AHRC Doctoral Focal Awards for two projects to support a healthy planet, people, and place
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Two University of Liverpool projects have received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Doctoral Focal Awards, announced today (3 July 2025).
Crafting Care
Liverpool will lead the Crafting Care for People, Place and Planet Doctoral College, in partnership with the University of Central Lancashire, Royal Northern College of Music, and ten regional organisations. Aligned with AHRC’s theme of ‘arts and humanities for a healthy planet, people, and place,’ the College will train a new, inclusive generation of interdisciplinary researchers.
Building on over a decade of work from the University’s Centre for Health, Arts, Society & Environment (CHASE), the College explores how care is co-produced across human and non-human communities, with “craft” defined as broad expertise shaping interdisciplinary research for real-world impact.
Regional partners include leaders in health (Alder Hey, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, Mersey Care, Wirral Public Health), environment (Canal and River Trust, The Mersey Forest), and the arts (DaDa, Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool Philharmonic, National Museums Liverpool), offering expertise, training, and placements.
Principal Investigator the University of Liverpool’s Professor Josie Billington said:
“Crafting Care is driven by co-production and collaboration. It builds on CHASE’s long-standing regional partnerships to support innovative, interdisciplinary research with real-world value. This is a tremendously exciting opportunity for the University, future PhD students and arts and humanities research at UoL to shape research agendas which respond to complex emergent challenges. We are looking forward to building the collaboration with our HEI and non-HEI partners to fulfil our vision of transformative societal impact.”
Living Well with Water
Liverpool will also co-lead Living Well with Water alongside the University of Hull and in collaboration with the National Trust, Royal Geographical Society and the Tate Museum. The project tackles the growing challenge of water-related risk in deprived coastal and estuarine communities.
We all need water to survive, and humans have historically settled near it—in so-called ‘green-blue regions,’ defined as land within ten miles of seacoasts, estuaries, deltas, and tidal rivers. These areas house some of the world’s largest cities but also face increased risks from flooding, pollution, and coastal erosion. Four of the five most deprived English local authorities, according to the 2019 Index of Multiple Deprivation, are in such regions—including Hull and Liverpool, whose universities lead this consortium.
Working within UK policy frameworks (Levelling Up 2022; Climate Adaptation NAP3 2023), the project will harness local history, heritage, and culture to support creative placemaking and strengthen water resilience at the UK’s green-blue edge.
The project aims to:
- Expand doctoral training in underrepresented coastal areas
- Democratise access to green-blue heritage
- Help build healthier, water-resilient communities
Professor Neil Macdonald, the Principal Investigator from the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Liverpool said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this AHRC Focal Doctoral Award. With additional support from NERC, it will enable us to train the next generation of interdisciplinary researchers, building on existing relationships and partner expertise. Developing and supporting water resilient communities is one of the great global challenges. This award will enable us to train researchers that understand these challenges, but recognise the importance of a places culture, history and heritage in shaping how we can adapt and become more resilient.”
About the AHRC Focal Awards
AHRC’s new Doctoral Focal Awards invest in future-facing research training that supports the UK’s creative economy and societal wellbeing.
AHRC Executive Chair Professor Christopher Smith said: “Introducing Focal Awards allows us to support cohorts of students in centres for excellence for strategically valuable areas such as health and the creative economy. In the future this approach will allow us, in consultation with the sector, to provide support where it is needed to disciplines across the arts and humanities, vital skills and digital humanities. But the scope for individual projects is wide and autonomy for researchers remains as important as ever.
“The Focal Awards exemplify AHRC’s approach to doctoral training and our ambition for a sustainable portfolio providing support for training, investigator-led research, strategic direction and building the infrastructure necessary for people and ideas for the future of arts and humanities.”