UPDATE: We’ve been blown away by the response to this workshop, and all places have now been taken. If you would like to be added to the waitlist, email seminars@theexhibitionsgroup.org.uk
Following the publication of Measuring Social and Cultural Infrastructure, the British Academy is now exploring how the measurement framework developed in the report can be used by a variety of users, including organisations in the creative and cultural industries.
This workshop will explore and test how the measurement framework can be utilised by exhibition programmers and museum leaders to measure, evaluate, and demonstrate the impact and value of exhibition spaces.
Workshop participants will gain an understanding of why measuring and evaluating exhibition spaces is important. By working through the stages of the measurement framework, participants will develop insights as to how the framework can be used in an exhibitions context. Participants will also consider how outputs and outcomes from the framework can help demonstrate and articulate the impact and value of exhibitions within culture and cultural spaces, and the potential policy implications of this.
The workshop takes place online (Zoom), 10:00 – 12:00 on Tuesday 9 December 2025.
This workshop is offered in collaboration with the British Academy. The workshop is free of charge but places are limited. Please only book a place if you can attend on the day.
Workshop Speakers & Facilitators
Harriet is a Policy Adviser in the Public Policy team at the British Academy, working across the Social & Cultural Infrastructure, Policy Histories, and Innovation Fellowships programmes. She previously worked as a community producer at an arts organisation and has a PhD in nineteenth-century literature from King’s College London.
Adam is Head of Public Policy at the British Academy, the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. He and his team lead the Academy’s work bringing humanities and social science evidence and insights to a range of public policy areas. Adam has previously worked in senior policy roles at the Royal Society and the National Union of Students and has chaired and sat on numerous advisory committees and strategic groups within the policy ecosystem and the UK higher education sector. He obtained his PhD in Government from the University of Essex in 2013 and has continued to research and publish on a variety of topics within the fields of political theory and public policy. He also served as Pro-Chancellor of the University of Essex from 2023 to 2025.
Nicola is a Senior Policy Adviser in the Public Policy team at the British Academy. She currently leads on the Social & Cultural Infrastructure programme, and previously led on the Academy’s Childhood Policy programme. She has previously worked in higher education policy, at London Higher and the Royal Society. She has an MSc in Social Policy from London School of Economics.Â
Social and cultural infrastructure
Within the British Academy, our public policy programmes bring expertise from across the social sciences and humanities to bear on pressing societal, cultural and economic challenges.
One of our current public policy work themes is focused on social and cultural infrastructure. Social and cultural infrastructure refers to the spaces, services and structures that bring people together, and that can strengthen the social and cultural fabric of our communities. Our work examines how this infrastructure can be understood and utilised by policymakers and others to reframe policy debates and to help achieve a range of policy aims.
A key component of work has been an investigation into how social and cultural infrastructure can be measured, and what a measurement framework could look like. To achieve this, the Academy commissioned the Bennett Institute to conduct a major project to better understand how to measure the role that social and cultural infrastructure plays in the fabric of our societies. Measuring Social and Cultural Infrastructure was published in April 2025.
About the British Academy
The British Academy is the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences.
From artificial intelligence to climate change, from building prosperity to improving well-being – today’s complex challenges can only be resolved by deepening our insight into people, cultures and societies.
We invest in researchers and projects across the UK and overseas, engage the public with fresh thinking and debates, and bring together scholars, government, business and civil society to influence policy for the benefit of everyone.
This short video gives an overview of The British Academy.
