We’re so excited to have officially launched the Binks Hub – a new research hub at the University of Edinburgh that unites academics, artists, and communities to tackle inequalities and make a real difference to people’s lives.
To launch the hub, we did exactly that: bringing together university staff, artistic and community organisations, by getting everyone into the same room for an evening of discussion and creativity.
A participatory, arts-based event
The launch took place at Dovecot Studios on Monday 23rd May. We were delighted that Professor Peter Mathieson, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University, and Professor Dorothy Miell, Head of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, were able to host the event, and to see so much interest and enthusiasm from everyone who attended on the night.
We knew we wanted to do something a bit different for our launch, so the evening focused on opportunities to try out creative practice as a more practical means of seeing the value of participation and the arts in research.
Following opening speeches detailing the aspirations for the hub, Scottish Opera set the tone for the evening by leading us through a series of singing exercises linked with their Breath Cycle project, which uses singing to help with cystic fibrosis and long covid.
Creative, participatory research
We’re so grateful to our colleagues across the University and beyond who exhibited their work at the event and provided such a range of creative activities for our guests, from poetry and pottery to film.
It was wonderful to see so many examples of creative and participatory research already going on across the University. Projects exhibited at the event included:
- Lifelines: exploring the micro-ethics of through design processes
- The City Turned Upside Down: homelessness during the Covid-19 pandemic
- Poetry Helps: working with the Scottish Poetry Library on how poetry can support and celebrate social workers
- Navigating Digital Welfare: navigating social security in an increasingly digital world
- Everyday Heroes: investigating gender equality and gender-based violence
- Na Manha: a dance performance exploring masculinity
- eNurture: how care-experienced young people use social media, and how this impacts their mental health
- Critical Focus: a film and inquiry into the ‘backstage’ work of a visual art gallery
- At the Back of the Waldorf Astoria, Shanghai: a poem by Richard Andrews
Making real change
All of this work is to demonstrate the importance of participatory, arts-engaged research – and the impact that this can have in tackling some of the biggest issues facing society.
By treating communities, artists, and academics as equals when it comes to sharing and developing knowledge, we can develop research with rather than on communities. This means providing citizens and groups with the tools to research the issues that affect them, and acknowledging that they are the experts on these issues.
Through the hub, we aim to develop tools that can be used in any community settings, and to raise the profile of community-led research with governments and policy makers.
What next?
Whether you were able to make our launch event or not, we’d love to hear from anyone who wants to get involved in our research.
We’re actively looking for artistic and community partners in Edinburgh and wider Scotland. If you’re part of a local community whose voices need to be heard – or if there’s a community you think we ought to speak to – we’d love to involve you in our work.
Whether you’ve got an idea for a project or simply have some questions for us, please just send us an email and we’ll get back to you.
You can also sign up to our mailing list to keep updated on all that’s going on at the hub.
We hope to hear from you!
