Sign Up Sessions 3 - Day 1 - 16:15 - 17:45

Sessions Available:  

There are four options to choose from for the third block of sign-up sessions. The details of all four sessions are below, and you must use the relevant link to register your attendance for your chosen session via Inkpath.

All three sessions run from 16:15 - 17:45.

Techne in practice research: in and beyond the arts. 

Session Details: 

Technē can be utilised to explore the methods, implications, and outcomes of arts practice, spanning both contemporary and historical contexts.

With each speaker sharing their own research and practice, this panel will:

•    Explore the role of technē in shaping methodologies and outcomes across various disciplines. 
•    Examine the dynamic interplay between tradition and innovation in practice research. 
•    Discuss the implications of embodied knowledge within research practices. 
•    Consider the possibilities for applying traditional skills and contemporary practices to reimagine ethical ways of making, doing, and thinking within and beyond the arts..

Speakers / Facilitators: 

Dr Joanne 'Bob' Whalley (Chair) is Director of Doctoral Training and Development, at University of the Arts London, UK. Her book 'Between Us: Audiences, Affect and the In-Between' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), published with her research partner Lee Miler, celebrates spaces which cause an affecting, and bodies affected. In 2015 she completed a B.Sc. in Acupuncture, and she specialises with/through intersectional narratives. Her Ph.D. students explore grief narratives, empathy and affective exchange, concepts of with-ness and witness. Whalley and Miller completed the first joint practice-as-research Ph.D. to be undertaken within a UK arts discipline in 2004, and they make performance, installation, performance text and objects for international audiences. 

Eve Lin started their lecturer in fashion at the London College of Fashion in 2015; later they became a senior lecturer in 2023. Eve is currently working as a curriculum developer on climate justice at LCF. Her key research interests focus on fashion education and autoethnography, with a strong emphasis on cultural diversity and the writing of lived experience, particularly in educational and creative settings. Eve's work also explores how the educational and creative industries can collaborate to better equip graduates for their careers while fostering well-being in both academic and professional environments. Furthermore, their research highlights the growing importance of climate, social and racial justice in both education and creative fields.

Dr John O’Reilly is Senior Lecturer, Teaching and Learning Exchange at UAL. His Doctorate in Philosophy explored Jean Baudrillard’s ‘theory-fiction’. His current focus on the relation of practices, pedagogies and anticipation, comes from trying to make sense of his ‘zigzagging’ (Braidotti, 2006) careers and disciplines, writing: catalogues for artists (Martin Creed); on obscure electronica (Add-N-to-(X)) for The Guardian; and on the virtues of moisture-wicking tops for Nike. The zigzag included teaching ‘Introduction to Practice as Research’,  ‘Science Fiction and Philosophy’, and the ‘Uncertainty Project’. “Becoming other-wise as the practice of anticipation”, in A Creative Philosophy of Anticipation (co-edited with Dr Jamie Brassett, 2021) explores practices of other-wising and other-wisdoms.

Professor Nina Wakerford is Professor of Art the current Director of Research in the Department of Art. Recent work has been shown at Glasgow International, the Barbican, Reading International, Science Gallery, London and by Art on the Underground. With artist Elizabeth Price she initiated the Artist Citizens Jury which took place in November 2022 at CCA, Goldsmiths and also resulted in an artist book of testimony and reflection (also available as digital download).

Takeshi Hayatsu studied architecture at Musashino Art University in Tokyo and then at the Architectural Association in London before embarking on a professional career at David Chipperfield Architects. From there he moved onto Haworth Tompkins and 6a architects, establishing his own practice in 2017; Hayatsu Architects' current portfolio includes both private and public commissions, collaborating with arts and community-led organisations. Hayatsu has also lectured at many architectural schools including Cambridge and he has taught at Chelsea College of Arts, and Central Saint Martins. He is currently Senior Lecturer at Kingston University. His research subject has been shifting more towards exploring various methods of engagement with community members using construction, crafts and DIY.

Techne and ethics: change practices and activism. 

Session Details: 

How technē makes a difference in the world 

With both speakers reflecting on their own research and practice, this panel will: -

•    Examine the role that techne, as a concept, plays in understanding how practices can be changed and how activism can be pursued. 
•    Explore Techne as embodied knowledge; 
•    Present embodied practices as a way to create deeper ethical connections and inspire change.
•    Discuss how practical, embodied, and relational approaches to transforming our ways of being in the world can lead to ethical change and effective activism."

Speakers / Facilitators: 

Professor Vida L Midgelow (Chair) is the inaugural Dean of Doctoral School at the world leading University of the Arts London and was previously Chair of Postgraduate Research at Middlesex University, UK. She is a recognised leader in Practice-as-Research, improvisation and doctoral education with more than 30 years of experience facilitating and lecturing in dance and creative fields. She is regularly asked to give keynotes and undertake consultancy/mentoring in these fields. Co-director of the Choreographic Lab she provides platforms for sharing choreographic practices and critical inquiry. Extending these interests, she conceptualised and was the founding co-editor of the hybrid peer-reviewed journal, Choreographic Practices, 2010-2020. She formed Artistic Doctorates in Europe in 2016 (initially funded by Erasmus Plus), developing sector-leading guidance for best practice in Artistic Research Degrees and resources for dance research in practice. Currently she co-leads the AHRC funded, Future Ecologies: Producing Dance Network.

