Staff Profile

Professor of Critical Heritage and Memory Cultures at Newcastle University and associated research fellow at the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam.

Director of the AHRC Northern Bridge Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership https://northernbridge.ac.uk/

Principal Investigator, Project Leader, Co-Investigator on numerous large, international, funded research projects since 2016 (see Research).

Lead co-editor of the Routledge Book Series, Critical Heritages of Europe: https://www.routledge.com/Critical-Heritages-of-Europe/book-series/COHERE 

Previous academic management roles within Media Culture Heritage

Head of Research for Media Culture Heritage (2022-2023)

Subject Area Lead Cultural & Museum Studies AHRC Northern Bridge Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership (2021-2023)

Head of Impact for Media Culture Heritage (2017-2020)

Erasmus/International Exchanges Coordinator for Media Culture Heritage (2014-2017)

Subject Area Review Panel Member Cultural & Museum Studies AHRC Northern Bridge Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership (2013-2021)

Advisory Boards/Steering Groups

Cultures of Memory Research Group at Newcastle University Steering Group member https://research.ncl.ac.uk/culturesofmemory/

Newcastle University Centre for Heritage Steering Group member https://www.ncl.ac.uk/heritage/

Museum Friedland, Germany, Academic Advisory Board Member https://www.museum-friedland.de/

Afterlives of Colonial Incarceration, Leverhulme Research Project Advisory Board Member https://research.ncl.ac.uk/afterlives/

Expert panel member and panel chair for international funders:

HERA (Humanities in the European Research Area), ERC (European Research Council), AHRC (Arts & Humanities Research Council, UK), ESRC (Economic & Social Research Council, UK), UKRI (United Kingdom Research & Innovation) Talent Peer Review College, NCN (Polish National Science Council), DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Germany), LCS (Latvian Council of Science), NWO (Dutch Research Council), SNSF (Swiss National Science Foundation), ESF (European Science Foundation), Fulbright Foundation (US).

Peer Review:

Monographs: Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan, UCL Press, Berghahn, among others.

Journals: Memory Studies; Sociological Review; International Journal of Cultural Policy; International Journal of Heritage Studies; Anthropological Journal of European Cultures; Museum and Society; Curator; Heritage and Society; Ethnologia Europea; International Journal of Comparative Sociology, among others.

I have acted as expert reviewer for academic professorial and professional promotions at universities nationally and internationally.

Memberships

I am a member of: Association of Critical Heritage Studies; Memory Studies Association; Museums Association; Museums & Galleries History Group; SIEF; ICOM

Academic & Professional Background

My PhD (Newcastle University 2007) analysed the cultural processes, historical contexts and multi-scalar interactions of actors, theories, and practices involved in new museum building projects (cultural, political, museological and architectural) through cities in the UK and Germany which faced cultural, social and urban change. I hold an MA (Hons) in German and History of Art (Edinburgh University 1999) and an MA in Museum Studies (Newcastle University 2001). My postgraduate MA and PhD were both fully funded by scholarships from the AHRC. During my undergraduate degree I undertook an ERASMUS year at Leipzig University, Germany and a key part of my PhD research involved in depth research visits to the Institute for Museum Research in Berlin (funded by the DAAD - German Academic Exchange Service) and to major museums around Germany and the UK. 

Prior to my academic career, I gained professional experience within the cultural and heritage sector internationally, including work at:

• the Alte and Neue Pinakothek - two major art museums in Munich, Germany
• The Royal Commission for the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), for the National Monuments Record Scotland - a national architectural and archaeological archive
• the Palace of Holyroodhouse - a historic royal palace and major tourist attraction in Edinburgh
• AKG Images - a commercial arts and history image library and archive with offices in London, Berlin and Paris

Research Interests

My research interests are interdisciplinary and span the full breadth of cultural, social and political uses of the past, or 'heritage', memory and public culture. Within this I have particular specialist knowledge and interests in: migration, diversity and representation; populism and contested identities, belonging and memory; cultural policy; difficult histories (in particular in relation to German history); museum architecture; museology; built heritage. 

