Dr Sophia Labadi, Senior Lecturer in Heritage and Archaeology for the Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies, has recently been awarded an AHRC Leadership Fellows grant of £247,947 for a project entitled ‘Rethinking Heritage for Development: International Framework, Local Impacts’.

Heritage is marginalised from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and such marginalisation is problematic. Heritage can provide new models of development that cannot be realised with such exclusion. This marginalisation will continue, unless issues preventing the recognition of heritage are understood and addressed.

Dr Labadi’s research aims to understand why heritage has been marginalised from the SDGs and innovative models addressing the identified shortcomings will then be proposed. To address this aim, this project assesses international narratives on heritage for development, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. It then analyses the successes and failures of all projects on heritage for development funded through the Millennium Development Goals (that preceded the SDGs) in Africa.

Congratulations to Dr Labadi on her achievement.

For more information on the AHRC Leadership Fellow grant, please see here.