Innovation Hub collaborations

Artists Elliot Walker and John Moran will give glass blowing demonstrations in the glass blowing workshop at UCA. Following this they will give an artist lecture in the lecture theatre. The events will take place in front of a live audience and will be live streamed online as a hybrid event. The potential ‘in person’ audience is 300 persons, and the online audience is unlimited. This event will be part of Farnham Craft Month, which takes place in October each year.  

Farnham was officially given World Craft City status in 2020 from the World Craft Council.  It is one of two places in the UK to gain this prestigious status, one of five craft cities in Europe, and one of 55 worldwide. Being awarded this status is extremely important and recognises our rich craft heritage, which UCA has been an important part of. Craft Month celebrates and highlights the rich craft and art offering within Farnham Craft Town. 

Partner: Farnham Town Council

UCA Contact: Debra Allman & Laura Quinn

The aim of this 5-day Masterclass training program is to facilitate knowledge exchange and connect participants from UCA with the creative industries.  The projects aim to increase the capacity of both UCA and regional stakeholders in using the Virtual Production studio, ultimately leading to the commercialization of this facility, increase collaboration and leverage further external funding. 

 The Masterclass will provide up to 12 participants with comprehensive knowledge and practical skills in the field of Virtual Production (VP) while integrating creative workflows. The project seeks to deliver the best technical input of VP and foster a deep understanding of its application within novel workflows. By the end of the training, participants will have a solid grasp of the technical aspects of VP as well as its creative integration. 

Partner: finalpixel.com

UCA contact: Mostafa Nagy

The project aims to forge an interdisciplinary partnership between the Kent MS Therapy Centre and the University for the Creative Arts, targeting the community of Canterbury district in Kent to fill the research gap in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and dance-based interventions. By integrating polyvagal theory into movement workshops and harnessing both quantitative biometric data from wearable technology and qualitative experiences from participants and facilitators, this initiative seeks to provide a holistic understanding of the impacts on individuals living with MS. The approach promises to enhance interoception and support participants through innovative wearable technology, offering new skills and self-understanding of their own bodies in motion.

Partner: Kent MS Therapy Centre

UCA Contact: Katherine Rees

Young Creatives Collective – Phase 2 is a mentoring project for young people from asylum seeker, refugee and migrant backgrounds to explore their creativity and achieve their creative, educational and career ambitions. The collaboration builds on phase 1 of the project run by Magnum Foundation where the participants were exposed to a series of creative workshops and as well on the Fast Forward teams’ experience with the earlier project Putting Ourselves in the Picture now published by Trolley books.

The aim of phase 2 of this project is to engage the participants in new experiences exposing them to the potential for creative futures in both employment and in education. The objectives are to increase understanding of photography and arts education, to prepare the participants for a life in arts-based industries and to build confidence in a group of young people from marginalised communities to increase their chances of entering education and employment. The project is designed to enhance wellbeing in the community. 

Partners:

Magnum Photos Foundation
De La War Pavilion
The Refugee Buddy Project
Mosaic Rooms

UCA Contact: Anna Fox

In early 2023, the Photography team at UCA Farnham commenced a pilot residency collaboration with Photomonitor, a contemporary online journal for photography. This project allows UCA to continue to publish new content that captures the changing g landscape of photography with a focus on supporting new and emerging voices alongside established writers.

Partner: Photomonitor

UCA Contact: Caroline Molloy

Shakespeare's play “Coriolanus” will be performed online jointly by Ukrainian and English students of creative universities. Students from other European universities will then be invited to a dialogue and a discussion on the relationship between the leader and society. During the performance, various forms of engaging the audience and turning them into active participants will be used. Part of the performance will pass almost without words. It will present the story of the Roman military leader Coriolanus. The discussion part about modern processes in society will be held in English. 

Adamant (internet provider) will offer a platform for performing and hosting. Volunteer television I-UA.TV will give the opportunities to students to do a weekly programme on their channel. 

Partners:

Adamant (internet provider)
Volunteer Television I-UA.TV
New Media
Organization of students of the Karpenko Kary Ukrainian National University of Theatre, Film and Television

UCA Contact: Natalia Dniprinko

To support UCA’s participation in the 2023 Being Human Festival, on the theme of ‘Rhyme and Reason’.

