Alumni Research Support Award

I was grateful to receive a School of Art History and Cultural Policy Alumni Research Support Award this year to help me conduct my MA thesis research. My research was on decision making in the live planning process for the new Museum of Architecture and Design in Helsinki, Finland (opening in 2030). The research functioned as a snapshot of the period following shortlisting for the museum building’s architecture competition and preceding the announcement of the competition winners in September 2025. The purpose of the research was to determine stakeholders’ degree of engagement with democratic modes of decision making and with participatory processes. My focus on democratic themes came about through investigating past plans, in particular rejected plans for Guggenheim Helsinki. Among other questions, I was curious to find out how much of the current project was influenced by these past plans.

Funding from the Alumni Research Support Award allowed me to travel to Helsinki in June 2025 and conduct in-person research. As the project was related to place making, this was incredibly valuable. I visited the planned site for the new museum and the old Architecture and Design Museum buildings. I saw the Museum’s permanent collections and library, and their temporary exhibition ‘Quietly Monumental’. I also toured key architectural and cultural sites in Helsinki, such as the Oodi central library and Ateneum Art Museum. The bulk of my trip was spent conducting interviews with key stakeholders of the project. These were the individuals leading the museum project, as well as policymakers, politicians, architects, academics and critics. Speaking with stakeholders face-to-face and in their respective workplaces enabled me develop a better understanding of the Finnish context, and to grasp the more intangible factors affecting stakeholder decision making. Attempting to gain access to public events relating to the project also allowed me to see the at times physical barriers impeding cultural policy research.

The experience of conducting in-person research undoubtedly added richness to my thesis data, while also being very memorable overall and an exciting part of my degree. I am thankful to the Alumni Research Support Award Committee, for granting me the opportunity to travel for my research, and to Dr Victoria Durrer, for her mentorship in this endeavour. 

• Tara Coakley (MA in Art History, Collections and Curating)

• Katie Buckley (MA in Art History, Collections and Curating)
• Denise Meagher (MA in Art History, Collections and Curating)

• Kieran Gaya (PhD Candidate)
• Rachel Healy (PhD Candidate)
• Isobel Morgan (MA in Art History, Collections and Curating)