The 2-day doctoral training programme will examine the value of practice-based research methods in addressing socio-economic and cultural challenges associated with climate crisis.
As academia grapples with how to address the realities of climate change, this training will discuss ways to empower communities, and amplify muted voices by employing practice-based methods associated with socially engaged research. The training team includes early career researchers (ECRs), artists and academic experts with a significant track record of working on climate change research and practice.
The training combines the workshop on 25th April 2024 showcasing new practice-based work at the intersections of art and climate change from across Scotland, giving participants the opportunity to learn and discuss a range of novel art-based approaches in addressing climate justice, while networking with other researchers from across Scotland and Europe at the Turning The Tide Climate Action Summit on public arts practice and climate change at CCA, organized in collaboration with European art and culture network River Cities.
The training also includes an interactive colloquium on 16th May 2024 hosted at Film City around ways of engaging communities through practice-based lens and the walking tour to ‘experience’ practice-based methods in action, exploring the surrounding area of Clyde waterfront affected by environmental change, a contested site at the intersection of socio-economic transformation, heritage activism, and climate justice.
On a completion of the training, participants will have defined the goals of practice-based research methods (LO1), reflected on the value and utility of practice-based research methods in relation to climate change (LO2), and how these can be useful for connecting communities and informing about environmental risks, health issues and addressing socio-economic challenges to lived realities (LO3). Participants will also have opportunities to consider how these methods might be applied within their own research (LO4) while networking with other researchers, practitioners, and artists.
The training will be delivered by an interdisciplinary team of cultural theorists, creative practitioners, and social scientists from the Divisions of Arts and Media and Social Sciences at University of the West of Scotland. This training will be of interest to PhD candidates from across arts and humanities as well as social sciences researching issues of climate justice, and any researchers interested in innovative solutions to the problems of climate change. There are no prior learning requirements.
The preparatory workshop will be held online on 18 April 2024, setting out the context and introducing the work of the Turning the Tide European network on innovative art practices and climate change.