Dr Cesare Cuzzola

I am a Research Associate at the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries (RCMG), where I joined as a staff member in 2019.

My disciplinary background is in anthropology and material culture, and my doctoral thesis explored the role of material culture in the context of museum projects that seek to address contemporary social inequalities.

I am a core member of the Trans-Inclusive Culture project, which develops guidance on advancing trans inclusion for museums, galleries, archives, and heritage organisations. I also sit on the ICOM Italy Gender and LGBTQ+ Rights Working Group, with whom I collaborated to produce an adaptation of this guidance for the Italian heritage sector (Musei e generi).

Since 2024, I have been coordinating the Queer Heritage and Collections Network, a UK-wide subject specialist network offering training, networking, and peer support to professionals working with LGBTQ+ collections and histories.

I am part of the Museum and Society editorial team (Layout Editor).

My current research focuses on the role of collections in socially engaged practice exploring how material culture is used and interpreted in museum projects that tackle contemporary social issues.

As museums move towards non-neutral and socially, politically and morally charged positions, their role within society is changing. A suite of activities which can be understood as socially purposeful – exhibitions and programmes designed to counter discrimination and prejudice towards minoritised groups; to foster support for equality and diversity; to engage audiences in reflection and debate around contested social issues – have become increasingly present. While many of these activities make use of museum collections to engage with visitors, research on the role of material culture in socially purposeful museum practice is scarce.

My research seeks to address the gap in knowledge between material culture studies and socially engaged museum practice, showing how objects are inextricably linked to our social and political lives and, as such, they cannot be excluded from the process of institutional transformation that heritage organisations are undergoing. 

Moolhuijsen, N., Martiri, D., and Cuzzola, C., (2026). 'Advancing Trans Inclusion in the Cultural Sector: Frameworks for Change and Equality'. Journal of Museum Education 51(3), 1–15.

Sandell, R. and Cuzzola, C. (2026). 'Vite queer, diritti LGBTQIA+ e il ruolo della cultura'. In: N. Moolhuijsen, ed. Musei, genere e queerness. Busto Arsizio: Nomos Edizioni, 57–82.

Moolhuijsen, N., Martiri, D., Cuzzola, C., Parigiani, R. (2025). Musei e generi. Etica, metodi e approcci per promuovere una cultura trans-positiva e accessibile nelle istituzioni culturali. Gruppo di Lavoro – Genere e Diritti LGBTQ+, ICOM Italia.

MacLeod, S., Sandell, R., Cowan, S., Scott, E.-J., Cuzzola, C., & Plumb, S. (2023). Trans-Inclusive Culture: Guidance on advancing trans inclusion for museums, galleries, archives and heritage organisations. Research Centre for Museums and Galleries, University of Leicester.

Cuzzola, C. (2019). 'Objects of Decolonization: The Social Role of Museums in Leading Public Discussion', Exhibition 38(2): 92–99.

Keynotes and Invited Talks:

• Queering heritage: The role of collections in socially-engaged projects [‘Queerizzare’ il patrimonio: Il ruolo delle collezioni nei progetti socialmente rilevanti], 20 febbraio 2026, Fondazione Querini Stampalia (Venice)
• The role of material culture in socially engaged museum practice: collections, participation and advocacy [Il ruolo della cultura materiale in pratiche museali a scopo sociale: collezioni, partecipazione e advocacy], 14 April 2025, Università di Catania
• ‘It’s still alive and living’: Material culture in socially engaged practice, 30 October 2023, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Community-centred participation in museums [La partecipazione dei pubblici: comunità protagoniste], 30 June and 22 September 2022, in collaboration with Gruppo di lavoro AIEM, GEM Italy, ICOM Italia, NEMO

Conference Presentations:

• Musei, genere e queerness, 14 June 2024, ICOM Italia Webinar (presented with Prof Richard Sandell, paper title: Advancing LGBTQ+ rights through culture)
• The Museum for All People, 2-5 April 2019, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain (paper title: From Institutions for the Colonial Narrative to Spaces of Dissent)
• Reimagining The Human: A Two-Day Conference In Collaboration With ICME, 28-29 November 2018, Horniman Museum, London (paper title: The Socially-Engaged Museum: A Material Perspective on The Past is Now)
• Museums (em)Power, 13-14 September 2018, School of Museum Studies, Leicester (paper title: The Power of Material Culture: Challenging Neutrality through Museum Artefacts)

PhD in Museum Studies, University of Leicester (2017-2022) | Thesis title: Materiality in the Socially Engaged Museum: The role of collections within socially purposeful museum practice at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

MSc in Visual Material and Museum Anthropology, University of Oxford (2016-2017)

BSc in Anthropology, University College London (2013-2016)