DrJoshua Blamire

I joined the Institute for Community Research and Development (ICRD) in November 2021. Prior to that, I was Lecturer in the Department of Geography and Environmental Science at Liverpool Hope University and then Research Fellow at the University of Exeter.

My background is in Human Geography. My PhD examined anti-austerity activism and alternatives to austerity in Liverpool during 2014-17. I explored how austerity was being experienced, managed, and contested by different groups including grassroots ‘anti-austerity’ campaigns, communities, third sector organisations, and the city council.

My work explores how individuals and communities in different places respond to social and political processes and transformation. I am interested in how people experience those issues in relation to their own everyday lives and diverse identities and senses of belonging, and with respect to their broader attitudes towards social and political polarisation and inequality, working alongside media and government narratives. Some topics of study are austerity; Brexit; COVID-19; heritage; energy and climate action.

I work with a wide range of stakeholders including community and voluntary sector organisations, charities, third sector organisations and local authorities, including recently: City of Wolverhampton Council; Walsall Council; Bolton Council; Historic England; Homebaked Community Land Trust; Home Energy Action Lab (HEAL); Cricklewood Railway Terraces.

I have expertise in participatory community research, and working with Arts Connect have trained and supported a number of cultural organisations to develop their own research capacity. Please get in touch if you’d like to learn more!

I lead the ICRD research theme Tackling Inequalities through Heritage and the Arts.