Student Name:

Sophie

Programme of Study:

Heritage Studies (MA) 2016-2017 Academic Year

Career/ Sector Interests:

I am particularly interested in community outreach/engagement projects, events management and planning policy.

Career-wise I would particularly like to pursue a role in community engagement; and at some point I would love to work freelance as an external consultant planning community heritage events/projects. To achieve these aspirations I needed to understand, in depth, community and voluntary engagement within the sector and build sustainable networks.

Placement Venue:

Historic England’s Historic Places Team (North East Offices)

Placement duration (30 or 12 days):

30 Days June - July 2017

What type of activities did you undertake whilst you were on placement?

The central project I was solely responsible for, when on placement, was to map and survey community and voluntary heritage groups across the North East and Tees Valley Region.  There were three main objectives to this project:

1. To understand the interests and capacities of voluntary and community heritage groups for undertaking a practical conservation project.
2. To map the dispersion of community and voluntary heritage groups across the specified region.
3. To create a sustainable database, to encourage and facilitate contact between Historic England and these groups.

I was also taken on site visits by the HAR team (Heritage At Risk) to see planning policy and listing in action. I visited places threatened by bracken (archaeological sites) and places threatened by modern planning and funding difficulties. I also sat in on certain discussions regarding the future of sensitive places; to better understand the decision-making process and see how difficult listings are approached. I even got to experience the process from start to finish of how sites are placed onto the national listing register.

I also attended meetings regarding the planning of HOD days and other public engagement events, alongside this I attended various community group and organizational conferences. I also got to meet with individuals from HLF (due to the contacts I had made within Historic England).

Because I showed an interest for data analysis, I was asked to assist with the conversion of data collected from exhibition feedback sheets into something usable for my colleagues. This gave me practical, hands-on experience of actually evaluating a exhibition for official use.

Finally, I was tasked with scheduling three months worth of social media communication for the North East offices. This content tied into both national programs (such as Historic England’s 100 Places campaign) and regional issues.  

What were you placement highlights?

1. Being able to have hands-on experiences (whether when attending conferences, meetings or in the field with HAR).
2. The results of my community mapping/surveying project were particularly interesting, especially as it tied so well to my existing interests. Finishing the project was also a highlight, as I had a sense of achievement for creating a body of work which would be used in the future.
3. The social media experience I gained made me aware of organizational communication in a new light.
4. The people were so friendly and welcoming, they really wanted to help me and help my future career prospects. It was an amazing experience and a brilliant start to my professional life in the sector.