Cohort 2026 PhD Project
About The Project
Refugees face a range of challenges when integrating into host societies, including difficulties with mental health, social inclusion, and communication. The challenge for Nottingham in supporting refugees is acute as the city welcomes a higher proportion compared to both national and East Midlands averages (Nottingham City Council, 2024). Local Nottingham services and communities face additional pressures to facilitate effective support mechanisms. This comes at a time when it has never been more important: refugees face a national political and social climate in which sometimes violent anti-refugee protests are both growing in number and seemingly sanctioned by an increasingly mainstream political rhetoric.
Various community-based support mechanisms have been implemented to aid refugee integration, including drop-in centres and community events. Among these, arts-based interventions—e.g., visual arts, storytelling, music, drama—have emerged as promising tools. These creative approaches can support emotional expression, foster a sense of identity, and enhance communication skills (e.g., Edwards et al., 2020; Hiang et al., 2025; Oepen & Gruber, 2024). Typically delivered by local councils and charitable organisations, these programmes aim to create inclusive environments where refugees can build confidence and connect with others.
One such local organisation is Nottingham Playhouse, which has held Theatre of Sanctuary status, awarded by City of Sanctuary UK, since 2021. The Playhouse has a stated aim to be a place of welcome, offering opportunities and above all safe spaces to refugee and asylum-seeking communities. Alongside community partners, the Playhouse provides opportunities including a Conversation Café and backstage tours.
However, the effectiveness of arts-based interventions remains uncertain and difficult to fully capture. Much existing evidence is anecdotal or based on small-scale studies, with limited rigorous evaluation. Indeed, there is a lack of robust research clearly demonstrating the impacts of these initiatives on psychosocial wellbeing and language development (Ware & Dunphy, 2019). Moreover, and crucially, refugee community voice in existing research is often missing.
This project has been co-created with and is supported by researchers from University of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University and partners at Nottingham Playhouse.
Project Aims
The overall aims of the project are:
To explore how those communities, often transient, develop an understanding of Nottingham Playhouse as a Theatre of Sanctuary: What makes a creative space (and) a safe space?
- To complete a review bringing together all current understanding in this area, drawing on both the more informal/anecdotal evidence available alongside published academic literature.
2. To examine the perceived benefits and challenges to accessing and engaging with the creative and arts-based programmes offered by the Playhouse. This will not only provide insight into the impact of such programs but also amplify participant presence and voice in informing strategic development and future programming, opening the way for further and deeper participation from refugee and asylum-seeking communities.
3. To evaluate the effectiveness of Nottingham Playhouse’s refugee arts programmes, to provide concrete evidence capturing the benefits of such programmes.
Project Team
- PhD Candidate: Lindsey Hearspeak
- Lead Academic Supervisor: Dr Christine Muir (University of Nottingham)
- Academic Co-Supervisor: Dr Jia Hoong Ong (Nottingham Trent University)
- Community Supervisor: Andy Reeves (Nottingham Playhouse)