About

Rebecca Burns
Researcher | Writer | Creative Practitioner
Based in Herefordshire

My work sits at the intersection of place, meaning and creative practice.

I explore how people experience the places they live, and how those relationships shape identity, memory and belonging. I’m interested in how meaning is not fixed, but created through everyday encounters, attention and shared experience.

Approach

I work through a combination of research, creative practice and participation.

Rather than documenting place, I focus on how people relate to it.

This often involves simple, repeatable methods that invite reflection and interpretation, opening up space for people to notice their surroundings differently and engage with them more consciously.

My approach is shaped by practice-based research, where making and doing are part of the enquiry. It draws on ideas from cultural geography, folklore and ritual, while remaining grounded in contemporary experience.

Background

I hold an MA in Magic and Occult Science from the University of Exeter, where I explored the cultural history of ritual, belief and meaning-making traditions. This work opened up questions around how people interpret their experiences and make sense of the world around them.

I am currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Worcester, examining how place-based practices support connection, belonging and wellbeing. My research brings together creative practice, cultural theory and lived experience to explore how relationships to place are formed and sustained over time.

My earlier background includes undergraduate study in community sustainability and housing, which developed my interest in how people live in, relate to and shape the places around them.

My approach is also informed by training in mediation and experience supporting wellbeing-focused work, which continue to shape how I facilitate participation, reflection and shared engagement.

Current Focus

My current work focuses on developing and testing creative, place-based methods that support connection to local environments.

This includes participatory projects, research-led practice and formats that invite people to engage with place through interpretation, reflection and shared experience.

At its core, the work explores how culture is not only created, but lived and sustained through everyday relationships with place.