Non-HEI partners

Arts Council England (ACE) champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people’s lives. It supports activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to digital art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections.

Ace’s research programme is designed to facilitate understanding of how art and culture impacts people’s lives. Through research and evaluation, it produces evidence and intelligence that supports art and culture organisations to improve their practice and to demonstrate the impact they are having. Its research also helps to inform art and culture policy, and the Arts Council’s investment activity.

Arts Council South West covers the whole of South West including Hampshire, Southampton, Portsmouth. It is supportive of brokering collaboration around topics such as development of cultural creative technologies; digital innovations; visual and textual aesthetics and analysis, the development of practice; creative practice as research; transdisciplinary approaches; and copyright and intellectual property a view towards developing and supporting common objectives; research collaboration; and policy creation and implementation.

Bristol Old Vic’s mission is to create pioneering twenty-first century theatre in partnership with the people of our energetic city; inspired by the history and magical design of the most beautiful playhouse in the country.

It aims to make work that is significant, current and can affect people’s opinion and change how they see the world. Bristol Old Vic and SWW2 share a strategic commitment to developing skills, talent and creativity across the cultural and creative sectors through collaboration such as shared training; co-productions; and student placement opportunities.

Bristol Music Trust (BMT) has a national reputation for excellence and innovation. It has forged a wide range of artistic and commercial partnerships and continued to develop an original and inspiring musical programme including weekend festivals and special one-off events. It also has the unique distinction of managing a music education hub (with responsibility for delivering the National Music Education Plan to every child in the Bristol area), Bristol Plays Music (BPM), which is embedded within a professional performance venue, and which has recently won national recognition as joint winner of the Music Education Council Major Award 2016.

The Colston Hall’s artistic programme and audience reach has continued to develop with the benefit of national portfolio organisation (NPO) funding from Arts Council England and our partnership with St George’s Bristol. In similar fashion a major grant from Youth Music underpins our ambitious plans to forge new standards in musical inclusion and music education.

The vast majority of our work and expertise is underpinned by research and evaluation. Bristol Music Trust particularly welcomes the opportunity to explore opportunities for research collaboration on cultural research projects that impact the cultural industries and music education and research; and monitoring or evaluation strands to BMT projects to demonstrate their impact and value.

Exeter Northcott Theatre is a 460 seat venue serving Exeter and the heart of Devon from its home on the University of Exeter Streatham Campus. They offer a mixed programme of touring theatre productions, contemporary dance, opera, music, comedy and family shows to their catchment of 551,000 homes. Their aim is to be a creative leader for Exeter and the rest of Devon, offering a highly regarded platform for the best work by emerging and established local, regional, national and international artists.

Exeter Northcott Theatre is also committed to developing the workforce of the future by offering training and career development opportunities across the breadth of their work. An important part of their role is to provide a stage for local community companies and they are proud to host annual visits by Exeter Musical Society, Stage by Stage, Chance to Dance and Wren Music.

The theatre also has a close involvement with the University of Exeter’s Arts & Culture Strategy which maximises the opportunities on campus for student and public participation in cultural activities.

The theatre also actively works alongside other venues in Exeter in terms of programming and audience development, to maximise opportunities for audiences to access the highest quality performing arts throughout the city, and has been part of the Exeter Summer Festival.

Over 40 years Aardman has developed and produced animated films for broadcast television, TV commercials, feature films and corporate communications. Over that time, it has developed into an internationally recognised studio selling into over 170 countries across the world. The studio has developed a great many technical innovations to aid its production processes and service to clients.

Aardman is committed to undertaking cutting edge research and continue its commitment to continuous innovation. Research into smarter methodologies, delivering better tools for the creative teams, is a continuous process and Aardman is keen to collaborate in these areas. We are committed to developing the skills, talents, capacities and knowledge of the next generation of researchers and creative practitioners to make a vital contribution to the health and wellbeing of the UK as well as a playing an important economic role.

Spike Island, founded in 1976 by a group of Bristol based artists is a flagship visual arts organization for the South West. A vibrant hub for production, presentation
and debate, it invites audiences to engage
directly with creative practices through
participation and discussion. By narrowing the gap between making and showing, Spike Island are able to engage audiences in the multiple processes involved in the creation of art and offers key expertise in Artist’s development.

