Dreaming up transdisciplinary studios as part of RAISE 18

Slight delay in posting this conference while HCA launched a new website – but very much worth the wait as the new website is beautiful.

The RAISE (Researching, Advancing and Inspiring Student Engagement) network’s annual conference took place on the 6th September. I was delighted to represent the re-fabricate community at the event, delivering a workshop which mirrored the re-fab methodology. The dream transdisciplinary studios the delegates created were amazing. A snapshot below:

It was also great to hear from speakers across the sector. I was particularly interested in the hugefuture project, which links up social activities in the community. This kind of resource could be invaluable for students starting their adventure or those who are wanting to feel like part of a community but don’t know where to start.

Watching the short animations produced by students at Sheffield Hallam which described ideas of otherness within a community was also a moving experience. Their sensitive and meaningful storytelling provided a unique perspective on how it feels to be starting Uni and feeling ‘different’ in some way. A lesson in empathy – very appropriate for a conference about student engagement, and one which shows the power of visual storytelling to critically provoke and communicate complex ideas in an interesting way.

The lunchtime poster sessions were full of useful ideas for me to take back to HCA. There was a fab presentation from Paula O’Brien from Lincoln University which used storytelling to support mature students in telling their stories – a sensitive way of capturing individual journeys and supporting engagement. This is something we might trial in a future re-fabricate session (if my funding bid is successful).

I was also hugely interested in Luke Oliver Jones’ and Kirsty Miller’s  research which explored the links between curiosity, creativity and academic achievement.

Luke told me that although his project didn’t find a direct link between creativity and academic achievement, it had found links between curiosity and academic achievement, and links between creativity and curiosity…so perhaps that combination of creativity and curiosity is the one to foster here at HCA (academic achievement will follow). More broadly, this does speak to the power of creativity to support our social futures and success in a range of areas beyond our specific disciplinary practice.