Fiona Robertson
Musem, Galleries and Heritage Postgraduate Research Student
Project Title: Local civic museums and local democracy in the UK
Supervisors: Professor Rhiannon Mason and Dr Emma Coffield
Before starting my PhD, I worked in UK national and local museums for over twenty years leading cultural regeneration programmes in Cumbria, southeast England and Perth. I held senior public policy roles in Scottish Government from 2003-2012, was Vice-Chair of the National Library of Scotland (2013-2019) and am a former Member of Court, Abertay University, Dundee.
Project Description: I work on the role of local public museums in local democratic and civic participation. The civic purpose of museums has come back into public policy focus alongside their instrumental purpose in economic/ social terms, and in a wider context of critical debate on trust in public services. My research examines the specific contribution of these museums alongside other agents and actors in systems of formal and informal civic and democratic debate.
Presentations:
Economic versus social impact in heritage regeneration: must it be either/or? -Heritage International Experience student conference, Oslo University, October 2025
Regenerating memory: Perth Museum and the Stone of Destiny – Memory Studies Association, January 2025
Education: BA (Hons) Art History and Theory – University of Essex
MLitt Modern Scottish Writing – Stirling University
Member, Museums Association, Email: f.robertson4@newcastle.ac.uk
