Earlier this year we announced that we are working with LEEDS 2023 as their research partner in collaboration with The Audience Agency. Together we’ll explore how the year-long cultural programme impacts the varied and diverse communities of the city. As part of this collaboration we’ll be hosting a fully-funded PhD starting in September 2022.

Through an in-depth case study of LEEDS 2023, the city’s dedicated year of culture, this doctoral research project will explore the policy, management and methodological issues involved in capturing the value and impact of a city of culture programme.

We are looking to host and supervise a PhD that critically investigates the following research questions:

• What are the opportunities and challenges of using mixed-methods research to capture the value and impact of a city of culture programme?
• What are the practical and ethical considerations of not only capturing a diverse range of participant and audience voices but ensuring differences of opinion are heard?
• Who are the key stakeholders and audiences for evaluations of cities of culture and what are the implications of this for developing a suitable evaluation framework?
• What roles should reflective practice and the acknowledgement of failure play in evaluating cultural events?
• What are the mechanisms by which evaluation can contribute to learning that leads to change?

This project will be jointly supervised by Professor Ben Walmsley (Director of Centre for Cultural Value) and Dr Leila Jancovich (Director of Research and Innovation in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries). The successful candidate will be integrated into the Centre for Cultural Value as part of its research and evaluation of LEEDS 2023, led by The Audience Agency.

Applications are open until Monday 6 June. More information and how to apply.