Â鶹´«Ã½AV

Dr Jennie Morgan

Senior Lecturer in Heritage

History Â鶹´«Ã½AV

Dr Jennie Morgan

Contact details

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http://www.stir.ac.uk/people/jenniemorgan

About me

I am a Senior Lecturer in Heritage and Programme Director of the MSc Heritage at the Â鶹´«Ã½AV (/courses/pg-taught/heritage/). As a member of the History, Heritage and Politics division, I teach across a wide range of modules and programmes informed by my expertise in museum practice and theory. I am active in the University's Cultural Heritage Programme and the Centre for Environment, Heritage, and Policy.

Trained as a Social Anthropologist (PhD Manchester, UK), I have worked on a range of interdisciplinary projects that span my broad interests in organisational change, everyday work practices, heritage futures, and socially-relevant museology. I hold expertise in ethnographic methodologies (including short-term, visual, sensory, collaborative, and creative research).

I am a member of various professional bodies and undertake wide external duties (see below). I am regularly invited to peer review for high-profile academic journals; most recently the International Journal of Heritage Studies, Journal of Material Culture, Museums and Social Issues, Memory Studies, Museum & Society, and Curator: The Museum Journal.

I am especially interested to supervise heritage or museum focused PhD projects on: emotions, affect, and feeling in professional practice; Organisational and sectoral change responding to global challenges; Heritage futures; Collections 'profusion' and related topics (eg disposal, significance, value, ethics); Object collections management and significance in built heritage organisations; Contemporary collecting; Ecomuseums or community led organisations; Topics related to under-examined spaces and roles (eg storeroom, handling collections, shop, etc).

Below you will find a select CV with examples of recent achievements, events and activities. For a further list (including publications) please see 'outputs'.

I am an interdisciplinary scholar. My main research interest in the field of cultural heritage is the theory and practice of contemporary museums, which I often approach through the lens of organisational ethnography. I am especially interested in changing ideas of what museums are (or what they could be in the future), and how these ideas are experienced and articulated through the everyday practice of professionals working in these institutions.

I am currently involved in a number of research projects and networks where my diverse interests and expertise intersect. This includes a Royal Society of Edinburgh funded collaboration with Co-PI Dr Anna Woodham (King's College London) exploring emotions in museum work (). I am developing a new project on object collections in built heritage organisations.

My PhD (Social Anthropology, Manchester, UK) explored the legacy of a major refurbishment of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, which was intended to increase the museum¡¯s social value and impact. My starting point was questions such as ¡®what does it mean to be a curator in an object-based, multidisciplinary, and storytelling museum?¡¯. Grounded in twelve-months on-site ethnographic fieldwork - following the work of curators, conservators, managers, designers, cleaners, and volunteer tour-guides, amongst others - I argued for an expanded understanding of who and what implements, sustains, and ultimately shapes the dynamics of museological change (e.g., Morgan, 2018).

Since then, I have developed my interest in professional work, identity, and the 'hidden' or ¡®overlooked¡¯ elements of organisational life in new research contexts. As a postdoctoral researcher at Loughborough University, I worked on two interdisciplinary and applied projects to generate ethnographic accounts of ¡®tacit¡¯ ways of knowing how to work safely. My research revealed the role of the sensory, affective, embodied, and improvisational, and developed ¡®short-term¡¯ ethnographic methods as ¡®intense routes to knowing¡¯ (Pink and Morgan, 2013) including autoethnographic (Morgan and Pink, 2017).

I was a named Researcher on the Profusion-theme of the AHRC funded Heritage Futures research programme (2015-2019): . I examined the everyday future-keeping practices of householders and smaller museums faced with material and digital abundance and the complex yet subtle values, emotions, and judgements that shape selections. I explored a range of sub-topics, including contemporary collecting, significance assessment, future-making and disposal in museums (e.g., Macdonald and Morgan 2019; 2018). The Heritage Futures project held a range of creative and exploratory Knowledge Exchange events, including a workshop I designed bringing together museum curators with a professional declutterer (). I also undertook an arts-research collaboration with Shelley Castle of Encounters Arts (Morgan and Castle, forthcoming 2023). The Heritage Futures research informed an exhibition at the Manchester Museum (). A book - "Heritage Futures: Comparative Approaches to Natural and Cultural Heritage Practices" (2020) - is available Open Access:

