Role
Duncan combines teaching museum and heritage studies with his role as Inclusivity & Diversity Manager for the School of Arts and Humanities. On the MA Museum and Heritage Development course his teaching focuses on interpretation and creative practice and is delivered in collaboration with local museum and heritage organisations. He also supervises PhD students and teaches museum and heritage studies on modules within the BA History programme, leading the final year module: Representing Histories: Museums, Media and Global Cultures.
Career overview
From 2009-2014 Dr Grewcock was a Senior Lecturer in Museum and Gallery Studies at Kingston University, London where he was responsible for developing a new MA Museum and Gallery Studies programme through collaboration with several museums in the capital including the V&A, Museum of London, National Maritime Museum, Kingston Museum & Heritage Service, and the Natural History Museum.
Before gaining his PhD in Museum Studies from University College London (2009) Dr Grewcock worked for the international museum planning firm LORD Cultural Resources. During his time with the company he worked on wide range of planning and development projects for clients from the smallest volunteer-run organisations to the largest international museums and galleries. For example, he helped plan and deliver several successful applications to the Heritage Lottery Fund including at the Tank Museum, Bovington, where he helped to secure £12 million over two projects: At Close Quarters that successfully relaunched the Museum to the public in June 2009 and the Vehicle Conservation Centre that opened in September 2013 (in a freelance capacity).
Duncan joined NTU in 2014. He helped to establish the MA Museum & Heritage Development programme with particular responsibility for interpretation and creative practice. In 2017 Duncan took on a new role as the Inclusivity & Diversity Manager for the School of Arts & Humanities. This role involves championing diversity and inclusivity for our students and working with colleagues within and beyond the School to help make NTU and higher education a more broadly inclusive environment for all.
Research areas
Dr Grewcock's research falls into four main areas of interest:
- experimentation with creative academic research practices
- museums, creative practice and interpretation
- innovation in the pedagogy and practice of teaching museum and heritage studies
- inclusivity and diversity in higher education, with a particular focus on the fields of museums and heritage
Dr Grewcock is currently supervising three PhD students as Director of Studies:
- Chris Pickup: Museum Conservation, Digital Media and Front of House (Midlands 3 Cities)
- Heather Green: New Approaches to the Interpretation of Nottingham's Literary Heritage
- Amy Hondsmerk: Education, Engagement and Creative Interpretation: Videogames in the Museum and Heritage Sector (Midlands 3 Cities)
Duncan has two successful PhD completions (students registered at Kingston University):
- Jane Wildgoose: 'Collecting and Interpreting Human Skulls and Hair in Late Nineteenth Century London: Passing Fables and Comparative Readings at the Wildgoose Memorial Library – an artist's response to the DCMS Guidance for the Care of Human Remains in Museums (2005)' (a fine art, practice-based PhD), (2011 - 2015)
- Stephanie Stroh: 'Theatricality and Performance in Post-Museum Practice', (2012 -2016)
Opportunities arise to carry out postgraduate research towards an MPhil / PhD in the areas identified above. Further information may be obtained on the NTU Research Degrees website https://www.ntu.ac.uk/research/research-degrees-at-ntu
Dr Grewcock is interested in supervising projects that encourage academic experimentation in museum and heritage studies or how museums engage with different forms of creative practice and interpretation, and in questions of inclusivity and diversity within museums and heritage.
External activity
- External Examiner, Westminster University, MA Museums, Galleries of Contemporary Culture (2015 - )
- Trustee, Canalside Heritage Centre, Beeston (2015-2018)
- Board Member, Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture (2014 - 2018)
- External Examiner, Newcastle University, MA Art Museum & Gallery Studies (2012 -2016)
- Academic Advisory Committee, Tate Papers (2011 -)
- AHRC Peer Review College member (Knowledge Transfer) (2010 – 2014)
As a museum planner Dr Grewcock's work has included leading the preparation and construction of successful Heritage Lottery Fund applications, audience development planning, and projects helping to increase access to, and understanding of, the UK's natural and built heritage. Clients include: Tate, Jewish Museum London, Department for Culture Media and Sport, The Foundling Museum, English Heritage, National Maritime Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Flemish Mining Museum. He has also worked for numerous local authorities in the UK for sites including: Hastings Castle, Rochester Castle, Upnor Castle, Forty Hall & Estate, Honeywood Museum, Eastbury Manor House, Purbeck Landscape Partnership, William Morris Gallery, Lincoln City & County Museum (now The Collection).
Publications
Doing Museology Differently. Grewcock D, 2014, London, Routledge
Before, during, and after: front-end, formative, and summative evaluation. Grewcock D in (eds) Lord B and Piacente M, Manual of Museum Exhibitions, Second edition, 2014, 33-40, Rowan and Littlefield
Performing heritage (studies) at the Lord Mayor’s Show. Grewcock D, International Journal of Heritage Studies, 2014, 20 (7-8), 760-781
Fragments from a slippery city. Grewcock D, Paperweight, 2011, 1 (2)
Mo' better museum? Grewcock D, KIOSK, 2010, 4
Museums of cities and urban futures: new approaches to urban planning and the opportunities for museums of cities. Grewcock D, Museum International, 2006, 58 (3)
The Data Game. Grewcock D, Museum Practice, 2002, 21 (December)
Buildings that work. Grewcock D, New Heritage, 2001, 4