Hearing voices video wins Cultural Institute prize
Yesterday the Cultural Institute at King’s hosted an evening showcase of the work of King’s academics, as part of the first King’s Collaborative Innovation Scheme for Early Career Researchers.
The Scheme, which ran throughout 2014, helps King’s academics develop unique collaborative projects with specialist cultural, technology or industry partners that relate to the academics’ specialist area of research or interest.
Of the eight completed projects presented last night, two were chosen to receive an additional £500 of funding to recognise the level of impact achieved by both the academic and the creative collaboration, and one of those winners was worked on by Charlie Heriot-Maitland, a PhD student at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) who, along with independent animation producer Kate Anderson, created Compassion for voices: a tale of courage and hope, which is an animated portrayal of an alternative way of relating to psychotic experiences that goes against the tide of traditional approaches and culturally engrained attitudes towards them.
“Working on this collaborative project with Kate has been a wonderful experience,” said Charlie. “I am delighted to jointly win the best project prize, but the real reward has been the fantastic response from the public. Having only started sharing our video link for the first time on Thursday afternoon, it already had 1000 YouTube views by Friday lunchtime! Thank you Cultural Institute for making this possible.”
The academics for the 2014 Collaborative Innovation Scheme were selected from 30 applications from across King’s. Their projects, funded by the Cultural Institute at King’s, had a goal to generate high quality and original outcomes with an impact beyond academia, so that the learning developed through individual projects could be disseminated more widely across the sector.
Dr Ruth Craggs, who led on the scheme on behalf of Culture at King’s said in her speech at the event: “We were delighted to get such strong applications for this scheme, and have been thrilled to see the development of the selected projects over the last few months. The variety of research, outputs and collaborations on show here tonight attests to the strength of early career research at King’s and the value of working collaboratively with cultural and technology partners.”
The Cultural Institute at King’s is pleased to announce that the Collaborative Innovation Scheme 2015 is now open. Applications are accepted from PhD students and academic staff within five years of PhD award from King’s College London. During the 2015 Collaborative Innovation Scheme up to fifteen projects will receive funding of £1000. There is also a £500 prize on offer for the best completed project. Full details on how to apply are available here.
Find out more about the eight projects supported during 2014 here.
About Culture at King’s
Through culture and cultural partnerships, King’s College London is developing new ways to enhance the academic and student experience and, at the same time, add value and deliver benefits across arts and culture – creating connections across higher education and cultural practice that offer a different lens through which questions in art, culture, and research can be explored. Culture at King’s is under the leadership of Deborah Bull and the university is developing two hubs that bring this vision to life: the Cultural Institute at King’s and Science Gallery London. kcl.ac.uk/culture @CultureatKings