UCA’s involvement included an interactive and immersive exhibition at the James Hockey gallery and a supporting programme, comprised of workshops, performances and activities to take place at UCA various spaces as well as in partner organisations. UCA researchers (including PhD students and tutors) investigate how objects, sounds, movements and creations are part of what makes us human, explore and share their ideas with the public and local community. 

Partners:

Being Human Festival
James Hockey Gallery
South Hill Park
318 Ceramics

UCA Contact: Harry Whalley & Loucia Manopoulou

Xiamen Oyster is a project of creative visualisation exploring the biological, ecological and social aspects of large-scale oyster farming across the Xiamen Bay Area. The project aim is to make a digital moving image and interactive artwork, to be exhibited online or as a public installation, to visualise the environmental impact of oysters in the Xiamen biosphere and show multiple journeys of shellfish in this local aquaculture – from egg to shucked oyster, ready to eat. This will visualise how the commerce of humans and the oyster biome intersect to create a unique coast ecology and environment; it is an agenda setting project to stimulate conversations about the importance of caring for our surroundings.

Partner: Institute of Creativity and Innovation, Xiamen University

UCA Contact: Stephen Connolly

There is a little research into the sustainability impacts of cricket gear and the ‘end of life’ is unknown for most gear. Cricket batting and wicket keeping gloves, and pads are primarily produced in Northern India and other parts of Asia due to low labour costs, which means there is embedded carbon associated with outsourced production and with no production or use of materials grown or produced in the UK. The focus of this project is to develop and produce initial protypes of cricket batting pads and/or other cricket gear that are more circular and low carbon. 

Partner: University of Cambridge

UCA Contact: Martin Charter 

This project is fostering partnerships with European arts organizations and audiences, notably through a series of street photographs entitled "Reflections of Capital" to be exhibited in Rennes, France. Leveraging the project leader’s 30-year experience as a professional photographer and existing industry contacts, it seeks to strengthen external industry relationships, particularly in Europe, where previous involvements, like the Arles photography festival, have laid the groundwork.

Partner: Publique Festival

UCA Contact: David Jones

This project connects Canterbury home owners with architects, retrofitting and construction professionals to encourage implementing energy efficiency and carbon reduction solutions in existing housing. More information on the Future Observatory website.

Partner: Kent Architects

UCA Contact: Sam McElhinney

Partner: Farnham Castle  

UCA Contact: Simon Aeppli

This initiative aims to enhance peer-to-peer (P2P) knowledge sharing and collaboration within the Createch sector, focusing on sustainability and regional engagement across the UK and Europe. Leveraging insights from a previously developed sustainability tool, the project seeks to organize workshops and knowledge sharing sessions that equip Createch leaders with practical sustainability practices and foster a vibrant exchange of ideas and experiences. These activities aim to not only improve sustainability within individual companies but also to strengthen the collective knowledge base of the Createch community. Additionally, the project will work on building and enhancing relationships with academic and professional networks, thereby facilitating a rich tapestry of regional and cross-regional connections. Key deliverables include the creation of new resources such as articles, videos, and webinars to capture and disseminate the insights gained from these exchanges, alongside implementing a feedback mechanism to measure the impact and effectiveness of the project's initiatives. This comprehensive approach intends to create a dynamic ecosystem of knowledge exchange that supports sustainable growth and innovation within the Createch sector.

Partner: Trevor Davis & Associates Ltd

UCA Contact: Martin Charter

The Planting and Placemaking Project (PPP) aims to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Liverpool-Manchester railway by spotlighting the significant, yet often overlooked, contributions of community-based railway gardens to local communities and urban biodiversity. Through a series of participatory workshops, this initiative seeks to establish a knowledge exchange network that connects local communities, gardeners, researchers, artists, and cultural organizations along the railway line. By prioritizing co-production, the project aspires to empower local communities and enhance urban resilience, mapping the diverse actions and intricate societal relationships that underpin railway gardens. Collaborating with Metal Liverpool and the Science and Industry Museum, and hosting events at various accessible locations along the railway, the PPP intends to broaden its outreach. Additionally, it aims to facilitate inclusive participation by offering travel bursaries for lower socio-economic groups, fostering a collective re-imagining of the relationship between urban infrastructure, its users, and the broader city ecosystem.

