The Project

Cultural Heritage, People and Place (CHerPP) : Understanding Value via a regional case study (2023- 2026) is a research project exploring the different benefits of culture and heritage, and how these might be more fully accounted for. Our focus is on the often difficult to define and measure “non-use values” – the benefits people derive from culture and heritage even if they don’t directly engage with it.  

The project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the UK Government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). CHerPP is led by Dr Tamara West (Manchester Metropolitan), with Co-leads Dr Rafaela Neiva Ganga and Dr Steven Nolan (Liverpool John Moores University), PDRA Dr Laura Taggart (Manchester Metropolitan), and Research Partner National Museums Liverpool (NML). Responding directly to the  AHRC-DCMS ‘Research culture and heritage capital with an interdisciplinary team’ call, the project sits within a portfolio of projects supported under this Culture and Heritage Capital thematic focus.  

CHerPP is using the case study example of NML’s ambitious Waterfront Transformation Project, which includes an expansion of the International Slavery Museum, Maritime Museum, and associated outdoor spaces.  Working closely with the museums, and with diverse communities in Liverpool and the City Region, the team are using mixed methods approaches to investigate how of heritage and cultural value(s) might be better defined, captured, and encompassed within decision making and analysis.