Practice-based Project Research Articles

Establishing Narrative Voice and Encountering the ‘I’ Through Identity Creation in Life Writing

ABSTRACT American biographer and scholar, Carl Rollyson, maintains that ‘the focus of biography is on the subject, not the biographer, yet half the story of a biography is, of course, who is telling the story’ [Rollyson, C. 2020. The Last Days of Sylvia Plath. New York: Blackstone, xi]. This article maintains that the writing process facilitates identity development by writing ourselves into existence. This experience is conveyed while focusing on issues of self-reflexivity and writer agency, alongside identity formation through writing our ‘own’ stories from unique perspectives. This process is explored through a discussion of the ways in which I have grappled with establishing a narrative voice while forging a personal sense of identity while writing my doctoral thesis, which is a practice-based project comprising a life-writing artefact presented alongside a critical exegesis. This article explores the ways in which writers occupy central roles within life writing, while underscoring the process in ascertaining issues pertaining to identity. Finally, this discussion concludes with the consideration of the ways in which the ‘I’ in life writing can be established, arguing for the personal experience that is inevitably embodied by the genre.

The Nāṭyaśāstra and virtual metatheatre

ABSTRACT In this practice-based project, workshops were conducted in and out of virtual reality, exploring the transitional processes of the Nāṭyaśāstra, an ancient Sanskrit dramaturgical treatise. This project is an intercultural and technological investigation of ancient tools of liminality and how they can be applied in a virtual theatre. A virtual cave theatre was built to the design of the Nāṭyaśāstra and inhabited with seventh-century farce, Bhagavadajjukam, created in Unity game engine for VRchat, a social VR application. The project posits three positions of focus: (1) Investigating parallels of the Nāṭyaveda and the metaverse, comparing the Nāṭyaveda an ancient spiritual performance space, described in the Nāṭyaśāstra with the modern metaverse, showing them to be spaces of liminal transition in which community can explore conflict and resolution. (2) Exploring the Nāṭyaśāstra's rasa theory, codified emotional performance to engender the liminal self, creating moments akin to virtual anchors. (3) Exploring the metatheatre of the Nāṭyaśāstra applied in the virtual and its parallels to the modern concept of liminal performance. Participants explored these concepts first physically in a performance studio and then in a virtual space. These workshops were recorded, and their experiences discussed and thematically analyzed after.

Aesthetics and Participation in Accessible Art Experiences

The action research project titled A Touch of Museum to Scale aims to improve the accessibility of the Museum to Scale art collection at the University of Antwerp. This project collaborates with various stakeholders to prototype tactile objects and an inclusive art guide for five artworks. It seeks to engage users of diverse abilities, investigate universal access services, and promote the integration of accessibility and artistic creation. The audio guide integrates visual descriptions and information for people with and without a visual impairment and integrates the artistic contributions of artists with and without disabilities. Artists also create tactile objects, which are an artistic and tactile translation of original artwork and a piece of art in their own right. The authors discuss project activities, such as personal observations, interviews, questionnaires, brainstorming sessions, and theoretical considerations based on literature and experience. The research is exploratory and invites both researchers and practitioners to reflect on participation and the aesthetics of access. Lay summary A Touch of Museum to Scale is a practice-based project that aims to improve the accessibility of the Museum to Scale art collection at the University of Antwerp. By working with various stakeholders, the team developed a prototype of tactile objects and an inclusive art guide for five artworks. This project is an experiment, in which we address several pertinent questions: how to create an audio guide that engages diverse abilities? How to make a guide that can be used by all? How to bring accessibility and artistic creation closer together? The result is an audio guide that combines visual descriptions and information for people with and without a visual impairment. It also includes the artistic contributions of artists with and without disabilities. In addition to the audio guide, artists have created tactile artworks to complement the original collection. In this text, the authors discuss the project activities and link them to insights from scientific literature. The authors hope to inspire a deeper reflection about accessibility and aesthetics in accessible art.