Spike Island is committed to undertaking cutting edge research, continuous experimentation and the development of researchers and creative practitioners who play an important artistic and community role.

Watershed is recognised for its internationally distinctive programme of invention and talent development; as a leading centre for film culture and as Bristol’s city centre cultural meeting and debating place of choice. Watershed is a cross-platform venue and producer, sharing, developing and showcasing exemplary cultural ideas and talent. Based in Bristol but connecting with artists and audiences in the wider world, the Watershed works across the cultural and commercial sectors, and produces projects which include gaming, projections, location-based media, digital displays and new forms of performance.

Watershed delivers a diverse programme of films, events, festivals, artists’ commissions, workshops and conferences placing audiences and participation at the heart of the organisation whilst responding to changing cultures, audience expectations and operating environments. Much of this work has been undertaken in partnership with Researchers from across the South West.

Watershed is interested in opportunities for collaboration around cultural cinema; creative technologies; mixed, augmented and Virtual Reality innovations; digital storytelling; pervasive media; ‘smart cities’; and city futures.

One of the most prestigious research academies in Rome, for over 100 years the British School of Rome (BSR) has nurtured world-class researchers of the art, history and culture of the western Mediterranean and the best contemporary artists in the Commonwealth.

The British School of Rome provides a bridge between the intellectual and cultural heart of Rome and Italy, and creative and academic researchers from Britain and the Commonwealth.

The BSR’s Research Strategy is informed by our assessment of the contribution we make, and the value we can add, to the UK government’s strategic priorities in research and the creative sector. As an institution that has always combined research and practice, in a vibrant, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary community, we are ideally placed to deliver on the UK’s strategic priorities in research and innovation through our support for and mentoring of the most talented scholars of the art, history and culture of the Mediterranean from prehistory to the present day, and of contemporary architects, artists and curators. Our aim is to act as a catalyst for academic research and creative practice through engagement with Mediterranean, Italian and Rome-based international agencies to enhance connectivity, partnership and collaboration for UK and Commonwealth researchers and creative artists.

Established in 1989, Cotswold Archaeology is a Top Four supplier of professional heritage services in the UK. Employing over 180 professional staff  we provide expert, bespoke solutions for both private and public sector clients nationwide.

Cotswold Archaeology exists to increase public awareness and appreciation of the Past. We create and communicate knowledge so that it can be valued and enjoyed by present and future generations.

Cotswold Archaeology aspires to:

Advance public understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of the past
Meet the needs and aspirations of our customers
Be a great professional company to work for

On 1st April 2015 English Heritage split into two organisations, Historic England and English Heritage. Historic England is the public body that looks after England’s historic environment. It does this by championing historic places; Identifying and protecting our heritage; supporting change; understanding historic places and providing expertise at a local level. Historic England aspires to be a world leader in the study of the historic environment and its sustainable management. It encourages and undertakes research of the highest calibre, to provide an evidence-base for government policies, practical guidance for owners and managers, and inspiration for society as a whole – find further information in our Research Strategy and Agenda, which includes themes we see as key to the whole heritage sector.

Historic England aims is to ensure practical outputs for the historic environment are a part of the impact of postgraduate research. Historic England strongly believes that supporting postgraduate research will contribute to the understanding and management of England’s heritage.

English Heritage is a charity that looks after the National Heritage Collection of historic sites and monuments and the guardianship of over 500,000 objects. The Collection ranges from prehistoric stone circles to a 1960s nuclear bunker and includes Stonehenge and Hadrian’s Wall, Charles Darwin’s diaries and the Duke of Wellington’s boots. Taken together, over 400 properties in our care help to tell the story of England. More information on English Heritage’s collections is available here http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/conservation/

National Trust is the largest heritage organisation in England and Wales, the custodian of more than 350 heritage buildings and landscapes and internationally significant collections of fine and decorative art, furniture, interiors and rare books. The Trust has a long and distinguished record in research and is committed to the further investigation and interpretation of the heritage in its care. The National Trust’s property holdings in the South, West and Wales are particularly rich in terms of nature conservation interests, including a long and complicated coastline, man-made landscapes, archaeology and their historic houses.