Petra Kuppers (she/her) is a disability culture activist and a community performance artist. She grounds herself in disability culture methods, and uses somatics, performance, media work, and speculative writing to engage audiences toward more socially just and enjoyable futures. Her latest academic study is the award-winning Eco Soma: Pain and Joy in Speculative Performance Encounters (UoMinnesota Press, 2022, open access). She teaches at the University of Michigan, was a 2022 Dance/USA Fellow, and a 2023 Guggenheim Fellow. She is currently at work on Planting Disabled Futures, a virtual reality/community performance project, as a Just Tech Fellow (2024-2026).

Tim Stephens is an Education Developer, with a specialism in Curriculum, at University of the Arts London, a Writer and Photographic Artist. He has 30+ years’ experience of working in Education, with learners, artists, teachers and organisations and his areas of interest are: the inter-play between art and writing practices, embodiment, the relationship between cognitive and non-cognitive experience, equality, western and non-western ethics, organisational and social change.

Craft and nature // Natural Cordage (string) Workshop

Session Details: 

A hands-on introduction to making natural cordage from foraged plants. Cordage is the oldest known fibre craft; with evidence going back 50,000 years, it’s considered a technological revolution that shaped our material culture.

Tutor Ruby Taylor, maker, author and educator (co-founder of Native Hands) will share some of her extensive collection of cordage samples, discuss the principles of plant suitability and sustainable harvest, and guide you to make some cordage from plant materials.

Speakers / Facilitators: 

Ruby Taylor’s creative practice is materials-led (using clay and plant fibres); she is concerned with origins and connection and the immersive, sensory experience of making; inspired by the dialogue that emerges between the maker’s hands and the materials. Immersed in the whole cycle of production: harvesting direct from the landscape in a sustainable and respectful way, processing the raw materials, creating functional and sculptural pieces.

A trained educator and maker with over 30 years’ experience, Ruby co-founded Native Hands and regularly runs courses in Sussex woodland and at UK heritage sites. She is the author of ‘Wild Basketry’ Bloomsbury Publishing, May 2025 forthcoming. @nativehands.uk

Georgia Ward  (Facilitator) is undertaking her PhD at Kingston University; her research explores the history of UK youth culture, and the use of museum-based strategies to protect its past, present and future. Georgia's professional practice involves curating public art and exhibitions, working with a diverse range of archives and collections to curate national and internationally touring exhibitions including The Stars Are Bright, Zimbabwe through the eyes of its young painters (The Belvedere Foundation); Grown Up in Britain (Museum of Youth Culture); Wondercrump World of Roald Dahl (Roald Dahl Museum); Adventures In Moominland (Tampere Art Museum & Moomin Characters Estate);  Abba Super Troupers (Abba Museum);  Pull Out All The Stops - The Royal Festival Hall Organ (Southbank Centre Archive, Harrison & Harrison Archive); One Nation Under a Groove (Youth Club Archive); Cathy and Claire (DC Thomson Archive) and Concrete Dreams, an exhibition for the reopening of the Hayward Gallery and Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, London. Georgia has also worked with the Museum of Youth Culture since 2018 and appointed to the museum's Advisory Panel working towards a permanent home in 2025. As Head of Festival Site Design at Southbank Centre, Georgia leads on the artistic planning and commissioning of high-impact large-scale art installations across the three-venue site on the banks of the River Thames.

The Object of Research: Writing, Drawing, Performing, Curating Workshop.

Session Details: 

A time and place for making and doing, this workshop activates an exhibition space as a laboratory for (live) research. Materials will be available for you to draw, write, curate, perform and further respond to what already may be there. Bring your research skills, curiosity and sociability!

Speakers / Facilitators: 

The Object of Research Techne Student team: Abbie Vickress, Ellen Nolan, Emma Mitchell, Helen Williams, Izzy Barrett-Lally, Karen Hanrahan, Nick Brown, Oknim Jo, Samantha Dick, Serafina Lee, Tom Railton and Viveca Mellegård.

Dr Alison Green is Reader in Art, Curating and Culture at Central Saint Martins and Director of Doctoral Training and Development at University of the Arts London's Doctoral School. She is a researcher, scholar, writer and educator in the history and theory of art, curating as creative and social practices, and research. Current projects include a book on exhibitions through a critical examination of themes of time and an edited collection of essay on curating and social practice. She is the author of When Artists Curate: Contemporary Art and the Exhibition as Medium (Reaktion Books, 2018).

Joanne Begiato is a Professor of History and Material Culture Studies and Associate Dean of Research at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London. She is a historian of bodies, material culture, and emotions. She is leading an AHRC funded project ‘The Victorian Hand: Emotions, Embodiment, and Identity, Past and Present’ (202-28).

Amy Hare is a part-time Techne PhD student at Kingston School of Art where she is researching the craft practice of period costume for film in the 20th century. Amy has presented her work to date at conferences and exhibitions in the US, UK and Italy. She is a founding member of the Making Costume Histories Research Network and a member of the executive board of the Costume Society where she coordinates the Patterns of Fashion competition. Alongside her research activity, Amy is a lecturer in Costume and an admissions tutor at UAL.

Professor Rebecca Fortnum is an artist, writer and academic. She is currently Acting Dean of C School at Central Saint Martins, where she was previously Associate Dean of Research.  Before that she was Head of the School of Fine Art at The Glasgow School of Art and has been a Professor of Fine Art at the Royal College of Art and at Middlesex University.

As an artist, she has held an Abbey Award at the British School in Rome, individual awards from the Arts Council of England, the British Council and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and received research funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.