‘Viewing the Landscape’: Views from Expatria, Landscape Traditions and Staying Outside

The creative research project Views from Expatria: Photographing Place and the Self in transience by Dr Ioannis Galanopoulos Papavasileiou examines human displacement, identity, the role of place and its relationship to the transient condition of being in ‘Expatria’. The project uses extensively the concepts ‘view,’ ‘landscape,’ and ‘place.’ In photography, art, and contemporary theory there is a history of conflict, convergence, and misappropriation about these concepts, which has informed the creation of the works. This article complicates the concepts and situates them within the practice-based project. The concept ‘view of place’ is revisited and reinstated as significant in contemporary setting and practice and examined side-by-side with the highly complex term, landscape. The term ‘view of place’ is chosen against older modalities of place representation in search of a more unrestricted definition that houses the hybrid studio practices embedded in Views from Expatria project.

An Illustrated Reader: Illustration, fiction and historical narratives

This article will examine the critical potential of illustration practice through an examination of a BA stage project in which illustration was utilized alongside historical research to present both a subjective reading and empathetic critical analysis of a historical piece of fiction. It will look more closely at how both can interact with the idea of the archive to unpick or to challenge existing narratives. I will use my project The Yellow Wallpaper: An Illustrated Reader as a framework for this discussion. It is this practice-based project that sparked this initial line of enquiry and first influenced my thinking about the ways illustration can be a force for critical analysis.

Professional transitions: The eportfolio as a curated digital narrative

Contemporary higher education is continually facing change and disruption across global and local educational communities. This has been exacerbated by the impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic, with graduates having to demonstrate discipline-specific knowledge along with adaptability to an ever-changing employment market. To address these needs, the authors advocate a focus on professional transitions by taking advantage of the eportfolio and reframing the digital showcase tool as a curated digital narrative for any discipline. Taking a detailed focus on the case study example of the Verandah Journal , this article demonstrates how one practice-based project can be adaptively framed for diverse job opportunities and can serve as the foundation for a portfolio career. The authors conclude that a flexible, curated demonstration of skills and knowledge creates the foundations for a graduate to narrate their professional transition in a challenging future work environment. Further research is required to expand this understanding to both graduates and prospective employers.

Nexus Between Life Cycle Assessment, Circularity and Sustainability Indicators—Part II: Experimentations

Considering the growing number of metrics and indicators to assess the circular economy transition, it is paramount to shed light on how they complement and differ from traditional approaches, such as life cycle assessment or sustainability performance indicators. This study provides new empirical insights on the correlation between life cycle assessment, circularity, and sustainability indicator-based approaches to design circular and sustainable products. Specifically, the importance lies in analyzing how the results generated by these different approaches can be used to support the design of products that are not only circular but also sustainable. A practice-based project, involving over 175 engineering students over two consecutive academic years, is conducted with the purpose of comparing and improving the circularity and sustainability performance of three product alternatives of lawn mowing systems (gasoline, electric, autonomous). Notably, the following resources are deployed: 18 midpoints environmental indicators calculated by life cycle assessment, nine product circularity indicators, and numerous leading sustainability indicators. Critical analyses on the usability, time efficiency, scientific soundness, and robustness of each approach are drawn, combining quantitative results generated by each group with the feedback of future engineers. Last but not least, the developed workshop could be reused or adapted to train further the designers, engineers, and managers of tomorrow in deploying life cycle, circularity, and/or sustainability-indicator-based approaches to make more informed and sustainable decisions, e.g., between design trade-offs.

Choreographic Encounters in XR: Reflections on Dancing in/Dancing with the Digital

This article presents findings from first-person accounts of shifting choreographic practice into mixed-reality environments. Dancing in/Dancing with the Digital, a transdisciplinary practice-based project exploring embodiment and movement in XR. In the research and design phases of the project, all authors kept reflective practice journals, which form the data for this auto-ethnographic and phenomenologically-driven reflexive practice analysis. We further support these perspectives by user-testing with professional dancers and the engineering students who developed the XR configurations. Through a kaleidoscope of perspectives, including dance, psychology, somatic practices, digital technologies, and design approaches, we explore embodied awareness and practice in existing and novel XR design. Themes discussed include elements of disorientation in digital environments and touch as a grounding point, the prospect of multimodal creative stimuli, complications of representation in digital spaces, and the digital-as-site for choreography.