The National Trust strategy Playing our Part (2015) has four core ambitions, including to “offer experiences that move, teach and inspire” – to achieve this we seek to raise the standards of our interpretation, develop innovative experiences for visitors, and seek to reveal deeper more relevant and meaningful understandings of the places in our care.

Within the ‘Move, Teach, Inspire’ workstream lies ‘National Public Programming’, an ongoing series of events, presentations and exhibitions around a central theme that provoke people to think differently about history, identity and the world today. The topic pipeline was first published within the National Trust’s Research Strategy (2017) and has developed as outlined below. In addition to meeting organisational strategic needs, they provide students an opportunity to work on projects which will have national impact and wider organisational focus and support. All themes are designed to leave a legacy of lasting change at specific properties and develop organisational learning, thus work continues beyond the year in focus.

• 2017 – Prejudice and Pride (LGBTQ histories)

• 2018 – Women and Power (suffrage and agency)

• 2019 – Radical Landscapes (people’s rights and landscape)

• 2020 – National Trust at 125 (theme of health and wellbeing)

• 2021 – Class and social mobility

• 2022 – Legacies of colonialism

Bristol Culture’s collections are ‘Designated’ as of national/international significance and the museum service is a Non-Portfolio Organisation in receipt of substantial funding from Arts Council England.  In 2023 it will celebrate its bicentenary and highlight the cross-disciplinary nature of its extensive collections which are the largest and arguably the most significant in the whole of south west England.  Similarly the city’s archives are a remarkable record of a city which has twice been regarded as the country’s ‘second city’ and both archive and museums continue to collect contemporary material and further add to the prestige and importance of the holdings.

Our collections represent a massive resource which offers huge opportunity in particular for research collaboration. Holdings such as the museum collection and written, photographic and film archive, which formerly belonged to the now defunct British Empire & Commonwealth Museum, offer huge potential for original and important relevant research.  Such examples can be repeated across all our collections including our local history objects and archives, archaeological material, natural science specimens and extensive art collections including highly significant material from China and Japan.

Bristol Culture expects to offer students research opportunities supervised by curators and archivists as well as further opportunities in exhibition and events, and joint working over exhibitions and interpretation of ideas for a general public audience.

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world’s greatest libraries. The library holds over 13 million books, 920,000 journal and newspaper titles, 57 million patents and 3 million sound recordings. Open to everyone, the Library offers events, temporary exhibitions and a Treasures Gallery that displays over 200 items, including the Magna Carta, a Gutenberg Bible and lyrics by The Beatles.

As a legal deposit library, the British Library receives copies of all books produced in the United Kingdom and Ireland, including a significant proportion of overseas titles distributed in the UK. It also has a programme for content acquisitions.

Cornwall Museums Partnership exists to help all museums in Cornwall to thrive, for the benefit of everyone living in and visiting Cornwall. We develop and manage collaborative programmes of work which are designed to help museums raise standards, engage with more people and to be sustainable and resilient. Our network extends across Cornwall and has been nationally recognised by DCMS as a model of best practice, ‘Within two years, the partnership – now 70-strong – is seen as a flagship project for rural areas throughout the UK.’  Our aim is to change the culture of museums – to help them be more open and connected to the communities they serve, the DTP has the potential to help us to explore and promote innovation in museum practice.

Cornwall’s museums contain highly diverse collections of local, regional, national and international significance. The collections include internationally important visual art, scientific and industrial heritage, world class geological collections, archaeology, diverse social history including photographic collections, fine and decorative arts, military, maritime and natural history. They are a largely untapped resource; developing a greater understanding of these collections and the impact of the museums which look after them, is a key strategic priority for CMP.

CMP will offer research and training to SWW2 students along with access to industry mentors and networks, and the opportunity to lead exhibitions and events onsite and online.