Divisional / Faculty Contribution

Advisor of Studies MSc Heritage
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Ongoing since 2019

Programme Director MSc Heritage
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Ongoing since 2019 For information on the Programme /courses/pg-taught/heritage/

Event / Presentation

2018 Co-Organiser/Chair 'Toolkits across Borders: Assembling Methods-futures for Critical Heritage Studies', Association of Critical Heritage Studies Conference, September
Zhejiang University

2018 Invited Respondent, 'Conservation Ethics and Approaches' Conference, The Engine Shed Â鶹´«Ã½AV, December
Historic Environment Scotland

2018 Paper Presented 'The Human Bower: Exploring Heritage-Futures Through a Participatory Research-Arts Event¡¯, All Things Considered: Material Culture and Memory Conference, November
University College Cork

2019 Invited Discussant, 'Theoretical and Methodological Entanglements in De/Colonial Europe', EU Horizon 2020 funded European Colonial Heritage Modalities project, February
University of Amsterdam

2019 Invited Speaker, 'Grappling with Profusion¡¯, Intercultural Research Centre Symposium ¡®Scotland at a Crossroads: Heritage Past and Futures¡¯, March
Heriot-Watt University

2019 Profusion in Heritage Futures, Social History Curators Group Conference 'The Future of Social History: Who Are We Curating For?', Edinburgh, July

2020 Invited International Keynote, Canterbury New Zealand Heritage Awards (cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic)

2020 Invited Keynote, Arts and Humanities Postgraduate Conference
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2020 Invited Panellist 'Collections Disposal' Webinar by the Collections Trust / Social History Curators Group, July
Recording available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtBRiZWx9Kw&feature=youtu.be

2021 Conversation on 'Cultures of Care' with Dr Nuala Morse (Leicester University), Museum Ethnographers Group Conference, May (online)

2021 Invited Public Lecture, 'What to keep?', Studium Generale Outreach Department, March (online)
University of Groningen

2023 Invited Seminar: 'Finds, fragments, fixtures and fittings: Object collections in built heritage organisations', ICOMOS / Heritage New Zealand, 2 May
An invited seminar for ICOMOS and Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga heritage professionals in Christchurch, New Zealand (2 May 2023).

2023 Paper presented 'Taking Care of the Workers: Understanding Museum and Heritage Professionals¡¯ Emotionally Laden Work', Care-ful Museums Conference Nottingham Trent University, 29 June

Co-presented with Dr Anna Woodham, King's College London.

2024 Invited seminar 'Taking Care of the Workers: Understanding Museum and Heritage Professionals' Emotionally Laden Work', CEHP Â鶹´«Ã½AV, 26 March
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Co-presented with Dr Anna Woodham (King's College London)

2024 Members Together Online: Wellbeing, 16 October
Museums Association

Invited panel member for this online Museums Association members event discussing how we can improve workforce wellbeing in the sector. The session includes: Hearing from key professionals within this area of practice talk about their experiences and share their insights Exploring a range of models to support your understanding of yourself and your teams, where applicable Next steps to support your wellbeing journey The event also offers the chance to discuss the issue with your fellow MA members.

2024 Museum Futures, SGSAH Discipline Catalyst+ Museums & Cultural Studies PhD Training Event, 7 May
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With Dr Jordan Kistler (Strathclyde)

2024 Paper presented 'New Futures of Care: Investigating emotionally laden work in museums', Social History Curators Group Conference, June
Dr Anna Woodham (King's College London) presenting author

Examining

External PhD Examiner - University of Leicester (2022), Internal PhD Examiner and Independent Reviewer - Â鶹´«Ã½AV (2022)

Other Academic Activities

Invited Organising Committee Member/ 'Museum Futures' Theme Lead, ACHS2020: Futures 5th Biennial Conference of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies, August 2020
University College London

Co-PI for 'Favela Stories: Sporting practices and building community resilience in Rio de Janeiro during the COVID-19 pandemic', Â鶹´«Ã½AV Crucible funded ?2,990
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I am presently collaborating with Dr Claudio Rocha (Â鶹´«Ã½AV) on this UoS Crucible 'New Collaborator' grant funded project. The project aims to initiate a new interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers within the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities by investigating the meanings and values favela residents attach to sporting practices (and connected spaces, sites, objects, memories, stories, networks) and how these have contributed to resilience in the face of this global crisis.

