Dr Laura Hodsdon

Associate Professor in Heritage, Culture & Society

Dr Laura Hodsdon is a Senior Research Fellow working on heritage/landscape geographies and discourses, with particular interest in heritage in society: 

  • Intangible cultural heritage, ‘community’, and the ethics of participation
  • Indigenous/autochthonous marginalised European cultural heritage
  • How different people engage with material heritage sites
  • Discourses of/in sites and landscapes and they relate to power
  • Missing or hidden heritage stories 
  • Accessibility and inclusion in heritage and rural landscape contexts

She leads Falmouth's Centre for Heritage, Culture & Society and is currently leading a European Commission Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage/AHRC-funded research consortium to explore marginalised intangible cultural heritage in the project Re-voicing Cultural Landscapes: Narratives, Perspectives, and Performances of Marginalised Intangible Cultural Heritage. The results of this research will be published in Routledge's Critical Heritages of Europe series, in an edited volume 'Revoicing Intangible Cultural Heritage: Perspectives from the Margins of Europe'. Other current research is on discourse and power in various contexts including heritage, landscapes, and organisations and work.

After a BA in English Literature at the University of York and PhD in Classics at the University of Leeds, she worked in various policy research roles at the Higher Education Academy (now AdvanceHE) before becoming a policy advisor at the University of Oxford specialising in race and gender equality, implicit bias, and professional development for research staff. She's also a licensed Springboard trainer and ILM Level 5 certified coach, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Associate for AdvanceHE, and has undertaken research consultancy for Trinity College London. She joined Falmouth University in Spring 2018.

External Links

Associate Professor in Heritage, Culture & Society

Contact details

Email Laura.Hodsdon@falmouth.ac.uk

    Qualifications

    Qualifications

    Year Qualification Awarding body
    2008 PhD in Classics University of Leeds
    2007 MA in Classical Civilisation University of Leeds
    2004 BA in English Literature University of York

    Membership of external committees

    Cornwall FA Inclusion Advisory Group, AHRC Peer Review College

    Research Interests

    Research interests and expertise

    My research combines my background in equality, diversity, and inclusion with an interest in heritage and landscape. It considers the place and role of heritage and landscape in society, asking how different people engage with them in different ways, what assumptions might be in place that act as barriers to inclusive engagement, and what stories there are to be told. I also continue to work within EDI as a consultant in higher education, and combine this practical expertise with research drawing on cultural geography, heritage studies, sociology and other disciplines to adopt an impact-driven approach to heritage and landscape studies. 

    My work falls broadly into three domains:

    • Heritage and culture: normative discourse, power, and privilege
    • Belonging and social spaces: socio-spatial inequalities and identity
    • Skills and employment: inequalities in recruitment, experience, and progression

    My research is underpinned by expertise in qualitative and quantitative data analysis and evaluation:

    • Critical discourse analysis
    • Focus groups and interviews
    • Survey design and analysis
    • Statistical analysis
    • Equality data and policy analysis
    • Evaluation and impact monitoring

    Research topics:

    • Intangible cultural heritage, ‘community’, and the ethics of participation
    • Indigenous/autochthonous marginalised European cultural heritage
    • How different people engage with material heritage sites
    • Discourses of/in sites and landscapes and they relate to power
    • Missing or hidden heritage stories 
    • Accessibility and inclusion in heritage and rural landscape contexts

    Research Outputs

    Publications and research outputs

    • Christman, Kate

      Hodsdon, Laura, (2023), The Bee Brick: building habitat for solitary bees, In: International Journal of Sustainable Design, Inderscience Publishers, Online and print, Vol.4 (No.3/4), pp. 285-304, ISSN: 1743-8284

    • Hodsdon, Laura

      (2021), “Picture perfect” landscape stories: normative narratives and authorised discourse, In: Landscape Research, Taylor & Francis, London, 47 (2), pp. 271-284

    • Hodsdon, Laura

      (2021), Visitors’ discursive responses to hegemonic and alternative museum narratives: a case study of Le Modèle Noir, In: Critical Discourse Studies, Taylor & Francis, London, 19 (4), pp. 401-417, ISSN: 1740-5904

    • Hodsdon, Laura

      (2019), ‘I expected … something’: imagination, legend, and history in TripAdvisor reviews of Tintagel Castle, In: Journal of Heritage Tourism, Taylor and Francis, UK, 15 (4), pp. 410-423, ISSN: 1743-873X

    • Rofe, Michael

      Hodsdon, Laura, (2017), Experiencing Online Orchestra - Communities, Connections and Music-Making through Telematic Performance, In: Journal of Music, Technology and Education, Intellect Ltd, UK, 10 (2-3), pp. 257-276, ISSN: 17527066

    • Blonska, Agnieszka

      Hodsdon, Laura, Frears, Lucy, Vautier, Gabby, Megaw, Neal, Tanner, Steve, Impossible Producing and Tate St Ives, (2023), Re:Voice, In: Re:Voice, 29.04.2023, Tate Gallery, St Ives

    • Frears, Lucy

      Hodsdon, Laura, (2023), Insiders and outsiders researching insiders and outsiders by Lucy Frears & Laura Hodsdon, In: Symposium: Re:voicing Cultural Landscapes Narrative and Non-narrative traditions across media - part of: Heritage, Identity and Inclusivity Leeuwarden Summer School in collaboration with the Heritage Lab, 3rd - 7th July 2023, Leeuwarden, the Netherlands

    • Hodsdon, Laura

      (2023), ‘Absences’, in Shakespeare E and MacMillan V (eds) Sensing the Land

    • Hodsdon, Laura

      (2024), Revoicing intangible cultural heritage, In: Revoicing Intangible Cultural Heritage: Perspectives from the Margins of Europe, Routledge, London, ISBN: tbc, (Unpublished), Item availability may be restricted.

    Externally funded research grants information

    Collaborators Currency Funder HESA Category Project title Value Year ending Year starting

    University of Groningen, University of Latvia, and University of Tartu

    		 € Joint Programming Initiative on Cultural Heritage/AHRC Re-voicing Cultural Landscapes: Narratives, Perspectives, and Performances of Marginalised Intangible Cultural Heritage 608,374 2023 2021

    National Trust

    		 Landscape Research Group Landscape Stories: an investigation of organisations’ and diverse audiences’ narratives of the countryside to advance landscape justice 2021 2020

    Research Students

    Current research students

    Please get in touch if you're interested in undertaking PhD study in any of the following areas:

    • Intangible cultural heritage, particularly relating to minoritised communities
    • Implicit (unconscious) bias, privilege and power
    • Discourse and normative policy and practice, particularly in heritage or organisational contexts
    • Equal and inclusive representation and experience in the workplace

    Business Engagement

    Consultancy and facility services

    I am an Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Associate for AdvanceHE.