts sector, health and wellbeing"

Dr Jo Byrne

Dr Jo Byrne is the Research Manager at CPPI. She has over 20 years' experience as a practitioner in the cultural sector, primarily in the fields of the historic and built environment. She has worked in the areas of project and grant management, policy development and service delivery, located within the public, third and HEI sectors. Her own research is positioned at the interface between oral history, cultural geography and heritage curatorship, with a specific focus on maritime cultures, place memory, lived experience of place and the emergence of 'heritage from below'. Jo has a PG Dip Heritage Management, awarded by the Ironbridge International Institute for Cultural Heritage, University of Birmingham, and a PhD in History, from the Maritime Historical Studies Centre, University of Hull.

Dr Catherine Alexander

Dr Catherine Alexander is a Research Fellow at CPPI and an author for Epigeum, Oxford University Press. Catherine's background is in social and cultural geography and her research is centrally concerned with social justice and participatory methods, focusing on the intersections of youth, crime and citizenship. Catherine is passionate about community engagement, and prior to coming to Hull, was Development Officer for the Participatory Research Hub (Durham University), which linked up local community researchers with social science academics. Catherine has 10 years' experience in participatory research, project management, university-community liaison and impact evaluation. She has previously held academic positions at the universities of KTH (Sweden), Newcastle and Durham. Catherine has an MA Social Research Methods (Geography), awarded by Newcastle University, and a PhD in Geography (Assembling Fear, Practicing Hope: Geographies of gender and generation in Newcastle upon Tyne, awarded by Durham University).

Dr Nigel D Morpeth

Dr Nigel D Morpeth is a Research Fellow at CPPI, and Associate Lecturer at the International Business School at the University of Lincoln. He has previously worked for two other universities in the UK and three local authorities, in community-based leisure and events organisation. His research focuses on diverse interdisciplinary themes in tourism, cultural studies, the creative industries and sport and leisure. Recent edited books include: Planning for Tourism: Towards a Sustainable Future and Tourism and the Creative Industries. He is a contributor to the recently published Sage International Encyclopaedia of Travel and Tourism. Nigel is part of a network of artists, based in Barton-upon-Humber, in Lincolnshire, who stage an annual community-based open studios event. He has exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy and other venues nationally, and has received a number of awards for his art work.

Alice Borchi

Alice Borchi is a Research Fellow at CPPI. In February 2018 she had a successful viva for her thesis PhD thesis at Warwick University ("Culture and economic crisis: cultural value in Italy from 2008 to the present day"). Alice's thesis shows not only how cultural value is shaped by economic factors such as austerity, but also how it represents a battleground where different ways of understanding politics and policy clash, mingle and sometimes overlap. Her latest article, 'Culture as commons: theoretical challenges and empirical evidence from occupied spaces in Italy" was published in March 2018's special edition of Cultural Trends. In March 2016 Alice organised Activism in 2016: art, land and technology, a one-day conference funded by the Humanities Research Centre at Warwick University, which was aimed at artists, academics and activists.

Associates

A list of associates and internal and external advisors of CPPI has yet to be formalised. The following academic colleagues from a wide variety of academic backgrounds at the University of Hull have collaborated with CPPI so far:

Dr Marianne Afanassieva (Organisational Behaviour and Analysis, Business School)
Peter Andrews (Consumer Behaviour and Marketing)
Professor Vassos Argyrou (Social Anthropology and Cultural Theory, School of Education and Social Sciences)
Professor David Atkinson (Cultural and Historical Geography, School of Environmental Sciences)
Professor Alastair Borthwick (Music, School of Arts)
Dr Colette Conroy (Drama, School of Arts)
Dr Sarah-Jane Dickenson (Drama, School of Arts)
Professor Mark Hayter (School of Health and Social Work)
Dr Gill Hughes (Community Learning, School of Education and Social Sciences)
Professor Andrew Jonas (Human Geography, School of Environmental Sciences)
Dr Lisa Jones (School of Education and Social Sciences)
Dr Maria Kapsali (Management Systems, Business School)
Dr Andrew King (Music and Technology, School of Arts)
Dr Sarah McKeon (Heritage Studies)
Dr Josef Ploner (International Education, School of Education and Social Sciences)
Professor Amar Ramudhin (Logistics Institute)
Professor Elisabeth Salter (School of Histories, Languages and Cultures)
Professor Rüdiger Wurzel (Comparative European Politics, School of Law and Politics)
Dr Fannie Yeung (Consumer Behaviour, Marketing and Communications)

PhD students

Victoria Bissett

'Hull UK City of Culture 2017 and the community arts sector in Hull'. Start date: February 2017. Supervisors: Professor Franco Bianchini, Dr Gill Hughes, Dr Sarah-Jane Dickenson.

Helen Keighley

'A study of volunteering at a selection of Heritage sites in England'. Start date: September 2016. Supervisors: Professor Franco Bianchini and Dr Susan Ashley (Northumbria University).

Michael Howcroft

'Civic Imaginaries of Hull City of Culture 2017 and Brexit' - Start date: September 2017. Supervisors: Professor Franco Bianchini, Professor David Atkinson and Professor Rüdiger Wurzel.

Enrico Tommarchi

'Port - city relations, culture-led regeneration and environmental and spatial planning in Hull, Valencia, Genoa and Rotterdam. Start date: September 2016. Supervisors: Professor Franco Bianchini, Professor Andrew Jonas and Professor Vassos Argyrou.

Contact us

Collaborate with us

collaborate@hull.ac.uk

Postgraduate study

pgstudy@hull.ac.uk

+44 (0)1482 466850