Emma Pleasant, Sophie Rowland and Luke Shoveller, postgraduate students from the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, hosted an inter-disciplinary conference entitled ‘Heritage and Biography: Narrating Pasts, Imagining Futures’ on 9 and 10 September. The event brought together contemporary research from notable academics and inspiring papers from a number of emerging academics working on topics surrounding issues of heritage and biography.

On the first day, at the Canterbury campus, attendees heard from researchers within the fields of sociology, history, art and geography and took part in panels on remembrance, materiality, immateriality and deindustrialisation. These panels enabled thought provoking and insightful debate and also discussion of how research in the area could evolve.

The second day, at the Medway campus, began with a panel that examined issues of place and identity within narratives of heritage and biography. Professor Patrick Wright, from King’s College London, closed the conference with a talk on his research project on the Isle of Sheppey, focused on the life of Uwe Johnson.

The event welcomed local heritage organisations to showcase their work. These included Bluetown, the Chatham Dockyard Historical Society, the Historic Dockyard Trust and the Elvington and Eythorne heritage group.

Funded by the ESRC and run in conjunction with the South East Doctoral Training Centre and The Centre for Heritage, the conference helped to bridge the gap between academia, heritage organisations and the local community and build contacts for collaborative projects in the future.

For further information see:
Twitter: @Heritage_Kent #
Conference website