Dr. Michael Howcroft

Biography

UKRI Future Leaders Fellow in Urban Studies and Social Policy, Michael Howcroft leads a four-year Civic Imaginary Partnerships project that collaborates with local and national policy partners, community organizations, and creative practitioners to develop long-term ethnographic understandings of communities. His work reimagines and reinvents places through explorations of civic imaginaries, with significant applications in local authorities and communities. Michael holds a PhD in Human Geography from the University of Hull (2021) and has held positions such as Research Associate for the AHRC Place Programme and the ESRC Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the University of Southampton, focusing on the pride of place. He has also contributed as a Research Fellow at the Southampton Institute of Arts and Humanities, working on the AHRC-funded Feeling Towns project, and as a Research Associate at the University of Sheffield, participating in the British Council-funded Spaces of Hope project. His extensive experience includes facilitating focus groups and creative workshops, collaborating with various artists and community creators. He co-created the short animated film ‘How Proud?’.

Research Interests

Experience