Meet the Heritage Projects team

The Heritage Projects Team at UON

Suzanne Oliver

Suzanne is the Heritage Projects and Partnerships Officer at UON.  Her role is to plan, deliver and evaluate the project. With a background in Arts and Cultural Education, primarily as Creative Director, Suzanne has cultivated long-lasting partnerships with national organisations and been a member of strategic arts and cultural partnerships in the county over the past 20 years. During this time, she has co-created and facilitated projects for a wide range of community organisations and the education sector: leading teacher training, supporting whole school development through the implementation of cultural strategies and approaches to curriculum design and mentoring young and emerging artists and practitioners.

Centre for Historical Studies

The Centre for Historical Studies is a lively hub for the discussion of the past and for the dissemination of historical knowledge. They are based in the Faculty of Arts, Science and Technology at UON.

They are particularly focused on developing collaborative partnerships across the UK and beyond. Partnerships include institutions such as English Heritage, Northamptonshire Archives and Heritage and local sports clubs such as Northampton Saints RFC and Northamptonshire Country Cricket Club.

Mark Rothery

Mark Rothery is Professor of History at the University of Northampton. He is widely published on the history of family, gender, demography and emotions. He is currently writing a book for Manchester University Press on the history of anxiety.

Paul Jackson

Paul Jackson is a Professor in the History of Radicalism and Extremism at the University of Northampton. He specializes in the history and contemporary dynamics of fascism and the extreme right, and his most recent book is Pride in Prejudice: Understanding Britain’s Extreme Right (2022). He is the curator of the Searchlight Archive at the university, which is one of the UK’s largest collections of material related to the recent history of extreme right groups. He has engaged widely with the media, including national and international press, as well as for BBC radio and television, and he has written articles for the Guardian and the Huffington Post. He has engaged with policymakers, professionals and activists, including creating bespoke training packages related to risks posed by the extreme right.

Wider Institutional Support

Matthew McCormack

Matthew McCormack is Professor of History and Head of the Graduate School at UON. He is a historian of eighteenth-century Britain, and his current research is on the material culture of men’s shoes. He has published widely and his most recent book is Citizenship and Gender in Britain, 1688-1928 (Routledge, 2019). He has appeared on TV and on national and local radio. Matthew is involved with a range of heritage organisations in the region: he judges the Northamptonshire Heritage Forum annual awards, sits on the Council of the Northamptonshire Record Society, is Acting Secretary of the Northampton Branch of the Historical Association, and often gives talks for heritage sites and local history societies.

Our Heritage Project Partners: The University of Bedfordshire

Emma Gill

Emma heads up the Arts and Culture Projects Team at UOB. Emma has international experience in establishing socially-engaged cultural projects in partnership with non-creative sectors, educational institutions, arts and heritage organisations. She has specific specialisms in Applied practice, widening participation agendas and situation higher education institutions at the heart of sector-level capacity-building agendas.

Prior to working at UOB, Emma was the Learning and Participation Manager at Trestle Theatre Company and Lecturer in Drama (MA and PGCE courses) for Middlesex University. In 2016, she was part of the All Party Parliamentary Arts, Health and Wellbeing SIG Group, supporting the Creative Health inquiry. This derived from the Arts and Health practice that Emma developed at Trestle, as well as before Trestle, whilst she was a freelance artist.

Jitty Marwaha

Jitty leads the delivery of UOB’s Heritage Project in partnership with Suzanne. Previously Jitty led on the two Local Cultural Education Partnership (LCEP) programmes in Luton and Bedford, both of which received funding from the University of Bedfordshire and Partnership Investment from ROH Bridge. Jitty has vast knowledge and experience working locally, regionally, and further afield in events, production, cultural programmes, community, education and outreach and has worked extensively in the cultural sector, embedded within local communities, and her role developing cultural education partnerships. Jitty’s experience plays a significant role where there is a lot to be said in developing a rich multiplicity of heritage and culture, inspiring young people and entrenching her experience within civic engagement to further enrich cultural place making for all to be proud of and celebrate.