On Tuesday 28 July, colleagues from Regent’s School of Arts and Culture came together for the School’s first Research and Scholarly Activity Symposium, co-organised by Professor Oliver Robinson, Head of School of Arts and Culture and Dr Deborah Schultz, Research Lead of the School of Arts and Culture.
Showcasing expertise from across the school
The session featured eighteen speakers and attracted an engaged audience of colleagues from across the school’s disciplines. It was an opportunity to share current research, inspire discussion, and facilitate networking around common interests, as well as being a chance for colleagues to learn from and connect with each other and generate new conversations prompted by research and feeding into teaching.
The day began with an introduction and welcome from Provost & Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Fary Cachelin, who highlighted the importance of research at Regent’s. Groups of papers were interspersed with regular refreshment breaks to enable networking and free-flowing conversations between attendees. The papers presented spotlighted a diverse range of disciplines, from art and architecture, to language, film, fashion, media and international relations, and several also related to pedagogical concerns. It was fantastic to see such a strong response in terms of the number of speakers, the range of topics, and the size of the audience.
Highlighting key research themes
During the day, a number of themes emerged across papers from different disciplines. The theme of praxis and of making visible how students learn was explored in papers relating to co-creational game design, free-writing and an analogue film workshop providing reflexive opportunities for student positionality.
Experiential and collaborative learning featured in papers on a pre-term short film project, GenAI simulations, and bringing sustainability into the language classroom while the experiential was also explored in contemporary curatorial practices at art fairs as well as in ‘the vibe machine’ as a means of exploring cocooning and social interaction in urban spaces.
The value of collegiality in conducting research was addressed alongside the development of research in fine art practice. Interesting conversations were generated between a paper on archetypes in the multi-character film narrative and in migration studies, in particular how the notion of a coherent diaspora is limiting and inaccurate. Papers considered the demolition of a women’s prison as well as new construction in architectural projects, while communication was interrogated via wireless newspaper in relation to present day concerns over whose voices are heard and media monopolies.
Demonstrating the richness and complexity of scholarship activity
The day offered a wide range of papers that demonstrated the richness and complexity of scholarship currently being conducted by academics across the school. Diverse media as well as diverse perspectives were explored throughout the day, prompting stimulating conversations both in the Q&A sessions and more informally over refreshments. The intersection of research and teaching was often apparent, both when classroom topics can help to deepen scholarship and when research results are explored in classrooms sessions with students.
An annual opportunity to celebrate, inspire and reinforce an active research culture
The School of Arts and Culture Research and Scholarly Activity Symposium, much like the earlier event for the School of Psychotherapy and Psychology, represents the school’s ongoing dedication to research excellence, collaboration between disciplines and meaningful impact through scholarly activity. Our ambition is that this becomes a regular annual event, alongside other opportunities to share research within the school which benefit staff, students and the wider community alike.
Professor Oliver Robinson, Head of School of Arts and Culture, commented: ‘It was truly inspiring to see the breadth and depth of research shared at the symposium. What was particularly exciting was the creativity with which our presenters approached their chosen topics and themes, and the organic conversations prompted throughout the day. The School of Arts and Culture is ideally placed to foster creativity and exploration through research and scholarly activity, and I’m excited to see how this evolves.’
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