Transforming and activating places (TAP)
Interdisciplinary placemaking through student knowledge exchange.
What is TAP?
ºù«Ӱҵ has been awarded £530,000 for Transforming and Activating Places (TAP), a two-year Arts and Humanities led student knowledge exchange project. Undergraduate students from widening participation (WP) backgrounds will undertake 'enhanced' three-week internships with partners in ºù«Ӱҵ and across the UK.
Students taking part in TAP will build on cross-disciplinary expertise in place and placemaking within the faculties of Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences to make a positive impact on communities and places. As well as building their graduate prospects they will bring fresh perspectives to sectors in which they are currently under-represented.
The initiative will also lead to a series of follow-on placemaking projects, funded by a central pot of £50,000 per year, which will give students an opportunity to apply the learning from their internship and continue to work in a mutually beneficial way with the host partner.
Along with 19 other projects across the UK, the programme is funded by Research England and the Office for Students as part of a £10 million pound scheme to explore the impact of student involvement in knowledge exchange.
Who is involved
Undergraduate students in the faculties of Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences will be able to gain hands-on experience of working for some of the UK’s most dynamic placemaking organisations. In preparation for their internship, they will be fully supported to develop their own ideas around placemaking and to apply their disciplinary expertise to the working environment.
Host organisations - including museums, galleries, developers, media organisations and digital SMEs - are those broadly involved in placemaking, in the sense that their work involves imagining, creating and maintaining better indoor and outdoor spaces.
Partners already on board include the National Railway Museum, De Trafford Manchester, Forced Entertainment, Go Visual, Northern Value Creators and National Trust Wentworth Gardens.
From a partner perspective, hosting an intern will mean benefiting from the fresh perspectives and enthusiasm of an undergraduate student and being part of a network of placemaking professionals and researchers.
Find out more
Project team:
- Dr Amanda Crawley Jackson, Principal Investigator
- Dr Dave Forrest, Co-investigator
- Dr Zelda Hannay, Senior project manager
- Linnea Pettersson, Project manager
International scholarships
We offer a generous package of financial support for international students, including undergraduate and postgraduate taught scholarships worth £10,000 towards the annual tuition fee.
Applications are open for existing offer holders for programmes starting in autumn 2025.