Partner: Metal Liverpool

UCA Contact: Marwa Al Khalidi

The Crafts Study Centre (CSC) is embarking on a mission to diversify and decolonize its collection, addressing the historical oversight of marginalized groups in twentieth-century studio craft. A day-long workshop with museum professionals and decolonization experts will explore strategies to enhance collection diversity through exhibitions, events, and acquisitions, aiming to expand audience engagement and contribute to the broader discourse on decolonizing museums. This initiative, leveraging insights from recent craft studies research, seeks to advance new narratives and extend the CSC's reach beyond academia, fostering a more inclusive and representative craft collection.

Partner: Craftspace

UCA Contact: Stephen Knott

The "Daijing Village Stories" initiative, led by the interdisciplinary creative collective Panda-monium, aims to forge a dynamic collaboration with Dajing Village, located opposite Xiamen University's Zhangzhou campus. This partnership, endorsed by village leaders, seeks to transform the village into a vibrant hub for community building, student learning, and creative exploration.

Through portrait photography and videography, the project is dedicated to capturing and preserving the oral histories of village residents, filling a gap left by the absence of official written records. By engaging an ICI student research team, the project not only aims to document the village's unique narratives but also to foster a deeper connection with the community, laying the groundwork for future collaborative endeavours.

These stories will be prominently displayed throughout the village and online, offering a platform for the community's voices, enhancing local pride, and stimulating wider interest and dialogue. Ultimately, the project envisions Dajing Village as a continuous site of creative and intellectual pursuit, where academic rigor and economic sustainability support a flourishing space of shared identity and innovation.

Partner: Craftspace

UCA Contact: Stephen Knott

This project focuses on enhancing a product circularity starter tool specifically designed for the fashion, clothing, and textile (FCT) industry, aiding businesses in adopting circular economy practices from the design phase itself.

As the circular economy concept gains momentum across government, policy circles, and the industrial and academic landscapes, there's a noted shift towards evaluating circularity not just organization-wide but at the product level. Research conducted by CfSD under the EC Horizon 2020 ORIENTING project underscored the necessity for tools that help organizations gauge their circularity at the outset, particularly when many find their actual circularity levels to be at a nascent stage compared to external perceptions.

Building on prior research and pilot tests with an SME in sportswear and a multinational outdoor equipment brand, this initiative seeks to refine an existing product circularity tool, transitioning it from an Excel-based model to an interactive web-based platform. By incorporating feedback from the FCT sector through comprehensive online research, pilot studies, focus groups, and workshops, the project aims to offer tailored strategies that address the unique circularity challenges and sustainability trade-offs within the FCT industry.

This tool is poised to serve as a critical step for companies looking to assess and enhance their circularity practices and sustainability impacts.

Partner: Lacuna Sports (sportswear company)

UCA Contact: Dr Lilian Sanchez-Moreno

The Convergent Screen Accelerator project is an opportunity for Motionhouse and experts at UCA to work together to accelerate innovation at the intersection of digital and dance through a 6-month proof of concept and prototyping phase using emerging creative technologies to generate new digital content and cross-platform storytelling.  Motionhouse will visit UCA to work closely with researchers and technical staff across creative technologies, gaming, virtual production, transmedia storytelling and XR, drawing on this expertise to develop prototypes that will help to shape the company’s future creative work and business models.

A core goal for Motionhouse is to extend their reach to more diverse audiences and markets, generating new revenue streams by opening a growth pathway to commercialise IP through a cross-platform approach.  The prototypes will inform the development of paid digital content to be consumed online, first by their current audiences, aiming to reach new consumers from early 2025 in the lead up to their next touring dance-circus production. The project will culminate with a sharing of prototypes to an invited audience from the performing arts, technology, and academic sectors.

The Cross-Platform Accelerator project takes performance from the stage to new mediums and disciplines to explore how screen convergence and new habits affect how people can consume content. This will help the company find new ways to engage audiences with its professional performance practice and bring about an evolution in Motionhouse's already extensive use of digital content in its productions. The project will open access to new markets, commercialising IP through a cross-platform approach that brings multiple narratives to life in engaging ways, creating immersive universes.

Partner: Motionhouse Dance Theatre

UCA Contact: Dr Sophy Smith

This project seeks to quantify the environmental benefits of reusing and extending the life of sports apparel and equipment, with a specific focus on cricket gear, in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and waste.

By developing a novel assessment tool, the initiative aims to evaluate the impact of redistributing used cricket equipment both within the UK and internationally.

