Research requires us to think differently, and thinking differently requires creativity. Creative practice research (CPR) makes this explicit, using art, design, performance and media as both the research method and the outcome, both the beginning and the end. 

Each of the Eastern Arc universities are crucibles for CPR, from the highly influential creative-writing course at UEA to the Digital Humanities Lab at Sussex, from the East 15 acting school at Essex to the interdisciplinary drama, design, digital arts, performance, media and film-making at Kent.

‘Confluence’ is an opportunity to experience and explore these strengths. Hosted at Kent in partnership with the Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries (iCCi), and marking the launch of the University’s new Centre for Creative and Practice Research (CCPR), this will be an exciting chance to engage with and participate in CPR. 

Taking place over two days, Confluence activities will flow around the internationally-celebrated installation artwork ‘Of All the People in the World’, by Stan’s Cafe. 

Registration

The event is free, but places are strictly limited to just 60 participants. To register, go to the Gulbenkian website here. 

You can choose to be part of either one or both of the days. On the first, those coming from UEA, Essex and Sussex will have the floor; on the second, it will be those at Kent and its sister organisation Greenwich who will show their work. 

For those coming from the other EARC universities on the first day, transport will be provided on a first come, first served basis. We will contact you once you have registered to give you this option.

Programme

Day one (25 March 2026)

Time Session Venue
10.00 Opening Panel

  • Nicola Shaughnessy (Co-Chair, Kent) 
  • Jeremy Scott (Co-Chair, Kent) 
  • Thomas Karshan (UEA) – Is Creative Writing Research?  
  • Tiffany Anderson (UEA) – Even Descartes had to hold a pen:  the practice-based turn in Literary Studies
 Aphra Theatre 
10:30 Expanded translation of indigenous language poem from Abya Yala (workshop)

Juana Adcock (UEA)

 Aphra Theatre
11:10 Break

During the break, there is a guided audio work that delegates can engage with individually: ‘Ecologising the University’, Simon Bowes (Greenwich)

 Aphra Theatre Foyer
11:40 Reconstructing 1940s Radio Drama: Discovery through Practice-as-Research

Richard Hand (UEA)

 Studio 1 Jarman
12:20 ‘Lost Waters’ (site-specific audio experience that uses storytelling and creative writing practice to bring alive historical and contemporary research)

Nayantara Nayar (UEA)

 Studio 2 Jarman
13:00 Using arts-based approaches focused on mental wellbeing, gender and racial discrimination (workshop based on Mazilli’s play Lightstreams)

Mary Mazilli, Phoebe Kisubi Mbasalaki and Matumo Ramafikeng (Essex)

 Studio 1 Jarman
13:40 Lunch

During lunch, there is a guided audio work that delegates can engage with individually: ‘Ecologising the University’, Simon Bowes (Greenwich)

 Aphra Theatre Foyer
14:40 Once upon a time, there was  a king who thought he had three daughters…until his youngest rode to war and came back a man (performance)

Gabriel Baxter-Baker (UEA)

 Lumley
15:20 Programming Feeling: Performance, Empathy and Artificial Intelligence (panel discussion)

  • Nicola Shaughnessy (Co-Chair, University of Kent) 
  • Jeremy Scott (Co-Chair, University of Kent) 
  • Participants from Sussex, Kent, UEA and Essex (TBC) 
 Aphra Theatre
16:20 Stan’s Café installation (private view) Gulbenkian Theatre
17:30 Close

Day 2 (26 March 2026) 

Time Session Venue
10.00 Introduction to An Andalusian Dream (film screening and discussion)

Maurizio Cinquegrani (Kent)

 Aphra Theatre 
10:20 Immersive sonic installation designed to induce altered states of consciousness, similar to psychedelic experiences but without the use of substances (workshop)

Viviana Caro (Greenwich)

 Lumley
11:00 RAW (Relational Arts Work) and Burnout: Creative Practice vs ‘Emotional Labour’ in medicine/community/education (film/talk)

 Roanna Mitchell (Kent)

 Aphra Theatre
12:00 Break

During the break, there is a guided audio work that delegates can engage with individually: ‘Ecologising the University’, Simon Bowes (Greenwich)

 Aphra Theatre Foyer
12:20 Co-designing a multisensory experience

Rocio von Jungerfeld (Kent)

 Lumley
13:20 Documentary Putchan, Shankar and Udayakumar Demonstrate how the Kota(r) make the Kol (film)

Daniel Jebakumar (Greenwich) 

 Aphra Theatre
13:50 Recent research practice projects and completed film works (presented through a combination of moving images and static visual materials, followed by discussion and exchange)

Fan Xia (Kent)

 Lumley
14:10 Lunch

During lunch, there is a guided audio work that delegates can engage with individually: ‘Ecologising the University’, Simon Bowes (Greenwich)

 Aphra Theatre Foyer
14:50 Reflecting on the shared experience of rural journeying in Kent in the context of its expression as the Garden of England and borderland to Europe (performance/talk)

 Lavinia Brydon and Caroline Millar (Kent)

 Studio 1 Jarman
15:05 Attending to Play: Co-Producing Spatial Evidence for Playful Cities (participatory workshops transferring a practice-based method)

Walter Stabb and Hadi Bastani (Greenwich)

 Studio 2 Jarman
15:45 How collage can be used to reflect on identity, community and mental health through applied arts-based practice (workshop)

Luke Adler (Kent)

 Studio 1 Jarman
16:25  Session details TBC

Margherita Laera (Kent)

 Studio 2 Jarman
16:55 The Play’s the Thing: Affective Performance and Practice-Based Evidence (panel discussion)

  • Nicola Shaughnessy (Co-Chair, University of Kent) 
  • Jeremy Scott (Co-Chair, University of Kent) 
  • Participants from the creative sector and other universities (TBC) 
 Aphra Theatre
18:00 Close

More information

For more information on the day, contact e.oatley@kent.ac.uk