Â鶹´«Ã½AV representative for the Discipline+ Catalyst for Cultural and Museum Studies, Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities

Four year appointment (2023-2027)

Editorial Board Member, Review of Scottish Culture
University of Edinburgh

Invited Advisory Board Member 'Mining Landscapes' project
https://www.mining-landscapes.org/

Invited Editorial Board Member, Anthropology in Action: Journal for Applied Anthropology in Policy and Practice
Ongoing appointment since 2017

NIKU Visiting Research Fellowship, Oslo (Norway) 14-21 August 2022
Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research

Professional membership

Association of Critical Heritage Studies

Museum Ethnographers Group

Museums Association
www.museumsassociation.org

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

Professional qualification

Associate Fellow HEA (recognition reference PR160814)
Higher Education Academy

Supervision of Research Assistants

Second Supervisor for 'The Past We Inherit, The Future We Shape: Investigating Sustainable and Creative Futures for Heritage Organisations with Social Purpose' PhD. SGSAH Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA) funded
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Doctoral researcher: Hanneke Booji (expected completion 2023). Partner organisation: Glasgow Buildings Preservation Trust

Lead Supervisor for 'Unlocking the hidden stories, values, and lives of the HES Trinity House object collection' PhD. Scottish Heritage Consortium AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) funded
Â鶹´«Ã½AV and Historic Environment Scotland

Doctoral researcher: Alina Botezatu (expected completion 2026). Partner organisation: Historic Environment Scotland

University Contribution

Member of Centre for Environment, Heritage and Policy
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/about/faculties/arts-humanities/our-research/centre-for-environment-heritageand-policy/

Member of Cultural Heritage Research Programme
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/research/research-programmes/

Member of FaH Health & Wellbeing Research Group
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Member of Â鶹´«Ã½AV Postcolonial Studies Reading Group
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Outputs (45)

Book Review

Book Review: Museums and societal collapse: the museum as lifeboat

Morgan J (2024) Book Review: Museums and societal collapse: the museum as lifeboat. Review of: Museums and societal collapse: the museum as lifeboat by R. R. Janes, Abingdon, Oxon, Routledge, 2024, 180 pp., ISBN: 9781032382241. Museums & Social Issues. https://doi.org/10.1080/15596893.2024.2318915

Book Review

Book review: Exploring Emotion, Care, and Enthusiasm in Unloved Museum Collections, edited by Anna Woodham, Rhianedd Smith and Alison Hess, Leeds, ARC Humanities Press, 2020

Morgan J (2021) Book review: Exploring Emotion, Care, and Enthusiasm in Unloved Museum Collections, edited by Anna Woodham, Rhianedd Smith and Alison Hess, Leeds, ARC Humanities Press, 2020. Review of: Exploring Emotion, Care, and Enthusiasm in ¡°Unloved¡± Museum Collections, edited by Anna Woodham, Rhianedd Smith and Alison Hess, Leeds, ARC Humanities Press, 2020. ISBN: 9781641890557. Science Museum Group Journal, 15 (15). https://doi.org/10.15180/211508

Book Chapter

Doomed?

Morgan J (2020) Doomed?. In: Heritage Futures: Comparative Approaches to Natural and Cultural Heritage Practices. London: UCL Press, pp. 238-248. https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781787356009

Book Chapter

The Human Bower

Morgan J (2020) The Human Bower. In: Harrison R, DeSilvey C, Holtorf C, Macdonald S, Bartolini N, Breithoff E, Fredheim H, Lyons A, May S, Morgan J & Penrose S (eds.) Heritage Futures: Comparative Approaches to Natural and Cultural Heritage Practices. London: UCL Press, pp. 223-237.

