MOLA is engaged in a wide range of research; a large part of this research is related to our work on developer-funded projects. The MOLA approach to this research is well recognised as the integrated approach – a research-driven approach, where the different strands of evidence are drawn together to present the history of a site and the people associated with it, in the context of current research questions.
The integrated approach requires a high level of collaboration and dialogue between the project team and a focus on a strong set of research aims set within both local and national research frameworks and strategies. The research aims are set out at the instigation of the fieldwork and assessed and revised in detail at the assessment stage. The dissemination of the results of this research is often through publication in journals or in MOLA Monographs or Studies Series.
As well as developer-funded projects, MOLA is engaged in a number of grant-funded research projects, often with partners in the academic community. For example MOLA are working with the Robert Shoemaker (University of Sheffield), Tim Hitchcock (University of Hertfordshire) and Matthew Davies (Centre for Metropolitan History) on a JISC-funded project – Locating London’s past. This will create an intuitive Geographical Interface System (GIS) that will enable researchers to map and visualize textual and artefactual data relating to 17th- and 18th-century London against a fully rasterised version of John Rocque’s 1746 map of London and the first accurate modern OS map (1869–80).
MOLA maintains strong links with the academic community and seeks collaboration for innovative research projects to provide new understanding and stories of the people of London’s past.
