04/09/2025 - Ecological Dialogues

4^th September 2025

Research Exchange: Research & Scholarly Activity Conference 25

The RSA formed part of the Northern School of Art’s annual research development programme, designed to support staff in establishing themselves as leaders in creative arts education and to contribute to wider thought and change within the sector. It is a space for invigorating creative pedagogy, where research and practice intersect in ways that speak to the school’s strategic aims: a creative and inclusive curriculum, a strong research culture, and a collaborative community. The conference invites staff to share research, projects, proposals, funded initiatives, and scholarly activities that highlight the impact and progression being made within the school.

This year’s event took place at the Northern School of Art’s HE campus in Hartlepool and featured six internal speakers alongside guest keynote Rachel Barnwell (Durham University). Each presentation reflected the richness and diversity of the school’s research culture. Dr Tony Charles presented Groundhoppers, an artistic initiative and exhibition with Teesside and German artists in Berlin and Leipzig. Alyson Agar shared her work on creative pedagogy and decolonising arts education, particularly through projects in China that rethink global curriculum models. Dr David Edwards discussed his research into care within acting and how his approaches are helping to shape change inside and outside of academia. Jess Tones and Olivia Burton presented their community-based project Rock Pool, which gathers and shares local stories in Hartlepool, giving voice to communities through the arts. Finally, guest speaker Rachel Barnwell gave an engaging talk, From Studio to Society: Crafting a Culture of Impact, exploring how cultural knowledge exchange can be fostered in higher education, and the important role of the RSA in driving this forward.

So how did I become involved with the RSA conference? In truth, it wasn’t through a call for papers but rather an invitation. Having just been appointed as a Lecturer in Photography at the School’s HE campus (soon to achieve university status), I had recently transitioned from working primarily with FE learners to now focusing on teaching at levels 4–6. This was a role I had been building towards for over a decade. While aspects of my PhD research were known by some colleagues, much of its detail remained largely hidden beyond my supervisory team and monitoring panels. It was Olivia Burton, director of the RSA and head of faculty, who approached me directly to share my practice and research. Given the timing, coming just a few months after resubmitting my PM2, it felt like the right opportunity to present my work to colleagues, situating myself within the HE research culture and letting people know more clearly what I do as both practitioner and researcher.

When planning the presentation, I was keen to balance professionalism with a conversational tone. I’ve always preferred to present in ways that feel inclusive and accessible, rather than overly formal, so that my work comes across as something people can engage with and not as distant academic rhetoric. I wrote myself a loose ‘script’ for the talk, but I wrote it as I speak (much like these blogs) allowing space for dialogue and connection.

The structure of my presentation followed seven sections across eight slides, with a tight ten-minute frame. I opened by introducing myself and my background as a multi-disciplinary practitioner working within a practice-based PhD. From there I introduced my research question, aims, and objectives before discussing the methodology I am developing, autoethnographic unearthing. This positioned the ground for me to then introduce the three sub-themes my research unfolds through: walking, speculative energies, and soil language. Sections four to six explored these in more depth, including my methods, the practitioners I am engaging with, and the theorists who help situate the work. Finally, I concluded with a reflection on artistic care and collaboration, a way of emphasising knowledge exchange not only between people but also with the non-human. For me, this felt an important way to tie my research to the ethos of the RSA conference, highlighting artistic co-creation as a way of fostering exchange, responsibility, and care.

The reception to my presentation was overwhelmingly positive. Several colleagues shared comments of fascination and intrigue, describing the work as highly intelligent, mind-opening, and in one case, even “a crazy explosion of awesome research.” One comment that made me laugh was, “does a soil from North Yorkshire have an accent?” A light-hearted but thoughtful way of engaging with my ideas of soil as communicative. Perhaps most affirming was the way Rachel Barnwell repeatedly returned to my presentation in her keynote, drawing connections between my research and the broader theme of cultural and non-human knowledge exchange.

As I left the conference, I felt a genuine sense of achievement. It was the first time I had presented my research to my new colleagues, and the warmth of their responses gave me a real boost of confidence. More importantly, it allowed me to begin positioning my practice within the HE research environment at Northern School of Art. I now look forward to building on this momentum, working with colleagues across disciplines on projects that align with both our own research trajectories and the school’s wider strategic plan. For me, the RSA has already become more than just a conference, it is a springboard for collaboration, exchange, and the ongoing development of my academic and artistic voice.