Large Grant Projects 2025-26

Heritage on the Hill: community engagement through student-led oral history projects

Led by Jade Hunter (School of Society and Environment)

Originally built to house people displaced by the Second World War, the Harold Hill estate in Havering now has significant pockets of deprivation. This project celebrated the rich, evolving history of Harold Hill’s community, inviting students from Drapers' Academy to collect, preserve and present community stories through an exhibition and booklet. This is the start of a living archive of the community and showcasing the estate’s historical importance.

Read more about the project.

This project was led by Jade Hunter (School of Society and Environment) and Professor Alison Blunt (School of Society and Environment) in partnership with Judith Garfield (Executive Director of Eastside Community Heritage) and Jamie Shields (Vice Principal of Drapers’ Academy).

Project Partners

• Eastside Community Heritage
• Drapers' Academy

In Living Memory: archiving, learning and mobilising against racism in East London

Led by Dr Adam Elliot-Cooper (School of Society and Environment)

This project explored and archived histories of community-based organising against racism and fascism in East London. 

Student researchers were trained in community outreach and worked with grassroots collectives and multi-generational movements to collect the many stories of ordinary people’s struggles, resistance, and connection. These stories, alongside photographs and objects, were brought together into a living archive of these neighbourhoods.

The work on this project helped identify new ways to link local histories with international politics, as well as making sure that knowledge and understanding of political struggles is shared with the communities that lived them.

This project was led by Dr Adam Elliott-Cooper (School of Society and Environment) alongside Dr Sharri Plonski (School of Society and Environment), Dr Tanzil Chowdhury (School of Law), and Rosa Dunn (Rich Mix). 

Project Partners

• Rich Mix
• Swadhinata Trust
• Nijjormanush
• Pelican House
• Cable Street Trust

Creative Resilience: engaging young people in London and Brazil in the development of mental health research during the Climate Crisis

Led by Professor Paul Heritage (School of the Arts), Director of People's Palace Projects

Working with young people in South and East London, Rio de Janeiro’s favelas, and peripheral communities in Fortaleza, this project addressed the intersection of the climate crisis and youth mental health.

Across the three locations, the project brought together young people, researchers, and local artists to share their experiences, reflect on issues affecting their quality of life, and shape community action on mental health and climate change - through “Long Table” performance events, rap/slam poetry workshops, and film screenings.

This project was led by Professor Paul Heritage (School of the Arts), alongside Rosie Hunter (Executive Director, People's Palace Projects) and Mayra Mota (People’s Palace Projects do Brasil).

Project Partners

• People's Palace Projects
• Toynbee Hall
• Rich Mix
• Battersea Arts Centre
• Redes da Maré (Mare favela community NGO)
• Manguinhos & City of God favela Residents’ Associations (Rio de Janeiro)

Kitchen Fragrance: sensory politics of making food and home on an Indian Ocean coastline

Led by Dr Niranjana Ramesh (School of Society and Environment)

Working with a team of 10 local artists and photographers, this project explored societal and cultural attitudes to sensory experiences of the Coromandel Coast in southeastern India, aiming to address stigmatisation and marginalisation of fish-work.

Local fisherwomen participating in the project took part in art and photography training, inviting them to document and self-narrate their stories, lives and livelihoods, and empowering them in advocating for social and environmental justice.

The project culminated in interactive exhibitions of co-produced photography and hand-drawn artwork that narrated the “coastal kitchen”, taking place in fisher community centres in villages and towns, as well as exhibitions in Chennai and Puducherry.

This project was led by Dr Nina Ramesh (School of Society and Environment), in partnership with Dr Bhagath Singh Arunachalam (French Institute of Pondicherry), artist Anthoni Guruz and photographer Palani Kumar and the ‘People’s Photography Collective’.

Project Partners

• French Institute of Pondicherry
• Anthoni Guruz (Artist)
• People's Photography Collective

Workshops with Palestinian artists & community on ethical journalism and state crime

Led by Dr Thomas MacManus (School of Law)

This project explored ethical journalism and the role of the media in framing state crime through theatre. Working in partnership with Shadow World Investigations and BÉZNĂ Theatre, the project brought together researchers, Palestinian and migrant artists, theatre-makers and community groups. Through workshops, the groups are co-creating a new theatre text looking at the media’s role in shaping public perception to the genocide in Gaza, particularly during the period of October 2023-October 2024.

This project was led by Dr Thomas MacManus (School of Law), in partnership with Shadow World Investigations and BÉZNĂ Theatre.

Project partners

• BÉZNĂ Theatre
• Shadow World Investigations

This project focused on using free sports and physical activity sessions to engage with children and young people in Tower Hamlets. The project aimed to both provide crucial education on the many benefits of participation in sports and physical activity, and to collect feedback on the participants’ social, physical, & mental health & wellbeing. 

The free sessions were delivered by QMUL Students, working on behalf of their Student Sports Clubs (e.g., Women’s Football Team) on a voluntary basis. Volunteers gained valuable experience from engaging with their local community, and were also professionally upskilled with a sports-based qualification of their choice as a result of their involvement. Students were offered the creative freedom on what sports they would like to offer, and sessions for young people will include breakfast, lunchtime and after-school clubs, as well as “learn to play” sessions at Youth Clubs.  

This project was led by Harry Pape, Sports Coaching & Employability Supervisor at QMSU. Harry collaborated with colleagues from local schools, Tower Hamlets Council, London Sport (Sport England Place Partnership Programme) and the Young Tower Hamlets programme.