Research

Since 1997, my research has focused on studying the regeneration potential of cultural programmes staged within major national and world events. My main interest is to assess their long-term cultural legacies as distinct from other economic, physical and social impacts. I have pioneered discussions worldwide on cultural indicators and longitudinal qualitative methodologies that complement established approaches to economic, social and physical impact analysis in order to advance the understanding of cultural impacts.

Keywords: cultural policy, urban regeneration, city marketing, cultural impacts, culture evaluation,
media narrative, long-term legacies of major events and festivals

Focus: mega-events, Olympic Games, Cultural Olympiad,
European Capitals of Culture, arts festivals

European Capitals of Culture

Director of European Capital of Culture research

I have documented the experience of European Capital of Culture (ECoC) hosts since the initiative’s launch in 1985 and conducted fieldwork in situ since 2001. I have developed research frameworks and collected and data from every host city and advanced discussion on how best to compare materials and identify best practices as well as recurrent challenges.
This work has taken place within the Centre for Cultural Policy Research (University of Glasgow), the Impacts 08 research team at the University of Liverpool, the Institute of Cultural Capital at the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University, and in collaboration with researchers and research units across European universities.
My research has been funded by UK Research Council grants (Arts and Humanities Research Council, Economic and Social Resarch Council), the European Parliament and the Creative Europe Programme with support from the European Commission.
Since 2023, I also operate as a consultant advising ECoC bid cities as well as ECoC host cities in their approach to long term cultural strategies, evaluation frameworks and legacy capture and I am part of the Policy Task Force at Culture Next, the Candidate Cities network.

Find here an overview of the main European Capital of Culture projects I have directed to date.

Olympic Games

Since 1998, my work has involved the assessment of the cultural dimensions of the Olympic Games, in particular, the Cultural Olympiad and official Olympic Arts Festivals. I also study the approach to cultural policy-making within the Olympic Movement more broadly.
I have conducted fieldwork on the official cultural programme of every Olympic Games edition (both summer and winter) since Sydney 2000 and conducted retrospective research on Olympic art interventions since their official start in 1912 (Olympic Art Competitions, Olympic Art Exhibitions).
This work has been possible thanks to collaborations, residencies and research direction roles at: the Olympic Studies Centre (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona), the Centre for Olympic Studies (University of New South Wales); the Centre for Cultural Policy Research (University of Glasgow), the Institute of Cultural Capital (University of Liverpool); the University of Technology, Sydney; the International Olympic Academy at Ancient Olympia; the Olympic Studies Centre at the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne.
The research has been funded by the British Academy, the Newton Fund, the Universities China Committee, Arts Council England, the London Organising Committee for the Olympic & Paralympic Games, the Paris Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the International Olympic Committee, among many others.
Since 2017, I have been invited to act as independent culture expert within the IOC Commission for Culture and Olympic Heritage.

Find here an overview of the main Olympic cultural policy and Cultural Olympiad-related projects I have directed to date.

Other major events

Keynote speaker at international festival forums

I conduct research on a wide range of large scale events the Commonwealth Games, and the growing number of city of culture initiatives worldwide.
I also research the impact of long established art festivals and art biennales.
And I have researched the impact and legacy of major awards such as the Unesco World Heritage title; World Design Capitals; the UNESCO Creative Cities programme.

You will find more information about all of these research interests and projects here.