logo

AHRC-funded research on Professional Ethics and the Caring Museum disseminated internationally

Added on Monday, January 13th, 2020

In November 2019, ICC Head of Research and AHRC Leadership Fellow Kerry Wilson visited Buenos Aires to present her research at the Twelfth International Conference on the Inclusive Museum, held at Muntref, Museum of Immigration. Founded in 2008 as part of the international Common Ground research family, the Inclusive Museum Research Network is brought together by a shared concern for the future role of the museum and how it can become more inclusive.

Kerry presented her research on professional ethics and museums working in health care settings, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) as part of her AHRC Leadership Fellowship (2017-19). Emerging discussion points were shared on the lived experience of ‘integrated’ cultural work in public policy contexts, including the realities of emotional labour in the sector and responsive self-care strategies, and the ‘moral burden’ experienced by cultural professionals and volunteers, working in challenging social contexts borne of ‘unethical political intervention’ as a result of austerity measures.

The presentation was an edited version of a longer paper Kerry prepared for a seminar run in collaboration with the Centre for Heritage and Museum Studies at the Australian National University, Canberra, in March 2019. Her ‘Instrumental Values’ study, which also included ethnographic fieldwork with prison library services in England, will be published fully via various platforms during 2020-21.