More than 60 colleagues from across the Faculty of Arts and Humanities came together on Friday 19 June for this year’s Research Celebration event, which highlighted the range, originality, and impact of research taking place across the Faculty.
Bringing together academic staff, postgraduate researchers, and professional services colleagues, the event offered a chance to pause and reflect on the strength of the Faculty’s research culture, while also creating space for conversation across disciplines. The Faculty was also pleased to welcome Professor Nancy November, Pro-Vice-Chancellor from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, who joined the celebrations.
Posters, films, digital displays, and an interactive VR experience combined to give a vivid sense of the variety of research being carried out across Arts and Humanities: The poster presentations captured that breadth particularly well. Alongside work from academic colleagues, contributions from postgraduate researchers in Music – Nashra Ahmad, Anthi Georgiadou, and Hazel van der Walle – also featured in the display. Other highlights included Vladimir Brljak’s striking poster, When did space turn black? And what happened to us in the process?, Brendan Kelters’ interpretation of Professor Nancy Cartwright’s Causal Process Modelling for Better Evaluation and Planning, and Professor Rosi Song’s Relish – Recipes, Heritage, Innovation, exploring European food culture.
Visitors were also able to experience the Faculty’s VR kit, which featured material from the 360 Shakespeare project led by Alistair Brown in collaboration with Elysium Theatre Company. The opportunity to step into Macbeth offered an engaging example of how digital methods and creative practice can open up new ways of sharing research.
A series of films ran throughout the event, including the premiere of the newly commissioned Value of Arts and Humanities. Together with a digital display of around 140 book covers published by Faculty colleagues between 2020 and 2026, they provided a powerful visual reminder of both the scale of the Faculty’s research activity and the many ways in which it reaches different audiences.
Earlier in the day, Research Centre leads had met to discuss the recent research centre review and to launch a new brochure featuring the Faculty’s 26 Research Centres, adding a further note of celebration to the occasion.
The event also offered an opportunity to reflect on research leadership within the Faculty. Professor Alberto Rigolio, Associate Dean (PGR) and Director of the Northern Bridge, spoke about the contribution of Professor Giles Gasper, Deputy Executive Dean (Research), whose term in the role will come to an end this summer. Rigolio reflected on the many research initiatives Professor Gasper has helped to drive in recent years, and on the support he has given to the Faculty, departments, and colleagues.
In response, Professor Giles Gasper spoke warmly about the connections he has made during his time in the role and the extraordinary research he has encountered across the Faculty, reflecting on the impact of Arts and Humanities research and the privilege of helping to support and champion it.
Reflecting on the event, Zoë Gardiner, the Faculty’s Research Manager, said:
“It was wonderful to see such a stunning display of the variety of world-leading research that takes place within the Faculty. The event was a real demonstration of the vibrant research community and research culture which exists in Arts and Humanities, and being able to showcase our transformational research is a real privilege.”
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