Research Impact

The impacts of our research are diverse and span the development of professional practice, including that of museum and heritage practitioners, musicians, artists and music entrepreneurs; the enhancement of cultural life and identity for museum visitors and music audiences, and for community and youth groups, plus impacts on cultural policy, particularly in relation to cultural heritage and tourism.

From the history of Jazz in Britain to collaborative projects such as exploring photographic archives in partnership with the Open Eye Gallery, and from the new Tung Auditorium and an MA focussing on the Beatle's heritage impact and legacy, the Department's civic and collaborative focus is clear. Our Institute of Popular Music continues to find innovative ways to bring national and international history to life, and projects exploring phenomena such as K-Pop ensure contemporary relevance.

Our partnerships with institutions such as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, our contributions to the Liverpool City Region Music Board and the Beatles Legacy Group and our support for the recognition by UNESCO as a City of Music provide more avenues for our research to deliver impactful results across the region and beyond.

100 Years of Jazz

REF 2021: 100 Years of Jazz in Britain

Professor Catherine Tackley

REF 2021: Transforming Music Policy in Liverpool: Heritage, Tourism and Industry

Dr Michael Jones, Professor Simeon Yates, Professor Sara Cohen
Lunchtime Concert Series - Listen and Learn

Responding to the Covid-19 pandemic

Academic staff within the Department of Music have contributed to the regional and national response to Covid-19 in various ways. Find out more about the impact that they and other colleagues from the School of the Arts have had in this unprecedented time of crisis.

The impacts of our research are diverse and include:

  • the development of professional practice, including that of museum and heritage practitioners, musicians, artists and music entrepreneurs
  • the enhancement of cultural life and identity for museum visitors and music audiences, and for community and youth groups
  • impacts on cultural policy, particularly in relation to cultural heritage and tourism

Our  showcase some of this research which has been widely utilised by the media – in press commentaries, radio broadcasts, film and television documentaries – enabling us to contribute to public debate and understanding of historical and current affairs.

Public engagement activities

Each year we offer a wide range of public engagement activities related to our research. Our compositions have been performed nationally and internationally, and recorded and released on a commercial basis. We have staged major exhibitions and installations based on our research and organised panels and workshops for music industry conventions.

Our research has also informed the production of documentary- and community-based films and public screenings and talks. We speak regularly on radio and we have produced and contributed to publications for wide-ranging audiences.‌

Music, Photographs and Stories from the Archives

One example of our public engagement activity is ‘Music, Photographs and Stories from the Archives’, a four-month project supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and based on collaboration between the Institute of Popular Music and the Open Eye Gallery (OEG), a photography gallery positioned in a prestigious and prominent new development at the heart of Liverpool’s regenerated Waterfront.

Research Impact

The project exploited the power of interest in heritage to engage the public in the significant but under-utilised archives of the IPM and the OEG. Members of the public were invited to visit each archive and select materials, some photographic and some audio, that resonated with their lives and personal experience. Working with the project team they then put together a photo story and a music story based on these materials.

This culminated in a public event presenting these stories and archival materials, with live music accompaniment arranged in collaboration with Liverpooljazz, an organisation working to raise the profile of jazz performance in Liverpool.

Research Impact

The project generated such interest that a weekly ‘Stories from the Archives’ slot was broadcast on BBC Radio Merseyside, and the project also featured as part of the regular radio podcasts of Liverpooljazz. A 90-minute documentary about the project was filmed and broadcast by Bay TV, while a shorter film was produced by the project team.

Other outcomes include scholarly publications and a research proposal. Music, Photographs and Stories from the Archives shows, therefore, how public engagement can not only follow on from and disseminate research but also spawn new research.