Poppies, partnerships and pragmatism: Learning from embedded research in a cultural heritage organisation

Embedded' methods of research are more commonly found in the social sciences and are usually associated with public health institutions, systems and research. 2Although there are different kinds or levels of embedded research practice, a common belief is that integrating researchers within public health institutions facilitates the sharing of knowledge that the institution has developed, which can lead to a wider appreciation and understanding of beneficial practices, with relevance for policymaking, practice and society at large.'Embedded' research practice thus implicitly recognises the social value of the institution and its knowledge and provides a way of linking it with policymaking systems.While the value of such public health research is accepted, it is only more recently, perhaps in the last two decades or so, that arts and cultural institutions have articulated similar arguments of social value.These discourses were initially framed in terms of economic contribution, but increasingly humanities, arts, culture and heritage are being considered for their wider, holistic significance.Evidence concerning their importance to wellbeing, mental health and social cohesion has become more prominent and clearly iterated, although scholars have raised questions about the ideas of 'value' that are iterated through these arguments. 3 There are existing approaches in fields of humanities research that allow for organisations and institutions to be studied from the 'inside'.Organisational ethnography, for instance, is a rich and burgeoning field of inquiry for many scholars in heritage and museum practice, for instance. 4 But other models of insider inquiry have been supported at a strategic 2