Reading Iris Murdoch and Making Art
April 2025
Dr Kevin Petrie
March 2025
Establishing Equitable Multispecies Co-creation in the Arts
February 2025
Inga Hamilton
In To The Woods - Exhibiton of Art and Writing by Angela Jane Kennedy
Feminist Art Embodied Responses to Rural Territory and Intersectional Discrimination.
February 2025
Postgraduate Research Symposium (hybrid)
December 2024
Photography and the Museum: Re-evaluating the Past, Capturing the Present, Anticipating the Future
Museum Dialogues: Collecting, Exhibiting and Activating Photography
November 2024
University of Sunderland and Online
Photography entered the museum shortly after its invention in the 19th-century, serving as a reproduction tool, a scientific process, a printmaking method, and an expressive medium. However, precisely because of these multiple functions, photography’s accommodation posed challenges then, as it does now with the mutable nature of contemporary “postphotographic,” born-digital images.
This conference seeks to examine the past, current, and future positioning of photography and its rich histories within museums. It aims to bring together curators, museum workers, archivists, photography practitioners, scholars, and researchers to explore international shifts in museum practices and their implications for global photographic cultures.
The conference is convened as part of Museum Dialogues, a 12 month research networking programme that aspires to transcend the disciplinary boundaries of art history, visual culture, photography, new media, museum and curating studies. As a discursive platform, Museum Dialogues seeks to bridge theory and practice with a view to developing a comprehensive understanding and exchange of innovative solutions, inquiries, and practical challenges relating to the exhibition, collection, and interpretation of photography.
Museum Dialogues Steering Group moderators
- Matteo Balduzzi, Curator, Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea, Milan-Cinisello Balsamo (Italy)
- Iro Katsaridou (Co-Investigator), Assistant Professor, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece)
- Alexandra Moschovi (Principal Investigator), Professor of Photography and Curating, Northern Centre of Photography, University of Sunderland (UK)
- Arabella Plouviez, Photographer and Emerita Professor, University of Sunderland (UK) Amanda Ritson, Project Manager and Curator, NEPN and Northern Centre of Photography, University of Sunderland (UK)
Conference moderators
- Craig Ames, Artist and Senior Lecturer in Photography, Northern Centre of Photography, University of Sunderland (UK)
- Susanne Burns, Independent management consultant (UK)
- Suzy O’Hara, Lecturer in Digital Arts and Enterprise, School of Media and Creative Industries, University of Sunderland (UK)
- Alistair Robinson, Lecturer in Curating Contemporary Art, Newcastle University (UK)
- Alexander Supartono, Curator and Lecturer in History and Theory of Photography, Edinburgh Napier University (UK)
Conference speakers
- Shahidul Alam, Photojournalist, human rights activist, Founder of Drik, Pathshala, and Chobi Mela (Bangladesh)
- Martin Barnes, Senior Curator, Photography, V&A South Kensington (UK)
- Michela Bresciani, Curator, Ecomuseo Urbano Metropolitano Milano Nord-EUMM (Italy)
- Briony Carlin, Lecturer in Contemporary Art Curation, Newcastle University (UK)
- Angela Cheung, Post-Doctoral Research Associate, SOAS (UK)
- Giuseppe Chiavaroli, PhD Researcher, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy)
- Agnese Ghezzi, Postdoctoral Researcher, LYNX - Center for the Interdisciplinary Analysis of Images, Contexts, and Cultural Heritage, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca (Italy)
- Fabrizio Gitto, PhD Researcher, University of Italian Switzerland and Research Fellow, LYNX - Center for the Interdisciplinary Analysis of Images, Contexts, and Cultural Heritage, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca (Italy)
- Sze Ying Goh, Curator, National Gallery Singapore (Singapore) Alexandra Gow, PhD Researcher, University for the Creative Arts/National Galleries Scotland (UK)
- Lucia Halder, Head of the Photography Collection, Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum (Germany)
- John Kippin, Artist and Emeritus Professor in Photography, University of Sunderland (UK)
- Jayne Knight, PhD Researcher, University of Brighton/National Science and Media Museum (UK)
- Sandra Križić Roban, Senior Scientific Advisor in tenure, Institute of Art History, Zagreb (Croatia)
- Carol McKay, Independent writer and curator (UK)
- Daniel Palmer, Professor of Contemporary Art and Cultural Theory and Associate Dean of Research and Innovation, RMIT University (Australia)
- Christina Riggs, Professor of History of Visual Culture, Durham University (UK)
- Amanda Ritson, Project Manager and Curator, NEPN and Northern Centre of Photography, University of Sunderland (UK)
- Colin Robins, Photographer and Lecturer in Photography, Plymouth University (UK)
- Katrina Sluis, Associate Professor and Head of Photography and Media Arts, The Australian National University (Australia)
- Baiba Tetere, Lecturer in Social Sciences, Riga Stradins University (Latvia)
- Oliver Udy, Photographer and Head of Photography, Falmouth University (UK)
- Liz Wells, Independent writer and curator, Emerita Professor in Photographic Culture, University of Plymouth (UK)
Conference Technical Manager
- Michael Daglish, Senior Technician Digital Arts (Photography), University of Sunderland
Sunderland '73: People's Visual History. A Co-produced and Cross-section Partnership
Amanda Ritson, Project Manager NEPN, Museum Dialogues, Faculty of Education, Society and Creative Industries
This seminar will explore the mechanics, methodologies, and modes of producing and project-managing a co-produced cultural heritage project. Taking Sunderland ’73: The People’s History as a case-study, project manager Amanda Ritson will discuss project development, fundraising, participant engagement, relationship building, partnership and evaluation, unpicking the project’s research, outcomes, and impacts.