Thematically my research focusses on significant social, political and cultural issues, that often contribute to perceived ‘crises’, such as identities and migration, belonging and exclusion, activism and populism. I address their changing and often contested representation within, and influence on cultural institutions such as museums, within social and cultural memory practices and heritage sites. Further, I analyse the ways in which the past is being adopted and appropriated in contemporary societies (particularly Germany, the UK and Europe) for political purposes, whether by the political, social and cultural establishment or by community or grass-roots actors and activists.

My research therefore goes beyond a simple focus on analysing what museums, heritage sites and memory practices do. Rather, it combines perspectives, theories and methods from multiple disciplines to analyse the complex processes and impacts connected to why, how and with what effects they engage in socio-political issues, particularly in connection to contemporary threats to, or perceived ‘crises’ facing changing democratic societies. The wider significance of this research is in understanding the complex and changing role of social, cultural and political attitudes towards the past (as it is represented in museums, heritage and memory, or used by political actors and activist groups), and in shaping contemporary practices of inclusion, exclusion and belonging.

Fellowships

October 2019 – present       Associated Research Fellow (Assoziierte Wissenschaftlerin), Leibniz-Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung, Potsdam, Germany

October – December 2020    Visiting Researcher, Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH) Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany, funded by DAAD

September - December 2016 Visiting Research Fellow Leibniz Research Alliance 'Historical Authenticity' Leibniz-Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung, Potsdam, Germany

Funded Research Projects

As PI:

REACH-OUT: Resilience and power of Arts, Culture & Heritage in our urgent times (2025) Funded by British Academy Horizon Europe Pump Priming Award (£10 000).

Cultural Dynamics: Museums and Democracy in Motion (2023-2026) Funded by AHRC-DFG with €901 540. Project website: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/culturaldynamics/

en/counter/points: (re)negotiating belonging through culture and contact in public space and place (2019-2022) Funded by HERA under the Public Spaces: Culture and Integration in Europe call with €968 805. Project website: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/encounterpoints/

DAAD Research Visit, Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (CARMAH) Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany https://www.carmah.berlin/people/s-eckersley/

As Co-I:

CoHERE: Critical Heritages performing and representing identities in Europe (2016-2019) Funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020 with 2.4 million Euro. I was the Deputy Project Coordinator, Dissemination Work Package Leader and Co-Investigator. Project website: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/cohere/

As Researcher:

MeLA: European Museums in an Age of Migration (2011-2015). Funded by the European Commission under FP7 with 2.6 million Euro. Project website: http://www.mela-project.polimi.it/

In 2008 I assisted Dr Aron Mazel on the 'Embedding Apartheid' research project examining the influence of the Afrikaner Broederbond secret society on museums, culture and public life during Apartheid-era South Africa. 

Successfully completed PhD supervisions:

2024:

Verena Niepel: Turkish artists in Berlin: Creative Journeys of Non-Belonging (AHRC Northern Bridge DTP scholarship holder)

Samantha Vaughn: Negotiating post-1989 identities Foreign visitor encounters in museums of Communism

2022:

Phil Deans: From a Museum on the World's last War, to a Museum on the Two World Wars: The Wartime Activities and Reinvention of the Imperial War Museum, 1939-1946 (AHRC Northern Bridge DTC scholarship holder)

Alistair Robinson: Making present (art) history public / Making public (art) history present: How museums of modern art construct the history of the visual art of our time (AHRC Northern Bridge DTC scholarship holder)

I currently supervise the following research postgraduate (PhD) students:

Heather Proctor: The role of the arts and political memory in forming mixed ethnic identity (working title)  (ESRC NINE DTP scholarship holder)

Yusuf Patel: Divergent memories: Sites of apartheid era incarceration and violence (working title) (Leverhulme Trust scholarship holder)

Dina Abdelsalam: Assessing the need for public participation in 19th century built heritage management in the context of Egypt (working title)

Grace Davies Bermingham: Under-represented historical lives: exploring the impact of contemporary art on heritage and collections policy and practice (AHRC REACH DTC scholarship holder)

I would welcome proposals from potential PhD students in any of my areas of interest (see the 'profile' and 'research' tabs on this page. 