The National Archives is a state administration office as well as a central state archives directly controlled by the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic. Taking into consideration spheres of activities of the Archives, and owing to the fact that it is directly linked with the work of the central archive institutions of the Czech state (continuously from the early Middle Ages), the National Archives deserves a prominent position among public archives of the Czech Republic. The seat of the National Archives is in Prague.

The National Library’s collection includes over 6,5 million volumes and yearly, it acquires about 80 thousand of new titles. It provides services to more than one million users every year, most of whom are university or college students, teachers, academics, scientist, and scholars. Each year, around one million books are lent.

The National Library is one of the oldest public libraries in the Czech Republic with collections of a size far outranking any other library in the country. The value of its collections makes it one of the most important libraries both in Europe and in the world. It acquires, preserves, continuously updates, and provides access to rich collections of both domestic and foreign documents, especially of Bohemica and documents from the social and natural sciences areas. Historical collections are mostly of Czech and European origin. Main part of them consist of Bohemica, too. The core of the manuscript collection is formed by a set of codices donated by Charles IV to Prague University after the foundation of its first college in 1366. In addition, there are also oriental manuscripts and Greek papyri to be found there. The manuscript collection includes a large number of unique pieces as, for example, the Vysehrad Codex from the year 1085, created for the coronation of the first Czech King Vratislav, the Passional of the Abbess Kunhuta from the year 1312, produced in the scriptorium of the Convent of St. George at Prague Castle, the Velislav Pictorial Bible from the first half of the fourteenth century.

The National Library preserves, among others, the surviving part of Tycho de Brahe´s library, a collection of Comeniana, the personal libraries of Bernard Bolzano, F. X. Salda, and Jan Vlcek. There are large private libraries, some of them preserved intact – as, for example, the library of the Counts Kinsky, and the Prague Lobkowitz library.

One of the frequently consulted collections is that of Mozartiana – the Mozart’s Memorial. It belongs to the Music Department.
The Slavonic Library constitutes a part of the National Library. It is a public, research library, the largest one in Central Europe specialized in Slavonic studies. Besides original Slavonic countries literature, the documents are thematically oriented onto professional Slavonic literature from all over the world and focus mainly on history, philosophy, linguistics, literary science, folklore studies, ethnology, political science, sociology, and art. Its collection also includes a part of the personal library of A. F. Smiridin.

The National Library is one of the principal driving forces behind the CASLIN project (a library information network linking Czech and Slovak libraries) which resulted in a programme to build the Union Catalogue of the Czech Republic – CASLIN. A number of significant public and scientific libraries have been contributing to this programme.

Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Foundation was founded in 1949 by Giangiacomo Feltrinelli as a Library. In 1974, it was established by law as a Foundation.

The Fondazione Feltrinelli is equipped with a library and archival heritage of international importance, comprising nearly 1.5 million archival items, 250,000 volumes and 16,000 journals, the Fondazione has always focused its activity on history, on the themes of equal society, on analysis and the proposal of models of interaction among citizens, their rights and their organizational representatives.

The Archives Nationale (France) is a national public service created on 1st January 2007 by a decree issued by the Ministry of Culture. Its mission is to collect, classify, inventory, conserve, restore, provide access to, and promote public archives from the central administrations of State, the archives of Paris notaries, and private records of groups of national interest.

The Archives Nationales have one of the largest and most important archival collections in the world, a testimony to the very ancient nature of the French state which has been in existence for more than twelve centuries. As an archival central institution, it was created at the time of the French Revolution in 1790 and is heir to a long tradition of historical research, cultural mediation and citizen involvement.

Archives Nationale is committed to bringing together young researchers and archival and cultural resources in innovative ways. It is specifically interested in international collaboration with SWW2 students and partners with a view to opening up European and Anglo-Saxon historiography and research streams.

London Metropolitan Archives is the largest archive service in the UK outside The National Archives with holdings in formats from parchment to digital. It holds the archives of the City of London Corporation itself and those of many City and metropolitan London organisations, including hospitals, businesses, charities, religious bodies and local government institutions such as the London and Middlesex County Councils. LMA’s collections, together with those of Guildhall Library, have designated status (i.e. they are recognised as being of national importance) under the scheme administered by the Arts Council.