Book Chapter

Curating Domestic Profusion

Morgan J & Macdonald S (2020) Curating Domestic Profusion. In: Harrison R, DeSilvey C, Holtorf C, Macdonald S, Bartolini N, Breithoff E, Fredheim H, Lyons A, May S, Morgan J & Penrose S (eds.) Heritage Futures: Comparative Approaches to Natural and Cultural Heritage Practices. London: UCL Press, pp. 202-222. https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781787356009

Book Chapter

Curating Museum Profusion

Fredheim H, Macdonald S & Morgan J (2020) Curating Museum Profusion. In: Harrison R, DeSilvey C, Holtorf C, Macdonald S, Bartolini N, Breithoff E, Fredheim H, Lyons A, May S, Morgan J & Penrose S (eds.) Heritage Futures: Comparative Approaches to Natural and Cultural Heritage Practices. London: UCL Press, pp. 169-189. https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781787356009

Book Chapter

Too many things to keep for the future?

Macdonald S, Morgan J & Fredheim H (2020) Too many things to keep for the future?. In: Harrison R, DeSilvey C, Holtorf C, Macdonald S, Bartolini N, Breithoff E, Fredheim H, Lyons A, May S, Morgan J & Penrose S (eds.) Heritage Futures: Comparative Approaches to Natural and Cultural Heritage Practices. London: UCL Press, pp. 155-168. https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781787356009

Book Chapter

Discussion and conclusions

Harrison R, DeSilvery C, Holtorf C, Macdonald S, Bartolini N, Fredheim H, Lyons A, May S, Morgan J & Penrose S (2020) Discussion and conclusions. In: Heritage Futures: Comparative Approaches to Natural and Cultural Heritage Practices. London: UCL Press, pp. 465-489.

Exhibition

Heritage Futures, Manchester Museum

Harrison R, McGhie H, Bartolini N, Macdonald S, Holtorf C, DeSilvey C, Morgan J, May S, Penrose S, Lyons A & Fredheim H Heritage Futures, Manchester Museum.

Article

Assembling Alternative Futures for Heritage

Bartolini N, Breithoff E, DeSilvey C, Fredhiem H, Harrison R, Holtorf C, Lyons A, Macdonald S, May S, Morgan J & Penrose S (2018) Assembling Alternative Futures for Heritage. Context, (155), pp. 22-24. http://ihbc.org.uk/page55/context_archive/index.html

Conference Paper (published)

How can we know the future? Uncertainty, transformation, and magical techniques of significance assessment in museum collecting

Macdonald S & Morgan J (2018) How can we know the future? Uncertainty, transformation, and magical techniques of significance assessment in museum collecting. In: Assessment of Significance: Deuten - Bedeuten - Umdeuten. Assessment of Significance: Interpretation - Implication - Reinterpretation, 11.05.2017-13.05.2017. Berlin, Germany: Deutsches Historisches Museum, pp. 20-26.

Website Content

Torbay's Hidden Treasures

Morgan J (2017) Torbay's Hidden Treasures. Heritage Futures [Website Blog Post] 09.10.2017. https://heritage-futures.org/torbays-hidden-treasures/

Video

Archives in Place

Morgan J (2017) Archives in Place. Heritage Futures [Video] 01.05.2017. https://heritage-futures.org/archives-in-place/

Book Chapter

Making theory, making interventions: Doing applied scholarship at the inbetween

Pink S, Morgan J & Andrew D (2017) Making theory, making interventions: Doing applied scholarship at the inbetween. In: Pink S, Fors V & O'Dell T (eds.) Theoretical Scholarship and Applied Practice. Studies in Public and Applied Anthropology, 11. Oxford: Berghahn, pp. 97-117. https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/PinkTheoretical

Website Content

The end of plenty? Museums collecting archaeology

Morgan J (2017) The end of plenty? Museums collecting archaeology. Heritage Futures [Website blog post] 19.03.2017. https://heritage-futures.org/end-plenty-museums-collecting-archaeology/

Presentation / Talk

Curating profusion - from connoisseurship to mediation?

