Creative Encounters in the Wills Tobacco Archive

The UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES Coalition is proud to announce the formal recognition of the initiative ‘Creative Encounters in the Wills Tobacco Archive: Exploring Public and Cultural Health Through Interdisciplinary Collaboration’ as an outstanding example of humanities-anchored, transdisciplinary sustainability science.

BRIDGES Recognition Programme: The Mission in Practice

The Recognition Programme was established to advance the BRIDGES mission: encouraging transdisciplinary research that is inclusive of the humanities and co-produced with communities.

The BRIDGES recognised initiatives exemplify our mission to foster transdisciplinary, humanities-inclusive solutions, offering innovative approaches to building socio-ecological resilience in real-world contexts where transformation is most critical.

Each project demonstrates that we cannot solve sustainability issues without understanding the social and cultural contexts that drive them.

UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES recognition follows a rigorous evaluative process assessing alignment with UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES’ principles and UNESCO’s sustainability science approach, with particular emphasis on transdisciplinary, socially responsible, ethical and transformative practice.

Influencing Global Policy

BRIDGES recognition provides a mechanism for these initiatives to inform international policy. By highlighting these projects as exemplary models, the actionable knowledge they generate will:

Inform discussions and priorities among the Member States of the UNESCO-MOST Intergovernmental Council.
Contribute to broader multilateral contexts within the UN system, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Showcase how humanities-driven science creates meaningful social transformations.

This project, supported by an AHRC Curiosity Award, investigates how creative engagement with colonial archives can address persistent socio-ecological challenges. By using the Wills Collection of Tobacco Antiquities at the M-Shed Museum, the initiative examines the deep-rooted links between Bristol’s tobacco industry (1786–1988) and contemporary health inequalities. The project specifically focuses on communities like Hartcliffe, where smoking rates are significantly higher than the national average, to explore how humanities-led approaches can bridge colonial heritage trauma and modern public health challenges.

Societal Challenges

The project addresses the stark reality of health inequality: Bristol’s smoking rates reach 31.2% in Hartcliffe, compared to an English average of 13%. This local disparity mirrors global patterns where Indigenous peoples experience disproportionately higher tobacco use, reflecting structural connections between colonial tobacco commercialisation and persistent health inequities.

Furthermore, the project tackles heritage challenges within archives like the Wills Collection, which often separate plants from their original Indigenous contexts to create commercial narratives. It also intersects with climate justice through Hartcliffe’s environmental leadership via Heart of BS13, transforming industrial legacy into community healing.

Humanities-Informed Approach

The research centres Indigenous knowledge systems and creative practice as foundational tools. Key elements include:

Reframing Tobacco: Collaborating with Patricia Nez Henderson (Black Hills Centre) to reframe tobacco as a sacred plant whose colonial appropriation created modern health challenges.
Creative Methodology: This initiative explores how different disciplines, creative writing, medical anthropology, history, museum curation, and Indigenous knowledge, reveal distinct aspects of the same archival materials. Building on their award-winning "Tobias and Syd" audio drama, the project investigates the impact of creative methods.
Community Epistemologies: Incorporating the experiential knowledge of Hartcliffe residents regarding tobacco legacy and environmental justice.

Methodological Importance

The project's importance lies in its ability to decolonise archives through community guidance, preventing retraumatisation. By using different disciplinary backgrounds, the research generates a richer understanding of archival materials. This community-centred practice transforms systemic challenges into local strengths, creating accessible resources and new knowledge simultaneously.

Expected Outcomes and Legacy

Immediate (Year 1) • Documented protocols for ethical archival engagement; enhanced community capacity in Hartcliffe; development of audio drama scenes.

Medium-term (1–2 Years) • Full audio drama production; M-Shed adoption of community-centred representation; policy integration into the Bristol Integrated Care Strategy.

Long-term (2–5 Years) • Enhanced understanding of colonial legacy in health patterns; a global model for ethical archive engagement; sustained community empowerment in heritage interpretation.

The work of Creative Encounters in the Wills Tobacco Archive: Exploring Public and Cultural Health Through Interdisciplinary Collaboration strengthens the global UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES network and contributes meaningfully to transformative, humanities-anchored community-led initiatives.

Transdisciplinary Collaboration

The "creative encounters" methodology generates knowledge through the convergence of diverse disciplines:

The Convergence: Medical anthropologists, historians, creative writers, museum curators, and Indigenous scholars explore the archives together to document how different training shapes interpretation.
Equal Partnership: Community-academic coproduction ensures that community priorities directly shape the research directions.
Arts-Science Integration: Creative outputs are treated as constitutive research methodologies, merging Indigenous knowledge with academic and community practices.

Collaborative Partnerships

Lead Institution: Centre for Academic Primary Care, Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol
Core Team: Alice Malpass (PI), Barbara Caddick (Co-PI), Elizabeth Rahman, Elspeth Penny (Creative Lead), and Lee Hutchinson.
Indigenous Partners: Patricia Nez Henderson and additional scholars.
Community Partners: Heart of BS13, Hartcliffe residents, and the Diverse Artists Network.
Institutional Partners: M-Shed Museum and Bristol Public Health.

BRIDGES recognises the importance of championing transdisciplinary initiatives that address complex, multi-faceted societal challenges in innovative ways to stimulate transformative change for the benefit of societies, people and planet.

A criteria of the BRIDGES Recognition Programme is the initiative addresses specific global, regional or local challenges encompassed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Creative Encounters in the Wills Tobacco Archive: Exploring Public and Cultural Health Through Interdisciplinary Collaboration serves as an exemplary case of how bridging diverse knowledge bases can provide innovative solutions to the SDG’s. Through the project's focus on public health, colonial heritage, community-led climate action, and transdisciplinary partnerships, the Creative Encounters in the Wills Tobacco Archive initiative addresses several of the United Nations SDG's:

SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being

The project directly addresses health inequalities by investigating why smoking rates in communities like Hartcliffe (31.2%) are significantly higher than the national average.

By connecting historical colonial extraction to contemporary health patterns, the initiative seeks to inform culturally responsive interventions and improve public health outcomes.

SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

A core focus of the initiative is identifying and addressing structural inequities rooted in colonial history.

By decolonising archives and centring Indigenous knowledge systems, the project works to reduce the social and health disparities experienced by both local communities in Bristol and Indigenous peoples globally.

SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

The partnership with 'Heart of BS13' focuses on transforming an industrial legacy into community healing.

The project supports sustainable urban living through pollinator trails, sustainable farming, and the preservation of cultural heritage at the M-Shed Museum, ensuring that Bristol’s history is represented in an ethical and inclusive manner.

SDG 13: Climate Action

Through its community partners, the project integrates climate education and action.

By linking environmental healing to health equity, it demonstrates how local community-led initiatives can address the broader socio-ecological challenges posed by climate change.

SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

The initiative is a model of transdisciplinary collaboration. It brings together Bristol Medical School, the M-Shed Museum, Indigenous scholars, and community residents.

This "creative encounters" methodology establishes a replicable framework for academic-community partnerships to solve complex, intergenerational global challenges.