MRes Studentship – Piloting the Effectiveness of Attitude Is Everything’s New Grassroots and Community Accessibility Framework on Music Venues Operating in the Liverpool City Region

This scholarship is awarded through University of Liverpool’s groundbreaking new programme, MusicFutures, in collaboration with Attitude is Everything (AIE), a UK-based, disability-led charity that works to improve access to live music and events for Deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent people.

MusicFutures brings together academics and creative industry partners to deliver a programme of equality-focused and inclusive research and design (R&D)-led innovation and business development for the Liverpool City Region.

AIE work with audiences, artists, and industry professionals to break down barriers. They provide practical guidance, consultancy, and training to venues and festivals as well as undertaking research into accessibility in the live events industry. Examples of Attitude is Everything’s work includes:

• Accessible Employment Guide
• DIY Access Guide
• Just Ask Guide
• Access Starts Online
• The Live Events Access Charter.

In 2025, Attitude is Everything created a new framework designed specifically for grassroots and community organisations. The Grassroots and Community Accessibility Framework’s purpose is to enable local venues to make accessibility a focus of their work in the local community. By signing up to the Framework, venues commit to being transparent about their access provisions and to actively addressing the barriers experienced by disabled audiences, artists, performers, volunteers and professionals. Working through the Grassroots and Community Accessibility Framework enables organisations to make meaningful steps towards making their events and spaces more accessible for people who are Deaf, disabled, neurodivergent, or living with long‑term physical or mental health conditions. The framework was first piloted with grassroots and community organisations in 2025 and will be piloted with a local authority in 2026. In addition to these pilots Attitude is Everything would like to research the useability, impact and scope of the framework in collaboration with Music Futures and University of Liverpool.

The aim of this research is to explore how grassroots music venues with limited time and capacity can be supported to make meaningful, manageable improvements to access, ensuring venues communicate their accessibility clearly.

This will include assessing the effectiveness of the framework in terms of enabling venues to present their access and local Music Boards to capture data, leading to positive change for disabled fans and how Attitude is Everything and Music Futures can work together to enable time and resource-poor venues to:

• Become as accessible as possible within their infrastructure and resources
• Provide online information that enables Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent audiences, artists and professionals to understand the accessibility of the space
• Record their accessibility in a way that enables data mapping of accessible venues across the Liverpool City Region and beyond.

To deliver this MRes project, you will:

• Have monthly supervision the University of Liverpool’s Department of Music and Sounds Music Hub staff
• Engage with AIE’s project team to devise and develop the research priorities and plan
• Engage with AIE’s content; Live Events Access Charter and Grassroots and Community Accessibility Framework to inform the research
• Work with the AIE team to engage Liverpool City Region venues to participate in the pilot
• Develop research methods to evaluate the effectiveness of the framework
• Regularly engage with stakeholders to understand practical needs and ambitions.

This is an exciting opportunity to work at the intersection of live music, accessibility, policy, data generation and sector mapping —bringing together research on accessibility, participant engagement, and evaluation of framework outcomes. The research will help shape a more inclusive approach to music venue access across the region and will inform AIE’s development of their national implementation of the framework. We’re looking for candidates with:

• A genuine interest in, and passion for, helping people to improve their lives and make the best of themselves
• An undergraduate degree in a relevant field (music, planning, human geography, social or data science and other related fields)
• Demonstrable interest in accessibility to live music and community-centred approaches
• Strong research skills, including literature review, qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis
• Strong interpersonal skills, confident in engaging with a range of stakeholders
• Clear and thoughtful written communication, with the ability to produce engaging and accessible outputs
• Experience or knowledge of the live music or wider cultural and creative sector (through study, work, volunteering or personal interest)
• The ability to work independently and take initiative.

1. Contact supervisors

You’ll be supervised by:

• Dr Richard Anderson (email: Richard.Anderson@liverpool.ac.uk)
• A member of the AIE team.

Please contact pgarts@liverpool.ac.uk for any queries regarding the application process.

2. Prepare your application documents

You will need to supply the following documents to support your application:

• • BA award certificates and transcripts (or evidence of equivalent professional experience)
  • Two references (one must be an academic reference)
  • CV
  • Passport details
  • Personal Statement (1 page) detailing how you meet the ideal candidate criteria and how you would contribute to project success
  • A short proposal (3-4pages) detailing how you would approach the project and the research
  • If applicable: English language certificate (IELTS minimum overall 6.5, with at least 6.5 in Writing, and no other component below 6.0) or accepted equivalent.

3. Apply

Finally, register and apply online. You’ll receive an email acknowledgment once you’ve submitted your application. We’ll be in touch with further details about what happens next.

Please submit an application to MRes Music.

In the funding section, note that you will be applying to the ‘Master of Research Piloting the Effectiveness of Attitude Is Everything’s New Grassroots and Community Accessibility Framework on Music Venues Operating in the Liverpool City Region scholarship‘.

Interviews will take place on 20 – 24 July 2026.