In 2024, PARTICIPATE members were able to apply for seed funding of up to £2,000 to develop research projects. The following provides a short overview of funded projects and how they are evolving.
Awarded: British Academy Small Research Grant
Good news: PARTICIPATE co-lead Dr Mary Ikoniadou, has been awarded a British Academy Small Research Grant for her project Picturing ‘Home’: How Greek-American Illustrated Periodicals Imagined Greece in the 1960s. The project investigates how Greek-American magazines of the 1960s grappled with the tensions of homeland nostalgia, cultural preservation, and integration during a decade of global…
Writing retreat funds awarded to Art Doctor to complete wild swimming films – by Dr Liz Stirling
‘Water must be thought of in terms of the chains of life it supports’ Rachel Carson I have been working on 3 short experimental films to tell the stories of three site-specific water-based ecologies and their endangered biodiversity using the immersive, embodied experience of wild swimming as part of an audio-visual ethnographic methodology. The three…
Playful pedagogy – by Jen Chalkley
As part of her PhD research on the use of construction toys in architectural design processes, Jennifer Chalkley adopted Lego Serious Play method. This allowed her to explore the power of metaphor helping student and staff participants to engage in dialogue, collaborate to create and iterate ideas, overall engaging in a more playful design pedagogy.
Thinking is material podcast series – by Dr Joanna Leah
Dr Joanna Leah received funding to support the development of her ‘thinking is material’ podcast series that will launch in 2025. This podcast explores how thinking itself manifests as a material process in approaches to research, emphasizing the creative acumen and adaptability that define the methods of today’s creative practitioners. As a mover and drawer,…
Climate Adaptation Book Writing Workshop, Nairobi – by Prof Rachel Julian
There is a gap in knowledge and literature of African voices on impact of and adaption to the climate crisis. People’s experience is not sufficiently captured in research, and those affected most directly do not have a way of sharing their stories to show the impact it has on them. Initiated by local academics and…
Imagining Greece – by Dr Mary Ikoniadou
The funding allowed Dr Mary Ikoniadou allowed the expansion of the project ’Digital Archive: Tourism and Nation Branding in Greece, 1945-1990‘ by incorporating the Greek American Diaspora Youth voices, which have been neglected to date. This aspect is part of a broader interdisciplinary study that analyses the complex and multifaceted visual history of how Greece has been branded…
Transition minerals and energy justice – by Dr Anne Schiffer
Argentina is part of what is known as the ‘lithium triangle’ alongside Chile and Bolivia which combined account for most of global lithium reserves, a ‘critical mineral’ in the transition to renewable energy. The research aimed to explore the drivers and impacts of lithium extraction to support ‘just transitions’ to renewable energy. Image: Tierra Nativa/Friends of the Earth…
Liquid Bodies – by Dr Joanna Leah & Dr Liz Stirling
Together Dr Joanna Leah & Dr Liz Stirling used the seed funding to explore the relationship between mature women and water in wild swimming in Ireland and England as part of their project ‘Liquid Bodies’. This shed light on the social and cultural relationships of the menopause, body and self-image, liberation outside institutional and domestic processes in drawing ecologies of women…