This page highlights current research projects and evaluations in the region and across the country to help build a picture of the current research agenda. If you would like to
submit information about significant research or evaluations you are involved in please complete the Project / research information submission form.
Creativity in Health and Care Workshops Funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council
The Creativity and Health and Care Workshops programme, led by Dr. Emma Govan of Royal Holloway University, London and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, is a series of investigative workshops aimed at interrogating the subject of creativity with an over-arching objective of extending the understanding of the problems and possibilities of applying creativity within the health and care sector.
The workshops will draw together an interdisciplinary panel of researchers who engage with the subject of the creative process from a range of perspectives, to allow the rigour of academic research to interact with the critical engagement of practitioners and policy makers. This will be accompanied by an open national symposium in March 2008.
Whilst acknowledging that the arts are only one manifestation of creativity, the proposed workshop programme recognises that the arts sector brings a special contribution to the health and care sector consisting of professionals who make it their job to practice creatively. The programme is interested to examine this creative practice rather than the art object/event as the bedrock of arts in health practice.
The workshops aim to engage with a number of questions concerning:
For further information please contact Dr. Emma Govan on e.govan@rhul.ac.uk
Asking and answering behavioural questions through drama undertaken by Dead Earnest
Dead Earnest is a touring, training and facilitation Theatre Company who find ways to encourage the recognising, challenging and changing of behaviours.
Dead Earnest are currently designing an active research project into learnt and acquired human behaviour. Through research, performance and exploration we will interrogate the level of control individuals have over behaviour, and behavioural traits and the role genetic science has to play in informing our opinions about the conduct which makes up our lives. We are interested in the extent to which behaviour could be the result of our genetic inheritance, the implication that such findings would have on personal rights and responsibilities and the impact that such thinking has on ones own sense of identity and autonomy.
Beginning from research into an “anxiety gene” Dead Earnest want to work with partners in scientific and academic disciplines to explore and define the biological, ethical and social context for behaviour. We want to ask questions of how realistic our aim of recognising, challenging and most importantly changing unhelpful behaviour is in cultures where the influence of biology and society could predestine our choices and behaviour. We will investigate how arts experiences and specifically drama could be used to break individuals out of their default reactions and prejudices to arrive at more useful behavioural strategies.
We will ask to what extent the simulation of scenarios which drama creates encourages a greater degree of meta-cognition regarding our own actions, options and opinions. We will ask is social behaviour similar to physiology, with specific stimulus types leading to ‘knee-jerk’ reactions, or do we have a greater control over our more complex responses to the world we live in.
We are interested in ‘high impact’ behavioural traits such as self-injury, addiction and mental well-being including anxiety, but also in the everyday minutia and believe small incremental changes can have a big positive impact.
This project seeks to pose questions about where our behaviour comes from, and where scientific discoveries may lead us in the future.
For more Information contact:
Dan Ramsden: daniel@deadearnest.co.uk
Ashley Barnes: ashley@deadearnest.co.uk
Web: www.deadearnest.co.uk
Creativity in Health and Care Workshops Funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council
The Creativity and Health and Care Workshops programme, led by Dr. Emma Govan of Royal Holloway University, London and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, is a series of investigative workshops aimed at interrogating the subject of creativity with an over-arching objective of extending the understanding of the problems and possibilities of applying creativity within the health and care sector.
The workshops will draw together an interdisciplinary panel of researchers who engage with the subject of the creative process from a range of perspectives, to allow the rigour of academic research to interact with the critical engagement of practitioners and policy makers. This will be accompanied by an open national symposium in March 2008.
Whilst acknowledging that the arts are only one manifestation of creativity, the proposed workshop programme recognises that the arts sector brings a special contribution to the health and care sector consisting of professionals who make it their job to practice creatively. The programme is interested to examine this creative practice rather than the art object/event as the bedrock of arts in health practice.
The workshops aim to engage with a number of questions concerning:
- The value of creativity to society – how might creative processes be harnessed to improve provision in health and care? Is creativity of value in its own right? Is creativity always healthy? How can creativity be evaluated?
- The distinction between creativity and innovation – what constitutes the creative process? How might the creative process be employed to encourage innovation? Is it possible to be creative without being innovative and innovative without being creative? What are the institutional expectations of creativity?
- The role of risk in creativity – what conditions are necessary for creativity to thrive? What may prevent/encourage people to enter into a creative process? What is at risk personally and institutionally in a creative encounter? What are the consequences of creative endeavour?
- Individual/institutional creativity – What are the personal/institutional imperatives for creativity? How might creativity affect institutional culture? Is creativity sustainable? What conditions are necessary for creativity to thrive?
For further information please contact Dr. Emma Govan on e.govan@rhul.ac.uk
Asking and answering behavioural questions through drama undertaken by Dead Earnest
Dead Earnest is a touring, training and facilitation Theatre Company who find ways to encourage the recognising, challenging and changing of behaviours.
Dead Earnest are currently designing an active research project into learnt and acquired human behaviour. Through research, performance and exploration we will interrogate the level of control individuals have over behaviour, and behavioural traits and the role genetic science has to play in informing our opinions about the conduct which makes up our lives. We are interested in the extent to which behaviour could be the result of our genetic inheritance, the implication that such findings would have on personal rights and responsibilities and the impact that such thinking has on ones own sense of identity and autonomy.
Beginning from research into an “anxiety gene” Dead Earnest want to work with partners in scientific and academic disciplines to explore and define the biological, ethical and social context for behaviour. We want to ask questions of how realistic our aim of recognising, challenging and most importantly changing unhelpful behaviour is in cultures where the influence of biology and society could predestine our choices and behaviour. We will investigate how arts experiences and specifically drama could be used to break individuals out of their default reactions and prejudices to arrive at more useful behavioural strategies.
We will ask to what extent the simulation of scenarios which drama creates encourages a greater degree of meta-cognition regarding our own actions, options and opinions. We will ask is social behaviour similar to physiology, with specific stimulus types leading to ‘knee-jerk’ reactions, or do we have a greater control over our more complex responses to the world we live in.
We are interested in ‘high impact’ behavioural traits such as self-injury, addiction and mental well-being including anxiety, but also in the everyday minutia and believe small incremental changes can have a big positive impact.
This project seeks to pose questions about where our behaviour comes from, and where scientific discoveries may lead us in the future.
For more Information contact:
Dan Ramsden: daniel@deadearnest.co.uk
Ashley Barnes: ashley@deadearnest.co.uk
Web: www.deadearnest.co.uk