COMPARING LIFE CYCLE IMPACT ASSESSMENT, CIRCULARITY AND SUSTAINABILITY INDICATORS FOR SUSTAINABLE DESIGN: RESULTS FROM A HANDS-ON PROJECT WITH 87 ENGINEERING STUDENTS

AbstractConsidering a growing number of metrics and indicators to assess circular economy, it is of paramount importance to shed light on how they differ from traditional approaches, such as life cycle assessment (LCA) or sustainability performance indicators. This study provides new empirical insights on the correlation between LCA, circularity, and sustainability indicator-based approaches. Specifically, the importance lies in analyzing how the results generated by these different approaches can be used to support the design of products that are not only circular, but also sustainable. A practice-based project involving 87 engineering students (divided into 20 groups) is conducted with the aim to compare and improve the circularity and sustainability performance of three product alternatives of lawn mowers (gasoline, electric, autonomous). To do so, the following resources are deployed: 18 midpoints environmental indicators calculated by LCA, eight product circularity indicators, and numerous leading sustainability indicators. Critical analyses on the usability, time efficiency, scientific soundness, and robustness of each approach are drawn, combining quantitative results generated by each group with the feedback of future engineers.

Lockdown 1.0: A Different Opportunity

In March 2020, the UK went into lockdown due to COVID-19. Hospitals began prioritising emergency work, which had a knock-on effect for student midwives. Ultimately, the decision was made to temporarily suspend placements and offer a paid alternative to provide an additional workforce to the National Health Service (NHS). However, there were many students who were unable to commit to an extended paid placement. This article explores the journey made by three midwifery students from Robert Gordon University (RGU), as they achieved their placement module through a practice-based project.

The Textilisation of Rubble as an Embodied Reflection on the Site-Specific Architectural Memory of Les Petites Affiches

Les Petites Affiches refers to a rehabilitation project by the architectural agency SCAU used as a key site of experimentation for a practice-based and design-led PhD project fully integrated into the daily life of the agency. Based on a textile design approach, this paper explores the idea of textilisation as means of developing new modes of transmission based on the in situ transformation of rubble as an alternative to “tabula rasa” or identical restoration. First reviewing different approaches dealing with architectural heritage in the light of the Anthropocene context, the paper then discusses different meanings of the concept of textilisation before clarifying how rubble from Les Petites Affiches is conceptually and materially integrated in a new architectural project in the form of pigments, fabrics or floor surfaces. In this context, the trans-materialized memory of the past building becomes one of the main components of the future edifice. In this case, 111.39 kg of rubble from, the Parisian building subject to rehabilitation (2017–2018). The experiment—developed during an on-site-residency—focus on how such rubble could be appropriated through textile processes to give life to new architectural surfaces. For example, some fragments were ground and sieved to achieve the fine grain of a pigment before being mixed with a binder. The ink obtained, filled with the site’s history, was printed on textile using silk-screen methods. Bringing together two materials: textile and stone as a means of revealing the different strata of the site, the outcomes of this process offers the occasion to discuss the potential of conceiving and materialising an architecture informed by its past as well as various approaches to textilisation.

Affect and Sensation

“Affect and Sensation” brings together cyanotypes and text from the practice-based project “The Afterlives of Clothes” to explore the sensory and emotional effects of archival fashion research. Addressing the ways that imperfect garments make the absent bodies of those who used, made, and repaired them present for us, the works are a call to engage with the intricacies of wear, gesture, and trace. Initially developed during a fellowship at The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and later a residency at Bard Graduate Centre, the broader project asks how, in a field where absent bodies and narratives are already understood as problematic, presenting the traces of use might re-contextualize objects which would otherwise be excluded from view. Focusing on accessories, objects which Jones and Stallybrass term “detachable parts” of the self (2001b: 116), the images and writing draw upon a methodology that combines archival research with auto-ethnographic writing, image, and filmmaking to explore the embodied and bodily experience of researching imperfect garments in museum archives. Presenting archives as repositories of affect, labour, emotion, and bodily trace, they ask how ideas of affect and containment might shed light on the encounter with archival garments. This project presents garments in archives as both containers and producers of affect — an affect that, in part, stems from the bodies that wore and made them, but also from the multiple meanings that they acquire through accession, storage, conservation, and display.

