Host researcher – Holly Dann

Since 2019, the Manchester Voices project has been investigating the rich tapestry of accents, dialects and identities that make up Greater Manchester. The team have now collected and are in the process of analysing data from thousands of residents of the region, including interviews from their specially kitted out mobile recording studio, the Accent Van. This will all culminate in an exhibition and permanent installation in Manchester Central Library in spring/summer 2022.

The installation will take the form of a big, interactive screen, where visitors can view all our data and analysis, such as maps showing how pronunciations of specific accent features vary across the region, or video and audio clips from the Accent Van. The exhibition will accompany this, and will use digital design to showcase quotes, photos, and maps from the project.

The exhibition is where the Creative Assistant would come in! We’re looking for an intern with digital design experience and an interest in accents and dialects to collaborate with us in creating this exhibition (to get an idea of what this could look like, see the photos from the 2017 exhibition following the pilot project here). Working with the research team, they would use their skills creatively to co-design an exhibition display which effectively communicates the key findings of the research project to the general public in an effective and visually appealing way.