Cultural Leadership and Citizenship

This team worked on Focus Study 1, looking at how City of Culture programming and cultural leadership developed to reflect and represent the citizens of Coventry and the region.

Based at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations (CTPSR) at Coventry University, the team had expertise in innovative approaches to evaluation and policymaking in collaboration with grassroots communities, and also had a record of close partnership working with local institutions and stakeholders. Collectively their work has included projects focusing on culture, faith, marginalised communities and evaluation methods with national and international experience.

The research looked at City of Culture activities through the lens of culture and faith, focusing on three specific cohorts in three areas of the city, and used a range of data collection methods including literature review, focus groups, interviews and personal reflections of research subjects (diary entries). It also sought to have some output using creative visual means to capture findings for a public audience beyond the Monitoring and Evaluation team.

About the team

Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor is an Assistant Professor and Lead for Faith and Peaceful Relations. Her work focuses on democratic approaches that work with and for participants. Dr Cheruvallil-Contractor is a Coventry resident with familial ties to its automotive industry. For City of Culture 2021 she led an exploration of the history of inter-religious relations in Coventry, as well as an artistic celebration of its legacy of peace.

EJ Milne, Associate Professor, was the CTPSR strategic lead for City of Culture 2021 and a member of Coventry University Cultural Impact Team. Dr Milne has extensive experience in co-producing projects with traditionally excluded groups and using innovative and arts-based approaches. EJ has been the UK representative on youth research to the European Union and has undertaken consultancy for UK and international NGOs.

Dan Range, Research Fellow, specialises in community involvement and using Theory of Change to map and capture the impact of interventions. He has led reviews for the UK Government, including the Home Office and MHCLG, and the European Union. His work was central to the government Green Paper on integration. Dan has co-developed an innovative evaluation model using “micro-ethnography” tailored to engaging with and understanding the needs of organisations and individuals in the community, voluntary and faith sectors.

Dilwar Hussain is an Assistant Professor. He specialises in identity, community representation, Muslim communities and intercultural relations. Dilwar has led research with Somali residents and Muslims for the Open Society Foundation and worked on a range of evaluation projects for Government-led and voluntary sector projects. He advises national and local government on communities, faith, equality and inclusion.

Image courtesy of Andrew Moore