NEWS18 September 2023

£3.1m issued for research to track value of heritage

UK – The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) have announced funding for six research projects focused on measuring the benefits of culture and heritage in England.

Liverpool's Albert Dock in the evening. Credit: Gordon Bell Photography

The programmes include research by the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University to develop an appraoch to understand the value of culture and heritage, focusing on National Museums Liverpool’s Waterfront Transformation Project as a case study.

Working with research partner National Museums, the project includes thematic focus groups to collect qualitative data on the themes of the social and economic value of cultural goods and a survey that will provide the basis for a social cost benefit analysis.

The AHRC and DCMS are providing £3.1m in research funding split between the six studies, which will contribute to the DCMS Culture and Heritage Capital Programme.

The programme, launched in 2021, aims to help the sector make a stronger business case for investment by developing a standardised approach to valuing cultural and heritage assets.

The six funded research projects will work alongside stakeholders including Historic England and the National Trust.

AHRC executive chair professor Christopher Smith said: “The culture and heritage sectors are a vital part of our economy, but we do not have a clear or agreed set of criteria for measuring all their relevant benefits, including the undoubted impacts of intangible benefits. This has a significant impact on policy making.

“This project will help give us a better basis on which to evaluate the contribution of culture and heritage to society.”

In addition to the Liverpool research, the other projects awarded funding are:

Valuing digital cultural and heritage assets (University of Portsmouth)
Understanding the value of outdoor culture and heritage capital for decision makers (University of Exeter)
Integrating lifetimes in heritage capital (University College London)
CAVEAT: triangulation of values using different valuation methods (University of Glasgow)
Developing a taxonomy for culture and heritage capital (Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England)

Photo credit: Gordon Bell Photography