Partnering with the Lord’s Taverners Cricket Gear Recycling Unit (LTCGRU), a leading organization in cricket gear reuse, the project will gather data to establish a baseline of operational GHG emissions and assess the carbon footprint associated with the transportation and initial production of cricket gear.

Utilizing life cycle assessment techniques, the project intends to calculate the embodied GHG emissions of sports products destined for reuse and develop a comprehensive carbon assessment methodology that factors in operational emissions, transportation routes, and product life extension.

The ultimate goal is to package this information into a practical tool that demonstrates to reuse organizations and individuals the tangible benefits of reusing sports products, highlighting potential GHG and material savings while considering the variability of organizational emissions and product lifespan extensions.

Partner: Lord’s Taverners Cricket Gear Recycling Unit

UCA Contact: Martin Charter

This project is based on evidenced-based research that play can reduce anxiety when children undergo medical procedures (Björkman, Golsäter, & Enskär, 2014). Reduced anxiety can lessen children’s experience of pain and can help to make procedures more manageable for children, parents, and the medical team.

Although educational products exist to educate children about medical ailments and some procedures, these are not always discipline specific or procedure specific. By combining the skills of designers, medical play specialists and copywriters, this project aims to develop a play-based toolkit for children that can be used by doctors, play therapists, parents, and other medical professionals.

The toolkit can be used before, during and after medical procedures by specialists to prepare and empower children when undergoing medical procedures or interventions.

Partner: NHS

UCA Contact: Dr Marguerite van der Merwe

This project explores the enhancement of Maimun Palace, a significant cultural heritage site in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, through the application of Augmented Reality (AR) technology.

Recognizing the palace’s role in showcasing the nation’s history, cultural identity, and its potential in boosting tourism, the initiative seeks to transform the static displays of the palace into interactive, engaging experiences. By integrating AR, visitors will be able to access rich media content such as graphics, animations, and videos overlaid onto the real-world environment using mobile devices. This digital layer aims to make the historical narratives and cultural significances of Maimun Palace more accessible and compelling without altering the physical displays.

The project’s primary goal is to assess the impact of AR in enriching visitor experiences and deepening their understanding of the palace’s history through a newly developed digitization application. The methodology involves a structured development process of the AR application, from content analysis and design to implementation and testing, followed by an evaluation of its effectiveness in digitizing cultural heritage for a more informative and interactive visitor experience.

Partner: Maimun Palace

UCA Contact: Dr Adila Nordin

Copy to follow.

Partner: Royal Shakespeare Company

UCA Contact: Dr Sophy Smith

The project aims to empower residents in vulnerable areas through participatory workshops, where they actively contribute to the design and development of VR experiences tailored to their specific concerns. These immersive VR experiences will depict local climate change impacts and potential adaptation strategies, fostering a sense of ownership and resilience within these communities.

The project employs a dynamic iterative process, incorporating feedback from residents, experts, and local stakeholders to refine VR content continually. The outcomes will provide insights into the potential of participatory practices and local engagement in addressing climate change. These findings will be invaluable for policymakers, environmental organisations, and educators as it will offer a blueprint for how to give at-risk communities a voice to proactively address climate change and create more sustainable futures.

Partner: Climate Change Awareness

UCA Contact: Lucy Hayto

The “Out of the Metropolis” project, slated for 2023-2024, marks a significant undertaking for UCA, in collaboration with NOUA in Bodø, Norway, Doubledummy in France, and The Finnish Museum of Photography.

This initiative is set to coincide with Bodø's tenure as the European Capital of Culture in 2024, featuring a solo exhibition at NOUA from 15 June to 11 August 2024. The project embodies UCA's commitment to innovative artistic expression and interdisciplinary collaboration, partnering with world-renowned architect Sami Rintala and Tate curator Michael Raymond.

The goal is to revolutionize exhibition design and the presentation of photography by reimagining the gallery space, fostering a deeper connection between the audience and the artistic narrative through innovative spatial architectures. Additionally, UCA aims to facilitate the exchange of ideas and methodologies through seminars in Bodø, Helsinki, and Arles, enhancing the academic discourse surrounding art presentation.

The project will be documented and shared widely through an open-source web platform and a printed publication edited by Anna-Kaisa Rastenberger, slated for summer 2025, ensuring the dissemination of its findings and contributions to the broader cultural and academic communities.

Partner: NOUA

UCA Contact: Steffi Klenz