Suzie Cloves

Biography

Suzie Cloves is a researcher at Manchester Centre for Public Histories + Heritage, based at ManMet University. Her research methods include oral histories and geolocated sound, and she specialises in community-based projects that explore the histories of shared places.

Academic and Professional Qualifications

PhD (candidate), History, ManMet University

MA (Distinction), Public History & Heritage, ManMet University

DipHE (Distinction), English Literature & Cultural Studies, University of Westminster

Certified Carbon Literate, Carbon Literacy Project via GMAST

Research Output

Cloves, Suzie (in review) Altering place attachment with geolocated heritage trails. Proceedings of Amps Heritages 2025.

Cloves, Suzie (2025) Now Hear Then. Oral History, 53 (2), pp 16-17.

Cloves, Suzie (2025) Evaluating geolocated sound to interpret and research historic environments: workflow for a sonic XR as outdoor place history. Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage, 18 (2) doi.org/10.1145/3731248.

Cloves, Suzie (2025) How to archive a sonic map. Oral History Society. ohs.org.uk/general-interest/how-to-archive-a-sonic-map

Cloves, Suzie (2024) How can we best use sound to support access to heritage? Past & Present Society, pastandpresent.org.uk/how-can-we-best-use-sound-to-support-access-to-heritage.

Cloves, Suzie (2023) Place-heritage as a language for negotiating the future. The Hive Journal, 1 (1) doi.org/10.60844/7je2-rf33.

Cloves, Suzie, and Haseeb Khan (2022) Extended reality, public history, and Platt Fields Park. Manchester Centre for Public Histories + Heritage podcast, episode 9.

LUDeC Connections

Suzie’s LUDeC research investigated the relationship between place attachment and heritage in the urban landscape. Typically, urban development focuses on formally recognised architectural heritage, such as listed buildings. This risks sidelining or potentially even erasing important human histories. Suzie’s project used geolocated sound to introduce oral histories into the physical landscape so their effect could be compared with that of architectural heritage. These narratives were produced in collaboration with the community of Edgeley, a suburb of Stockport, and used to produce Now Hear Then, a 542 acre geolocated heritage trail covering the area.

The project engaged a broad range of individuals from inside and outside academia, involving the public, local planning and placemaking officials, and the local and regional heritage sector. Suzie’s background is inherently transdisciplinary, and includes landscape heritage, music, tourism and commercial writing. She has been supported by an interdisciplinary team from professional heritage practice, audio documentary-making, sound archives, quantitative analysis, and civic placemaking.

Edgeley’s architectural heritage is pleasant but not grand, yet its community heritage is rich and layered. Now Hear Then playfully challenged entrenched approaches to urban heritage by encouraging self-guided exploration of everyday histories that are embedded in urban habitats. Alongside the trail, the project has generated best practices for designing and archiving geolocated sound. These were shared with Manchester Archives+ and the Oral History Society, used to develop undergraduate teaching in ManMet’s School of Design, and developed into training offered by Manchester Centre for Public Histories + Heritage, which supports external practitioners and community groups.

Contact Information

suzie.cloves@gmail.com