Research Routes

About the series

As an Independent Research Organisation, research is at the heart of what we do at The National Archives. Whether it be developing the latest technology to preserve and present the digital record, or making forgotten voices from our collection visible through our engagement programmes, research underpins every facet of our work. 

Following on from the success of our Methodologies programme last year, our new annual event series, Research Routes, encourages you to engage with our collections in new and innovative ways, to explore the possibilities for research, and to consider methodologies and practices that reach beyond traditional practice and outputs.

2025/26 Programme

Our 2025/26 Research Routes programme, ‘Emotions, senses and feelings in the archives,’ examines the ways in which we navigate the archives – how we feel our way through – are closely entwined with emotions and senses. We will delve into the connections that we create with collections – the feelings elicited, emotions entangled, and senses activated. Drawing on emotional, sensory, and tangible engagement with the archives, this series of online talks and in-person workshops will explore senses of place and belonging, feelings of hope and despair, ways of preserving humour, and how touch and sound can alter our perceptions of history.

Stories of compassion, love and loss: Re-presenting the AIDs epidemic

Date

Tuesday 10 March 2026, 13:00

Speakers

Researchers Giorgia Tolfo and Bernard Ogden (The National Archives) and James King (Project Manager, the National HIV Story Trust)

Location

Online

Discover some of the ways in which archives and communities are working to re-present the AIDs epidemic. Whether it be through re-presentations of data and digital storytelling, or the preservation of stories of compassion, love and loss.

In pictures

HIV and AIDS

Explore our material on the HIV and AIDS epidemic.

Past events

Feels like home: Place-based belonging and co-curating with communities

Date

8 September 2025

Speaker

Dr Aisling O’Boyle (Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Language Education Research, Queen’s University Belfast)

Location

Online

Explore the intersections of archival practice and community collaboration through the case study of Queen’s University Belfast and the Irish Linen Centre and Lisburn Museum‘s research project: Yours, Mine and Ours.

Queer places: Feelings, emotions and ways of ‘rebuilding’ intangible heritage

Date

23 September 2025

Speakers

Luke Fawcett (Founder and Artist, Queer Places) and Vicky Iglikowski-Broad (Diverse Histories Principal Records Specialist, The National Archives)

Location

Online

Explore stories of LGBTQ+ resistance and attempts to reconstruct vanished places and communities, including projects The Caravan Club and Queer Places.

Extinction and hope: Navigating animal encounters in the archive

Date

20 October 2025

Speakers

Professor Dolly Jørgensen (Professor of History at University of Stavanger), in conversation with Dr Marc Vermeulen (Head of Heritage Science Conservation Research at The National Archives)

Location

Online

Encounters with under-researched collections of historic animals through written accounts and photographs, and the presence of animals in physical materials, can often produce feelings of grief and loss. What hope can be found in encounters with animals in archival documents?

Recording and remixing history: Second World War soundscapes

Date

28 October 2025

Speakers

Fin Kenney (Applied Stories), Dr Elizabeth Haines and Iqbal Singh (The National Archives)

Location

In-person at The National Archives, Kew

Applied Stories and staff at The National Archives presented a unique workshop where participants listened to, recorded, and remixed history.

No laughing matter: Preserving humour in a digital age

Date

Wednesday 29 October 2025, 13:00

Speakers

Dr Arran Rees  (Museum Data Manager, Collections Trust) and Jake Bickford (UK Government Web Archivist, The National Archives)

Location

Online

Explore the importance of documenting meme culture in digital archives, from The National Archives’ UK Government Web Archive, to the ‘Absolute Unit’ meme archived by the Science Museum Group.

Objects of emotion: Colonial legacies and stories of feeling

Date

4 February 2026

Speakers

Shereen Hunte (Engagement Manager, London Museum Docklands), Reece Williams (Curator – Legacies of Enslavement, Manchester Science and Industry Museum), Liberty Paterson ( Collections Researcher (Transatlantic Slavery), The National Archives)

Location

Online

Delve into colonial legacies within collections, learn how organisations are working with and for communities, and explore lived experiences past and present.

Does the ‘perfect parchment’ exist? Sensing the value of tangible heritage

Date

10 February 2026

Facilitator

Madison Bennett (PhD researcher, University of Cambridge)

Location

The National Archives, Kew

This hands-on workshop delved into the world of parchment and archives through practical activities, expert-led discussions, and investigations of records. Together, we questioned how material qualities, such as texture, durability, and craftsmanship, influence how we perceive meaning, worth, and authenticity in the objects we preserve.