Research projects

UNTOLD: Stories of the Irish in the British Army

UNTOLD Stories of the Irish in the British Army will consolidate seven at-risk regimental collections in Northern Ireland, producing a dynamic visitor experience in the heart of Belfast and Enniskillen to promote peace and reconciliation through the exploration of shared heritage.

Current collections at UNTOLD: The Museum do not sufficiently represent the story of women/families and there is a risk that this could be perpetuated in the planned design activity without dedicated attention. This project has facilitated cross-community co-design and relationship building activity with women/families to ensure their voices form part of an inclusive shared heritage.

A wooden noticeboard covered with photos and newspaper cuttings, with post-it notes indicating their meaning for workshop participants
Watch a video about our work with UNTOLD

This project addresses the currently unmet need for the voices of women and families to be represented in the inclusive shared heritage envisioned at the heart of UNTOLD. The branding research underpinning UNTOLD concluded that ‘it is an opportunity to tell the truth "warts and all" of the men and women, who for many varied reasons fought, and continue to fight, in the British service with distinction and considerable gallantry and sacrifice’.

There is a risk to the new museum project achieving its aim to represent a shared and inclusive heritage if the stories of women and families remain absent in the design activity. What's more, in prior community feedback sessions, 70% of participants in group 1 stated that women should be represented in the museum, and in group 2, only 22%, which attests to the lack of general awareness that women have played.

This project has sought to redress this by researching the countless, currently anecdotal and as yet marginalised, stories of women’s involvement across the long history of the various regiments from Waterloo to Afghanistan. Through this project we have worked with women, mothers, and families to understand their vision for these untold histories and empower their voices as valid narrators of war and regimental history as part of an inclusive shared heritage.

This project comprises four phases.

Phase 1

We facilitated three workshops with female veterans/families using archival sources as a catalyst for conversation. These assessed participants' perception of their current representation in Northern Irish military museums and sought their input through innovative, creative visualisations of future museum exhibits.

These creative visualisations are data in themselves, and we will capture supporting through audio recordings of the conversations (as a back-up) and fieldwork notes. We took an embodied approach to analysis, adding marginalia, working with the creations, and playing with the data (Kara, 2020).

Phase 2

We provided input to the wider final museum design, the accompanying virtual exhibition, and future programming via the outputs from Phase 1 and by observing community co-design workshops that opened up conversations about the relationship between women’s stories and traditionally male-dominated narratives, as well as providing expert feedback on the design work.

Phase 3

We will coordinate evaluation of the museum plans by women and families. This will involve collectively perusing and annotating museum designs, as well as activity programmes. Dr Hannah West will write a report to capture observations/findings, feedback and recommendations for the museum.

Phase 4

We will write two academic articles informed by the findings from this project. The first is about women in military history, and the second about how to find women’s stories in the context of military museums and archives.

Project team