Programme Team

Director: Professor Rebecca Madgin

Dr Rebecca Madgin is a Professor of Urban Studies, University of Glasgow and the Programme Director for the AHRC’s Place-Based Research Programme. Rebecca works broadly on the relationship between heritage and place-making and particularly on the emotional value of historic places. Central to this work is an examination of the meanings of place and the processes of place attachment. Rebecca has published  widely on these topics using historical and contemporary examples drawn from urban and rural places across the United Kingdom and internationally. 

Research Associate: Lucrezia Gigante

Lucrezia Gigante is a Museum Studies researcher with an interest in contemporary public culture and the politics of place-based cultural participation. Prior to this role, she was a Post-doctoral Research Associate with Culture Commons on the UK-wide open policy development programme ‘The Future of Local Cultural Decision Making’. Lucrezia earned her PhD from the University of Leicester’s School of Museum Studies in 2023, with a research focused on art organisations’ place-based public programmes as sites for cultural citizenship.

In her current role, Lucrezia convenes the Early Career Place Network.

Knowledge Exchange, Communications and Engagement Officer: Ieuan Rees

Ieuan is a knowledge exchange and communications professional as well as an inter-disciplinary scholar with an invested interest in place, identity, and heritage. Ieuan works with a wide range of partners, stakeholders, and projects to ensure impactful communications whilst developing excellent relationships. His PhD Heritage, Planning and Place: New Futures for Participatory, Creative Place-Making’ ( October 2022 - 2026), examines the relationship between heritage, place-making and the creative process.

Postgraduate Researcher: Olivia Maurer

Olivia Maurer is a postgraduate researcher in Urban Studies at the University of Glasgow, with a background in public policy and arts-based community engagement. Her PhD works in partnership with the AHRC Place-Based Research Programme to build an evidence base of methodologies that are able to surface the felt experience of place, specifically focused on using Theatre of the Oppressed as both a research method and a policy engagement tool.