Project Team

As a specialist in delivering heritage-led regeneration projects, Gillian previously worked for Lincolnshire County Council on the significant refurbishment works to Lincoln Castle, and North East Lincolnshire Council on conservation plans for the Grimsby Ice Factory, and master planning the historic St. James Square adjacent to Grimsby Minster.

Gillian joined Hull City Council in 2018 and was interim Project Director for Hull Maritime for five months. She has previously led on Pearson Park’s restoration, the design for Queens Gardens refurbishment, and developing the successful bid to The National Lottery Heritage Fund for the National Picture Theatre on Beverley Road.

Mik O’Connell worked as a stage manager and ended up as manager of the Strand Theatre in London’s West End. A change of direction saw Mik study for a BA in History at King’s College London and an MA in Heritage Interpretation at Strawberry Hill.

In 2000, Mik moved to York and started working as a Project Manager on the school building programme with York Council. Several project manager roles followed in education and heritage projects, including Major Projects' Manger (North) for the Science Museum. Mik Joined Hull Maritime after a 2.5-year spell with the National Trust.

Malcolm started working for Hull Museums in August 2012 as a seasonal Heritage Assistant and has had several roles since taking on this post including Museums Audience Development Officer, throughout the preparation and delivery of the museums and gallery programme for Hull's UK City of Culture year.

During this time, Malcolm contributed to a variety of events and exhibitions including Poppies:Weeping Window and Bowhead at Hull Maritime Museum and Spencer Tunick's Sea of Hull at the Ferens Art Gallery.

Before working for Hull Museums, he worked in dispute resolution for npower Business. Prior to this Malcolm was studying for a PhD in medieval history at the University of Hull following the successful completion of undergraduate and master’s degrees at the same institution.

Robin Diaper has been involved in the heritage sector for more than 20 years, with experience of working in historic buildings and national, independent and local authority museums.

After brief periods working at the former colliery Snibston Discovery Park in Leicestershire and the National Railway Museum in York he gained his MA in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester. Between 2000 - 2004 he worked as Assistant Curator and then Curator and Assistant Collections Manager at Harewood House near Leeds, caring for collections that included Italian Renaissance paintings and the biggest collection of Chippendale furniture in the UK.

In 2004, he became the first Curator of the Guildhall for Hull City Council. Four years later he became Curator of Maritime & Social History for Hull Museums, having curatorial responsibilities for the Maritime Museum, Arctic Corsair, Spurn Lightship, Streetlife Museum, Hands On History and Wilberforce House Museum.

As part of this role, Robin led and developed the successful 2017 exhibition programme for the Maritime Museum which led to a 395 per cent increase in visitor figures that year.

The volunteer manager role will ensure that the project achieves its aim of improving skills, providing training and changing lives by means of a wide ranging, tailored volunteer program that reaches all communities and all areas of the city of Hull.

Tom has worked for Hull Museums since 1993 in front of house, curatorial and volunteer support roles.

His first museum job came about thanks to a period volunteering with a partner organisation. Outside of work Tom volunteers as a school governor and is a volunteer director of a small Community Interest Company promoting wellbeing through engagement with the natural environment.

Anna Marshall has worked in communications and marketing for Hull City Council since 2005 with various roles including Marketing Assistant, then progressing to Marketing Officer and finally Media Officer.

Anna led on the PR for award-winning campaigns, exhibitions and events including the re-opening of Ferens Art Gallery following a £5.2m refurbishment, The Turner Prize and the Spencer Tunick - Sea of Hull installation, which generated worldwide exposure for Hull, ahead of the UK City of Culture year as well as contributing to record-breaking visitor numbers, attracting over 519,000 visitors to the gallery during 2017.

Anna has completed both CIM and CIPR qualifications whilst in full-time employment and completed the 2019/20 cohort of the LGCommunications Future Leaders programme. Prior to this Anna successfully completed a HND in Travel and Tourism at the University of Hull and GNVQ in Travel and Tourism Management.

Peter was born and raised in Essex where his family home was also a museum, the Colne Valley Postal History Museum, so was involved in history and heritage from young age.

Having secured a place at Hull Uni, he moved to Hull to study History at University of Hull and in that time wrote for the ‘Hullfire’ student newspaper. Peter graduated from the University of Hull in 2020 with First Class Honours.

He held a bartending job for six months (6 months longer than he should – apparently, he was not a good bartender)!

In September 2021, Peter began work at Hull City Council in Legal Services in a service support and admin role and joined the Hull Maritime team in February 2022 as the new Project Assistant.

Peter is instrumental in ensuring the team works as efficiently and smoothly as possible and is involved in all elements of the project from marketing to fundraising activities.

Growing up, Emma lived very close to Chatham Historic Dockyard and enjoyed many days out exploring maritime history as a child. She went on to volunteer at Chatham Historic Dockyard and enjoyed visiting plenty of other historic attractions with her family.

Emma has worked in libraries for the last 10 years in a range of roles including Outreach Worker. She enjoys engaging with people on creative projects and activities and was often found running story times, reminiscence sessions, code clubs, craft activities, talks and theatre performances in libraries and other community venues.

Emma will be working with a wide range of community groups to explore and celebrate Hull’s maritime history in creative and engaging ways.

Previously, a Primary school teacher, Chris has worked for Hull Museums as an education enabler since 2014, delivering, developing and evaluating workshops and tours for a diverse range of school and community groups.

In between dressing up as a Victorian engineer, mummifying school children or leading tours on William Wilberforce, Chris has also recently completed an MSc in Museum Education at the University of Glasgow.

Having studied Microbiology at Edinburgh for his undergraduate degree, and focussed his Master’s dissertation on STEAM learning in museums, Chris is particularly passionate about the power of STEAM education and is looking forward to incorporating fun, engaging, interactive learning opportunities for the project.