Resurrecting place: Visual representation and the poetic imagination

With reference to an ongoing practice-based project, illustration in this article is considered for its capacity as an authorial practice able to complement and communicate ideas emanating from academic research. This article discusses the phenomenon of ‘place’, specifically, place as a lived concrete site comprising both physical and emotional phenomena and culminating in a meaningful experience of ‘being-in-the-world’. With particular reference to more marginal settings of everyday public experience, this article argues that as a result of current cultural phenomena relating to the economic and practical necessities of daily action, and historical developments in western thinking, place is an idea that is commonly obscured from daily experience. Through the teachings of phenomenology and early German romanticism, this article explores ideas that, through visual representation, meaningful notions of place can be resuscitated and transmitted between the illustrator and viewer. Further, through discussion of ideas emerging from postmodernism, conditions that affect our experience and expectations of place in the present are also addressed. Whilst place as a lived and meaningful totality is invariably informed by structures of subjectivity, visual representation is considered here, for its usefulness in appealing to meaningful, poetic dimensions of wider human experience.

Learning Through Practice: The Design and Implementation of an Advanced Integrative Practicum for DrPH Students

Students enrolled in Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) programs accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health complete an applied practice experience resulting in an advanced project. This requirement can vary by program, but it commonly occurs as a singular experience after students have begun coursework. In 2016, we assessed the practicum component for the Doctor of Public Health degree at Claremont Graduate University. We sought feedback from employers and reviewed other professional programs with required practice experiences. Data indicated that successful experiences integrated didactic coursework with practice, suggesting the design of an embedded format versus a stand-alone requirement. The Advanced Integrative Practicum (AIP) was launched in Fall 2017 through a partnership between Claremont Graduate University School of Community and Global Health and Riverside University Health System. The practicum series began with an introduction to the health system through rotations led by Riverside University Health System (AIP-A), continued with students engaging with experts to propose solutions to public health issues (AIP-B), and concluded with a high-level practice-based project (AIP-C) where students, under supervision of a mentor at an external entity, implement projects. Qualitative data obtained through final written syntheses indicated that a majority of students feel the experience was integral to their DrPH training. Steps were taken to address threats to sustainability and a program component that seemed not sufficiently engaging. Although the practicum was not continued in its piloted form, best practices were realized as were lessons learned, ultimately leading to broader modifications in the DrPH program curriculum.

FINDINGS FROM THE ENTOURAGE NOORD PROJECT: CO-CREATING NEW HOUSING MODELS FOR OLDER ADULTS IN BRUSSELS

In response to the challenge of an ageing population and the housing crisis in Brussels, the practice-based project ‘Entour-Age Noord: Inspiring and innovative housing & work’ was launched. A main objective was to develop various innovative and small-scaled housing models for older adults. The new housing models were designed to reinforce quality of life of older people who are ageing in the neighbourhood whilst allowing them to choose the models best suited to their needs and wishes. Given the complexity and multidimensionality, participatory-action research was used and the project was divided into six different ‘work packages’ (WP’s). Within these WP’s, different stakeholders and end users (older people, informal caregivers, neighbourhood residents, Community Land Trust, etc.) were involved during various activities (service design methodology, architectural workshops, inspiring visits, focus groups etc.) in order to co-create the answers. First, based on the results, eight personas (=conceptual models of targeted groups) were developed. Second, stemming from the participants needs and wishes (e.g. desire for more social interaction), architectural and spatial design characteristics were detected (e.g. provide common/shared spaces that stimulate encounter). Based on these personas and spatial characteristics, two prototypes of new housing models were conceptually elaborated on paper and two were operationalized and prepared in practice. The spatial and architectural characteristics are not limited to old age but can be of interest of any age group. Future housing developments could take these suggestions into consideration. Furthermore, experiences, opportunities and pitfalls of a co-creative decision-making process with older adults will be discussed.

Weaving patterns in performance: dramaturgy and the art of performance interpreting

Performance interpreters (PIs) working between English and British Sign Language often work alone to translate performance texts with little or no access to the creative team and are generally untrained in the specific skills required for the performance setting. In addition, the current theatre industry tends to adopt a mechanised approach to access that takes little or no account of the creative aspects of translation and interpreting work. In response to this, and to facilitate a conversation about the performance aspects of the work of the PI, this article discusses the concept of dramaturgy and considers its application to performance interpreting. The article draws on a practice-based project which embedded three PIs in a theatre production of Henry V at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and argues that performance interpreting can be framed as a dramaturgically-driven undertaking, rather than an interpreting task. The article sheds light on this frame's effects on the PIs’ processes, and on the experience of the director and cast members. It proposes and evaluates five guiding principles for a dramaturgically-driven frame for use by directors of performance interpreting.