Current teaching:

Since 2015 I have been teaching on the following modules in Media, Culture, Heritage:

Bachelors level:

MCH3073 - Research Dissertation: Media, Communication and Culture (formerly COM3073) - Dissertation Supervisor

MCH2011/3003 - Memory Matters - Module leader, lecturer, seminar leader

MCH2078 - Shock and Awe: conflict, disaster and emotions in media and public culture - Module Leader, lecturer and seminar leader

MCH3068 - Identity and Belonging - Module leader, lecturer and seminar leader

Masters level:

MCH8058 - Research Methodologies in Media, Culture and Society - Module leader, lecturer, seminar leader

MCH8501 - Museums, Galleries and Heritage in Society - Module leader, lecturer, seminar leader

MCH8503 - Communicating and Learning in Museum, Gallery and Heritage Studies - lecturer, seminar leader

MCH8504 - Caring for Collections in Museum, Gallery and Heritage Studies - lecturer, seminar leader

MCH8532 - Understanding Academic and Applied Research in Museum, Gallery and Heritage Studies - Module leader, lecturer, seminar leader

MCH8599 - Research Dissertation in Museum, Gallery & Heritage Studies - dissertation supervisor

MCH8600 - Professional Practice and Research Project - supervisor

Previous teaching:

Undergraduate

Between 2008 and 2015 I taught on the following modules in Fine Art:

FIN1007 Preliminary Studies in Art History 1 - Seminar leader and lecturer

FIN1008 Preliminary Studies in Art History 2 - Seminar leader and lecturer

FIN3036 - Art & War - Lecturer

FIN3029 - Exhibiting Art - Lecturer 

FIN3097 - Art History Dissertation - Dissertation Supervisor

Postgraduate

Between 2008 and 2016 I taught on the following Masters level modules:

ICS8001 Issues & Ideas in Museum, Gallery & Heritage Studies - Module leader, Seminar leader and lecturer

ICS8003 Communication & Interpretation in Museum, Gallery & Heritage Studies - Practical leader

ICS8012 History in Museums - Lecturer

ICS8024 Heritage Management 1 - Lecturer 

ICS8099 Dissertation in Museum, Gallery & Heritage Studies - Module leader and dissertation supervisor

• Articles

  • Gilbert C, Atkinson-Phillips A, Català J, Eckersley S, Page P, Routley L. Introduction: Communities in flux across the globe. Memory Studies 2025, 18(2), 345-353.
  • Zito A, Eckersley S. Framing European Heritage and Identity: Cultural Policy Instruments of the European Union. Journal of Common Market Studies 2025, epub ahead of print.
  • Whitehead C, Eckersley S, Bozoglu G. Negotiating Instrumental and Realist perspectives in European Heritage Research. Economia della Cultura 2018, XXVIII(4), 551-566.
  • Eckersley S. 'People-Place-Process' and Attachment in the Museum: A new Paradigm for Understanding Belonging?. Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 2017, 26(2), 6-30.
  • Eckersley S. Changing Places, Changing People: Critical Heritages of Migration and Belonging. Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 2017, 26(2), 1-5.
  • Eckersley SC. Opening the doors to hold the fort: museums and instrumental cultural policy in 19^th century Britain and Germany. Museum History Journal 2012, 5(1), 77-104.
  • Eckersley SC. Policy Review “Supporting Excellence in the Arts: from measurement to judgement”. Cultural Trends 2008, 17(3), 183-187.
  • Reid SC, Eckersley SC. Visite du Musée juif de Berlin. Les Cahiers du Judaïsme 2005, 17, 109-120.

