CIRCUS - Collaborative Interdisciplinary Research Connecting Urban Society

Professor Tim MaySURF, University of Salford Manchester.

AHRC CONTINUITY DAY, BIRMINGHAM, OCTOBER 3, 2014

CIRCUS HAS FOUR ELEMENTS:

• seminar series around cultural intermediation from academics, practitioners and other stakeholders nationally and internationally;

• ongoing process of reflection on research practice and knowledge exchange.;

• coordinating and producing outputs from the project including new media - drawing on existing expertise in generating multiplatform content.;

• PhD project investigating the interrelationships between communities of practice and epistemic communities with a focus on the role of universities as cultural intermediaries.

Overview

http://www.surf.salford.ac.uk

Populating The Missing Middle

EXCELLENCE

RELEVANCE

Cultures of Inquiry

Cultures of Reception

BELONGINGSPACE OF COMMUNICATIONACTIVE INTERMEDIARIES IN PRACTICE

Translation, Integration and Transformation

POSITIONING

Active Intermediation

Active intermediation is a constant agonism; there is no state of resolution, rather a set of practices that inform the possibility of producing excellent-relevant knowledge. This requires intensive work at understanding the boundaries, limits and consequences of collaborative working.

WORKSHOP 1 – MAY 16, LIVERPOOL LIBRARYArt, Recognition and Social Science: Re-Thinking

(E)valuation

Carolyn Curtis Magri - artist engaged in drawing, painting, installation and film. Loraine Leeson - visual artist who focuses on use of the arts to bring community-based knowledge into the public domain. Alison Rooke - focuses upon developing critical and collaborative approaches to research and evaluation. Jeremy Spafford - actor, dancer, psychiatric nurse and advisor to homeless young people – now Director of Arts at the Old Fire Station, Oxford.

Afternoon - Dave O’Brien – academic partnerships and re-thinking evaluation

INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP 2 – SEPT 1st and 2nd ANTHONY BURGESS FOUNDATION, MANCHESTER

Universities, Cities and Transformation: Practices of Cultural Intermediation and Expectations of Knowledge

To bring together academics from different disciplines to engage in critical reflection based on their own practices around a set of core questions:

a)what are the expectations that different groups place on knowledge generated by universities in relation to socio-economic development in cities?b)how is that knowledge generated? c)what benefits does that knowledge have for our cities and their communities?d)are there alternative modes of organizing knowledge that might enable more positive transformations for urban communities?

Beth Perry @Beth_Perry_SURF  ·  Sep 1 'Best practice' erodes critical thinking say Zarina and Saskia @MistraUrbanFut #univer-city Beth Perry @Beth_Perry_SURF  ·  Sep 1 Prof Tim May - 'what is distinctive about university knowledge?' that is the most uncomfortable question to ask. #univer-city @CultIntermed ICCLiverpool @ICCLiverpool  ·  Sep 2 @Beth_Perry_SURF sums up #univer-city - unlocking academic deadlock; taking HE shelter; academic complicity in 'shifting responsibility' (1) Cultural Intermediat @CultIntermed  ·  Sep 1 Prof Tim May: where is the critical reflexivity in doing engaged research? #univer-city

Blog from Dr Clare Melhuish, UCL: http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/university-led-urbanregeneration/

Next steps: Collating presentations and proposing special edition of journal.

http://arts.leeds.ac.uk/artsengagedblog/files/2013/03/cropped-cropped-CC-lo-res-logo.jpg

PlansInterviews, attendance and events/conferences/workshops – SRHE with Keri Facer.

May, T. ‘Urban Governance: Issues in Practice’. Urban Studies – 2015May, T. and Perry, B. ‘Reflexivity and the Practice of Qualitative Research’, In Flick, U. (ed) Handbook of Qualitative Research – Sage, 2013.May, T. and Perry, B. Universities, Reflexivity and Critique. Policy Futures in Education – 2013.May, T. and Perry, B. Reflexivity – A Guide for Social Scientists – Sage, 2015May, T. and Perry, B. Cities and Knowledge: Promise, Politics and Possibility - Routledge, 2016.May, T. and Perry, B. Cities and Knowledge: Issues in Practice. In Marvin, S. and May, T. Special Edition of Local Environment – 2015.Bauman, Z. And May, T. Thinking Sociologically. 3rd Edition. Blackwell – 2016Perry, B. and May, T. ‘Lesson on the Research-Practice Relationship’. In Polk, M. (ed) Co-Producing Knowledge for Sustainable Cities, Routledge, 2014Offers – 5th edition of Social Research (with Beth - 2016) and 2nd Edition of Qualitative Research in Action (....)

Durham IAS Fellowship – Spring 2016.