RIX co-researchers and purpleSTARS have had a busy summer sharing our inclusive research at various conferences and events.
At the start of June we were invited to take part in the Discussing Decolonisation series hosted by the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Team at York St John University (YSJU).
Joining online as part of a hybrid panel discussion for the Summer Finale Event – Building the Movement, we shared how we explored ideas of decolonisation, through our inclusive research approach, for example by visiting Hew Locke’s exhibition What Have we Here at the British Museum. By experiencing the objects in the exhibition, we could begin to see and talk about some of the power issues involved when one culture is invaded, dominated and dispossessed by another.
Ajay and Nicola talk about the bells in Hew Locke’s exhibition What Have we Here at the British Museum.
Ajay noticed the bells in the exhibition – “Here’s my temple bell from my Indian culture, they are like the bells we have in my home”
Nicola recognised the bells too – “Mum and Dad had this bell in Singapore. I ring the bell to call my husband in from the garden”
Nicola wondered about this – “But where did the bell come from? How was it used before my parents got it? I realised I didn’t know. I don’t know if the bell was a sacred object. I feel I should know!”
At the start of July, Ajay, RIX Technical Assistant and Wiki Master, presented in person, Technology Over The Years: My Story, to the Open University’s The Social History of Learning Disabilities (SHLD) 30th Anniversary Conference in Milton Keynes.
At the end of July Ajay was busy again, presenting in person a Poster and Sensory Belts to the London International Conference on Inclusive Education (LICIE) organised by the Centre for Inclusive Education at University College London. The poster shared our research collaboration with Museum of Wales | Amgueddfa Cymru and Welsh Charity Innovate Trust. The project was called Something New | Newid Byd and was one of 12 projects awarded funding as part of Mindsets + Missions, a programme by the Museums Association funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Also at LICIE, RIX Professor Nicola Grove presented her Storysharing approach in collaboration with Rachel Barker. They shared a co-production approach to inclusion through personal storytelling, describing Storysharing interventions with pupils with severe and profound learning disabilities. This contributed to a session with a panel pictured below discussing A classroom for all: Diverse Needs.
In August, purpleSTARS and RIX co-researchers were invited to present the Keynote Speech for the Archives and Records Association (ARA) annual conference. Our chair was Victoria Stevens, head of West Dean College of Arts, Design Craft and Conservation. The session was inspired by our collaboration with The National Archives where we have started to explore sensory approaches to the archives. Ajay, Samantha and Kate travelled to Bristol to present Archives for All! A Multisensory Approach to Archive Collections.
We wanted to share our purpleSTARS RIX inclusive research with museums and highlight the sensory and material potential of engaging with archives. We invited the audience to explore some familiar archive boxes, using all their senses, and to describe what they experienced to create a Word Cloud.
At the start of September Ajay presented in person at Greenwich University’s Living Well as We Grow Older to the International Association for the Scientific Study for Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Conference (IASSIDD): Promoting the health and wellbeing of people with intellectual disabilities.
This ongoing project is a collaborative knowledge exchange project with the Institute for Lifecourse Development, University of Greenwich. To present our co-research Ajay shared the Living Well as We Grow Older Wiki.
Living Well as We Grow Older Wiki
Ajay has also been involved in preparing for the British Future project, Inclusion and Belonging in Newham. We have been working with Eastway Care to support people to capture photos and videos on the theme of inclusion and belonging which we will then use as talking points for an inclusive workshop at the RIX Centre on 24 September.
Finally, Ajay, Samantha and Kate have created a video presentation for the Eighteenth International Inclusive Museums Research Conference, 15 to 17 September in Zaragoza, Spain. The video presents our collaboration with the Museum of Wales and Innovate Trust Mindsets + Missions project mentioned earlier, Something New | Newid Byd. The presentation highlights the outcome of piloting the purpleSTARS action research framework for sensory engagement with collections for people with disabilities to enhance representation, and shares the development of our role play quest game Operation Dragon and accompanying Sensory Belts.
