The “Making Do” project is led by Dr Vanicka Arora, lecturer in Heritage at the University of Stirling, and in collaboration with Stirling based organisations, including Stirling City Heritage Trust, Creative Stirling, and Forth Environment Link.

Across Scotland, the pressures of climate change, rising energy costs, and the ongoing cost of living crisis are felt acutely in people’s homes. While international climate targets and national ambitions for net zero set an important direction of travel, they often feel far removed from the day-to-day realities of financial strain and social uncertainty, particularly for economically marginalised households, migrant families, and young adults. Despite these challenges, many households continue to make do, developing practical, creative, and often overlooked ways to stay warm and comfortable at home. 

Turning attention to these everyday tactics, the “Making Do” project focuses on how people achieve and maintain thermal comfort in their homes. Rather than starting with largescale solutions such as major renovations or infrastructure upgrades, it looks closely at the incremental, informal practices people use to live with and adapt to traditional and hard to heat buildings. These practices, often invisible in policy and design conversations, offer valuable insights into how comfort is understood and negotiated in real life. 

Vanicka, along with Vivienne Whyte from Stirling City Heritage Trust, Dr Phil Crockett Thomas, and Professor Kim McKee of the University of Stirling, have been awarded a Collaborative Doctoral Studentship under the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Doctoral Landscape Scheme. 

Vanicka said: “Over two years, we have been able to build our capacities working with practitioners to identify synergies and build a research agenda that is driven by a common ethical position, rather than institutional metrics. This has had ripple effects, drawing practice and pedagogy closer together and building an infrastructure of care around research.” 

Based in Stirling, the project will continue to explore the possibilities of creative practices and incremental changes to behaviours and buildings, focusing on traditional tenements in the city centre. Centred on the thermal comfort of tenants who inhabit these heritage buildings, building on research that has been supported by SRAEHL since 2024. 

Vanicka adds: “In an increasingly precarious landscape in academia, SRAEHL has been instrumental in allowing for a slower, kinder, and less extractive infrastructure for research and collaboration.” 

Congratulations to the team – we look forward to sharing further updates on the “Making do” project! 

Dr Vanicka Arora, Lecturer in Heritage at the University of Stirling and lead of the Making Do seed funded project