• Authored Book

  • Whitehead C, Eckersley S, Mason R. Placing Migration in European Museums: Theoretical, Contextual and Methodological Foundations. Milan: Politecnico di Milano DPA, 2012.

• Book Chapters

  • Eckersley S. Museums as a public space of belonging? Negotiating dialectics of purpose, presentation and participation. In: Eckersley S; Vos C, ed. Diversity of Belonging in Europe: Public Spaces, Contested Places, Cultural Encounters. Abingdon: Routledge, 2023, pp.17-40.
  • Eckersley S. Zugehoerigkeit. In: Sabrow M; Saupe A, ed. Handbuch Historische Authentizitaet. Goettingen: Wallstein, 2022, pp.571-582.
  • Lanz F, Eckersley S. Research Encounters: Thinking Through Adaptive Reuse. In: Francesca Gotti; Jacopo Leveratto; Cristina F. Colombo, ed. The Design of Tactics: Critical Practices Transforming Public Spaces. Barcelona: dpr-barcelona, 2022.
  • Eckersley S. Encountering authenticity in the ‘contact zone’? Museums, refugees and participation. In: Kimmel, D. & Brueggerhoff, S, ed. Museen - Orte des Authentischen? Museums - Places of Authenticity?. Mainz: Propylaeum, 2020, pp.291-302.
  • McDonald I, Whitehead C, Daugbjerg M, Bozoğlu G, Eckersley S. Who is Europe? Staging the Making of Europe in Creative Documentary Film. In: Whitehead, C., Eckersley, S., Daugbjerg, M., and Bozoğlu, G, ed. Dimensions of Heritage and Memory: Multiple Europes and the Politics of Crisis. Abingdon: Routledge, 2019, pp.182-207.
  • Zito AR, Eckersley S, Turner S. The Instruments of European Heritage. In: Whitehead, C., Eckersley, S., Daugbjerg, M., and Bozoğlu, G, ed. Dimensions of Heritage and Memory: Multiple Europes and the Politics of Crisis. Abingdon: Routledge, 2019, pp.50-71.
  • Whitehead C, Bozoğlu G, Daugbjerg M. Remapping European Heritage and Memory. In: Whitehead, C., Eckersley, S., Daugbjerg, M., and Bozoğlu, G, ed. Dimensions of Heritage and Memory: Multiple Europes and the Politics of Crisis. Abingdon: Routledge, 2019.
  • Whitehead C, Bozoğlu G, Daugbjerg M, Eckersley S. Final Thoughts: Heritage as a Dimension of Collectivity and Belonging. In: Whitehead, C., Eckersley, S., Daugbjerg, M., and Bozoğlu, G, ed. Dimensions of Heritage and Memory: Multiple Europes and the Politics of Crisis. Abingdon: Routledge, 2019, pp.208-229.
  • Whitehead C, Daugbjerg M, Bozoğlu G. Edges and Centres: the Forcefields of European Heritage. In: Whitehead, C., Eckersley, S., Daugbjerg, M., and Bozoğlu, G, ed. Dimensions of Heritage and Memory: Multiple Europes and the Politics of Crisis. Abingdon: Routledge, 2019.
  • Whitehead C, Daugbjerg M, Eckersley S, Bozoğlu G. Dimensions of European Heritage and Memory: a Framework Introduction. In: Whitehead, C., Eckersley, S., Daugbjerg, M., and Bozoğlu, G, ed. Dimensions of Heritage and Memory: Multiple Europes and the Politics of Crisis. Abingdon: Routledge, 2019, pp.1-25.
  • Eckersley S, Bozoğlu G. Difficult heritage in Europe: paradoxical dimensions of time, place and memory. In: Whitehead, C., Eckersley, S., Daugbjerg, M., and Bozoğlu, G, ed. Dimensions of Heritage and Memory: Multiple Europes and the Politics of Crisis. Abingdon: Routledge, 2019.
  • Eckersley S. Between appropriation and appropriateness: instrumentalizing dark heritage in populism and memory?. In: De Cesari, C; Kaya, A, ed. European Memory in Populism: Representations of Self and Other. Abingdon: Routledge, 2019, pp.210-238.
  • Eckersley S. A Place at the Table? Food in Museums as an 'Ersatz Politics' of Difficulty. In: Porciani, I, ed. Food Heritage and Nationalism in Europe. Abingdon: Routledge, 2019.
  • Eckersley S. Walking the tightrope between memory and diplomacy? Addressing the post-Second World War Expulsions of Germans in German Museums. In: Whitehead C; Lloyd K; Eckersley S; Mason R, ed. Museums, Migration and Identity in Europe. Farnham, Surrey: Routledge, 2015, pp.101-122.
  • Whitehead C, Mason R, Eckersley S, Lloyd K. Place, Identity and Migration and European Museums. In: Whitehead C; Lloyd K; Eckersley S; Mason R, ed. Museums, Migration and Identity in Europe. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2015, pp.7-59.
  • Whitehead C, Lloyd K, Eckersley S, Mason R. Introduction: Museums, migration and identity in Europe. In: Museums, Migration and Identity in Europe: Peoples, Places and Identities. Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2015, pp.1-6.
  • Eckersley S, Corsane G. Memorialisation in Eastern Germany: displacement, (re)placement and integration of macro- and micro-Heritage. In: Convery, I., Corsane, G. & Davis, P, ed. Displaced Heritage: Responses to disaster, trauma and loss. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2014, pp.29-40.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)

