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Centre for Qualitative Research

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AHRC Performative Social Science Workshop Series


Social Science in Search of its Muse: Exploratory Workshops in Arts-related Production and Dissemination of Social Science Data.

The Workshop Series, funded by the AHRC Nature of Creativity Scheme, afforded opportunities for participants to engage in hands-on experiences of working with concepts and tools from the arts and humanities in producing and disseminating social science research to wider audiences and/or in expanding teaching and practice-facilitated by artists, poets, performers and filmmakers. A series of five workshops over ten months expanded the means of production and dissemination available to us to in order to move our work to new and more creative levels.

The workshops were a great success, attracting the participation of scholars from more than 27 universities across the UK. The fifth and final workshop was held in June. It was a day of networking and collaboration, filmed by BU Media School graduate, Ben Mallaby.

"Social Science finding its Muse", a film by Ben Mallaby & Kip Jones on the AHRC workshop series, was premiered at the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods Seminar University of Wales-Cardiff, 18th Sept. 2007. To date it has been viewed by almost 1,000 people online and shown at many events around the UK.

View the film on the player below or Download from Google Video External Link

The film intersperses interviews with participants from five AHRC workshops in Performative Social Science (PSS) held over the past year at Bournemouth University with clips of workshop activities. The film not only documents activities, but also acts as an exemplar of research capacity building using tools from the arts and utilisation of the media available to researchers to reach wider audiences with their work.

The initial four workshops included:

  • Workshop 1: Stimulating creativity - November 24th 2006, Facilitators: Drs Fran Biley and Tris Westwood
  • Workshop 2: Songs without Words - January 15th 2007, Facilitators: Megan Long, Ted Mackney and Dr Kip Jones
  • Workshop 3: Visual Ways of Knowing - March 7th 2007, Facilitators: Drs Amanda Ravetz and Rosie Read
  • Workshop 4: Rhythm and Blues: Turning to the body - May 8th 2007, Facilitators: Profs Carol Picard and Dawn Freshwater

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