Arts-Informed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: “Making,” as a Means of Embodied Fashion Enquiry into Older Men’s Lived Experiences

This article draws on a practice-based project, in which I proposed a novel fashion research methodology, Arts-Informed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The methodology highlights the central role of a creative practitioner within research settings and processes. The aim of the project was to develop an in-depth understanding of how a small sample of mature men has experienced fashion and ageing. Working with such an open-ended aim allowed to develop a fit-for-purpose methodology that accommodated two components: the topic of the investigation and the theoretical perspectives that the creative practitioner brought into it. A particular research mechanism, which was based on the integration of fashion theory and practice, synthesized to activities of interpretative making and writing, was implemented to suit my epistemological stance, my particular way of being in the world and conducting research as a creative practitioner. In this article, I focus on a series of three fashion artefacts I created in response to empirical data gathered via in-depth interviews and personal inventories with the five study participants. The making processes of the Mirroring, Dis-Comforting, and Peacocking suit jackets, involved de-construction of a series of second-hand garments, a scenario-based reflective performance, visiting clothing archives, and various practical experimentations. “Making,” as a means of embodied, visual enquiry became an analytical tool that afforded the advanced insights into older men’s lived experiences. Consequently, I argue that through my embodied interactions with objects and materials, as the creative practitioner, I co-constructed new experiential understandings and offered fresh perspectives of the phenomenon under study.

Student-led antenatal classes: A partnership pilot project

A pilot student-led antenatal classes project was developed in partnership with undergraduate midwifery students. The practice-based project was held at a local hospital, where students developed and facilitated programmes of antenatal education for the local community. The project improved the opportunity for lecturers to engage with students in the practice environment. Students valued being able to focus on normal midwifery in year two of the degree programme, by developing and leading antenatal classes. This paper is focused on the development of the project.

Health promotion in medical education: lessons from a major undergraduate curriculum implementation

Despite the economic, environmental and patient-related imperatives to prepare medical students to become health promoting doctors, health promotion remains relatively deprioritised in medical curricula. This paper uses an in-depth case study of a health promotion curriculum implementation at a large UK medical school to provide insights into the experiences of teachers and learners across a range of topics, pedagogies, and teaching & assessment modalities. Topics included smoking cessation, behavioural change approaches to obesity, exercise prescribing, social prescribing, maternal and child health, public and global health; with pedagogies ranging from e-learning to practice-based project work. Qualitative methods including focus groups, analysis of reflective learning submissions, and evaluation data are used to illuminate motivations, frustrations, practicalities, successes and limiting factors. Over this three year implementation, a range of challenges have been highlighted including: how adequately to prepare and support clinical teachers; the need to establish relevance and importance to strategic learners; the need for experiential learning in clinical environments to support classroom-based activities; and the need to rebalance competing aspects of the curriculum. Conclusions are drawn about heterogeneous deep learning over standardised surface learning, and the impacts, both positive and negative, of different assessment modalities on these types of learning.

Impact of Pharmacy Residency Research Training on Residents’ Actual Versus Perceived Ability and Interest to Identify and Solve Practice-Related Problems

Purpose: The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) requires that accredited residency programs provide pharmacy residents the opportunity to perform a practice-based project. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of pharmacy residency research training on residents’ actual versus perceived ability to solve practice-related problems in their professional careers. Methods: This cross-sectional study surveyed postgraduate year 1 (PGY1) pharmacy practice residents who completed training at a large academic medical center between 2007 and 2013. The survey consisted of 3 areas of assessment, that is, (1) general demographics, (2) perceived research abilities, and (3) self-reported research productivity. Results: A total of 39 residents were eligible; of those, 27 completed the survey (69.2% response rate). Participants reported low perceived ability for conductance of some research activities including study design development, implementation, and publication. No association between perceived research ability and self-reported research productivity was found. Research experience prior to residency training strongly predicted for subsequent publication after completion of PGY1 residency training (P < .0001). Conclusions: New training mechanisms may be needed to optimize research training that will provide residents with greater emphasis on areas of perceived deficiency.