Morgan J & Macdonald S (2017) Curating profusion - from connoisseurship to mediation?. Museumslabor Seminar Series, Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage, Humboldt University, Berlin, 16.01.2017-16.01.2017. http://www.carmah.berlin/events/talk-sharon-macdonald-and-jennie-morgan-curating-profusion-from-connoisseurship-to-mediation/

Website Content

Storii

Morgan J (2017) Storii. Heritage Futures [Website blog post] 01.01.2017. https://heritage-futures.org/storii/

Article

Interdisciplinary research for occupational safety and health knowledge

Pink S, Waterson P, Dainty A, Cheyne A, Haslam R, Gibb A, Morgan J, Hartley R, Finneran A & Bust P (2016) Interdisciplinary research for occupational safety and health knowledge. Policy and Practice in Health and Safety, 14 (1), pp. 22-33. https://doi.org/10.1080/14773996.2016.1235832

Article

Heritage Futures

Harrison R, Bartolini N, DeSilvey C, Holtorf C, Lyons A, Macdonald S, May S, Morgan J & Penrose S (2016) Heritage Futures. Archaeology International, 19, pp. 68-72. https://doi.org/10.5334/ai.1912

Keynote

Performing the Processes and Challenges of Early Career Researchers

Bartolini N, May S, Morgan J & Penrose S (2016) Performing the Processes and Challenges of Early Career Researchers. Past Matters, Research Futures - Conference for Early Career Researchers, London, 12.12.2016-13.12.2016. https://heritage-futures.org/performing-processes-challenges-early-career-researchers/

Website Content

The Ethics of Dust

Morgan J (2016) The Ethics of Dust. Heritage Futures [Website Blog] 31.08.2016. https://www.heritage-futures.org/the-ethics-of-dust/

Project Report

Engagement of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in occupational safety and health: Project know-how

Gibb A, Pinder J, Bust P, Cheyne A, Dainty A, Fray M, Finneran A, Glover J, Hartley R, Haslam R, Jones W, Morgan J, Pink S, Waterson P & Yolande Gosling E (2016) Engagement of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in occupational safety and health: Project know-how. Institution of Occupational Safety and Health. Leicester. https://www.iosh.co.uk/Books-and-resources/Health-and-safety-in-a-changing-world/SMEs-and-micro-organisations-engagement-with-occupational-safety-and-health.aspx

Article

The multi-sensory museum

Morgan J (2012) The multi-sensory museum. Glasnik Etnografskog instituta SANU, 60 (1), pp. 65-77. https://doi.org/10.2298/GEI1201065M

Book Chapter

Morgan, J. (2012) 'The cleaning cupboard: An ethnographic look at the production of newness at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum'. In: F. von Bose, K. Poehls, F. Schneider, and A. Schulze (Eds), Museum-X, Panama Verlag, pp.56-64

Morgan J (2012) Morgan, J. (2012) 'The cleaning cupboard: An ethnographic look at the production of newness at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum'. In: F. von Bose, K. Poehls, F. Schneider, and A. Schulze (Eds), Museum-X, Panama Verlag, pp.56-64. In: von Bose F, Poehls K, Schneider F & Schulze A (eds.) Museum-X. Museum-X, Berliner Bl?tter 57/2011. Berlin: Panama Verlag. https://www.panama-verlag.de/programm/museum-x/

Teaching

Teaching

ARTUHR5 Exhibition Interpretation & Design (Lecturer)

ARTUMU5 The Museum: History, Theory, Practice (Module Coordinator & Lecturer)

HERPP01 Heritage: Critical Perspectives (Lecturer)

HERPP02 Research Skills (Lecturer)

HERPP06 Curating and Collecting: Approaches in Museums and Heritage (Module Coordinator & Lecturer)

HERPPPD MSc Heritage Dissertation (Supervisor)

HISU9X4 Back to the Future: Putting History & Heritage to Work (Seminar Tutor 2018/2019 & Guest Lecture)

HISU9X7/8 History Dissertation / History Dissertation for Combined Degrees (Supervisor)

HISUHX7 Heritage Portfolio (Module Coordinator & Supervisor)

Research programmes