  • Reid SC. (Re) creating positive cultural landscapes in Germany: the role of iconic museum buildings. In: Forum UNESCO Cultural Landscapes in the 21st Century. 2006, Newcastle University.

• Edited Books

  • Eckersley S, Vos C, ed. Diversity of Belonging in Europe: Public Spaces, Contested Places, Cultural Encounters. Abingdon: Routledge, 2023.
  • Whitehead C, Eckersley S, Daugbjerg M, Bozoğlu G, ed. Dimensions of Heritage and Memory: Multiple Europes and the Politics of Crisis. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2020.
  • Whitehead C, Eckersley S, Lloyd K, Mason R, ed. Museums, Migration and Identity in Europe: Peoples, Places and Identities. London: Routledge, 2015.
  • Whitehead C, Mason R, Eckersley S, Lloyd K, ed. "Placing" Europe in the Museum: people(s), places, identities. Milan: Politecnico di Milano, 2013.

• Online Publication

  • Eckersley S, Mears H. Toolkit on Belonging for museum professionals. 2022.

• Reports

  • Eckersley S, Vos C, Szymanska-Matusiewicz G, Leveratto J, Saupe A, De Cesari C, Glowacka-Grajper M, Gotti F, Mears H, Meissner K, Wawrzyniak J. Embedding belonging into research responding to crises. en/counter/points Reflection Paper. en/counter/points project, 2022.
  • Whitehead C, Mason R, Eckersley S, Lloyd K. Museums and Identity in History and Contemporaneity. Milan: Politenico di Milano, 2014.

• Review

  • Eckersley S. Book review ‘Having and belonging: Homes and Museums in Israel’ by Judy Jaffe-Schagen, Berghahn. International Journal of Heritage Studies 2017, 23(6), 601-602.

• Scholarly Edition

  • Gilbert C, Atkinson-Phillips A, Català J, Eckersley S, Page P, Routley L. Special Issue: Communities and Change. Memory Studies 2025. Sage, 18(2).

• Working Papers

  • Eckersley S, Vos C, Szymańska-Matusiewicz G, Głowacka-Grajper M, Wawrzyniak J, Mears H, Davenport B. Supporting inclusive spaces: enabling recognition in diverse cultural and community spaces, en/counter/points. Policy Brief 1. 2022.
  • Eckersley S, Leveratto J, Saupe A, Gotti F, Meißner K, Davenport B. Redeveloping central spaces and marginal places: facilitating civic engagement in urban transformation. Policy Brief 2. 2022.