Visit the project page for more information and resources.
Rebel Women of Sunderland – The Podcast!
The podcast builds on the successful Rebel Women of Sunderland project which celebrates the lives, work, and activism of women past and present who have made a significant contribution to culture and life in and beyond Sunderland.
The first series has three episodes produced in and with communities in Sunderland about rebel women past and present working in creative writing, sports, music, and tech.
Speakers included Professor Mary Talbot, writer and academic.
The audience joined the podcast producers and participants to listen, celebrate, and discuss the issues and themes of the first series.
This community podcast research project is funded by the University of Sunderland's SunGen and Participations Interdisciplinary research networks and delivered by We Make Culture CIC.
On record: in conversation. Birmingham's music heritage as a circle of culture
Dr Siobhan Stevenson, Birmingham City University and Oral History Participation Curator for Voices of the City Project, Birmingham Museums. December 2024.
Siobhan Stevenson is the Oral History Participation Curator for the Voices of the City project as part of Birmingham Museums Service. Before joining the project team she worked on several national and regional oral history projects and became passionate about making oral history archives accessible. Her research interests lie in oral history and community media and the power and potential that lies in listening to other people’s stories; working with communities to make archives accessible and support people in using them. At the Birmingham School of Media she teaches across production and research. Her PhD thesis (2019) was entitled Discourses of Community Radio: Social Gain Policies in Practice.
Rebel Women of Sunderland – The Podcast!
The podcast builds on the successful Rebel Women of Sunderland project that celebrates the lives, work, and activism of women past and present who have made a significant contribution to culture and life in and beyond Sunderland.
The first series has three episodes produced in and with communities in Sunderland about rebel women past and present working in creative writing, sports, music, and tech.
Speakers included Professor Mary Talbot, writer and academic.
The audience joined the podcast producers and participants to listen, celebrate, and discuss the issues and themes of the first series.
This is a community podcast research project funded by the University of Sunderland's SunGen and Participations Interdisciplinary research networks and delivered by We Make Culture CIC.
The INC
THE INC (Tourism, Hospitality & Events International Conference) “Tourism, Hospitality and Events: Innovation and Resilience during Uncertainty” is co-organised by the Cyprus University of Technology, the universities of Derby and Sunderland, and the Centre for Research in Tourism Excellence (CERTE).
“The Perfect Body”: Deconstructing Disability in Physical Education Initial Teacher Training
April 2025
Dr Ellen Gambles, Dr Steven Anderson, Alex Brown
Hear my Story: Personalised digital storybooks where children with SEND can outline their teaching and Learning preferences
March 2025
Dr Helen Benstead, Associate Professor, Inclusive Education
#Pullupachair: Young persons voices around school exclusions
February 2025
Dr Sarah Martin-Denham, Associate Professor of Education and Care
Student’s perception of the personal in Personal Academic Tutoring
December 2024
Dr Deborah Bell, Dr Kate Duffy, Dionne Ross
Second International Practice Focused Research in Education Conference (IPFREC): New Starting Points for Educational Research in Further Adult and Vocational Education
July 2023
The University of Sunderland hosted the second International Practice-Focused Research in Education Conference (IPFREC) 2023 on the Riverside Campus from 3 to 6 July 2023. IPFREC was organised and delivered by the University of Sunderland’s Centre for Excellence in Teacher Training (SUNCETT). The conference was dedicated to encouraging international disciplinary and interdisciplinary research, scholarly discussion and debate surrounding the relationship between practice, theory, and research in Education. The IPFREC Conference Planning Committee welcomed abstracts from researchers in the discipline of education and in education-related subjects as well as researchers from other disciplines including, philosophy, sociology, psychology, and education policy.
IPFREC 2023 Conference:
- Early Career Researcher (ECR) Conference
- Main Practice-Focused Research in Education Conference
Early Career Researcher (ECR) Conference: July 2025. Keynotes:
- Professor Lynne McKenna (University of Sunderland)
- Professor Maggie Gregson (University of Sunderland)
- Associate Professor Dr Gary Husband (University of Sunderland)
Main conference – July 2025. Keynotes:
- Dr John Johnson (ArtEZ University of Arts, Netherlands)
- Dr Tony Charles (‘Platform A’ Art Gallery, Middlesbrough)
Main conference – July 2025. Keynotes:
- Professor Maggie Gregson (University of Sunderland)
- Associate Professor Dr Gary Husband (University of Sunderland)
Main conference – July 2025. Keynote:
- Dr Duncan Cross (University of Sunderland) Closing Ceremony and Closing Remarks
Professorial Lecture
"Research Progress on Graphene Nanocomposites at the School of Engineering" by Associate Professor Panagiotis Karagiannidis
Date: Wednesday 18 January 2023
Research Seminar
'When will Immersive Virtual Reality have its day? Challenges to IVR adoption in the home as exposed in studies with teenagers, parents and experts' by Professor Lynne Hall.
Date: Wednesday 10 November 2021
Associate Professorial Lecture
‘Rethinking Healthy Places: Combining Environment and Person-centred Approaches to Support Health and Wellbeing’ by Dr Stephanie Wilkie.
Date: Wednesday 24 February 2021
Research seminars
‘Changing critical care nurses’ decision making in critically ill patients’ by Alison Hasselder, Apprentice Educational Supervisor in Practice.
‘A woman’s motivation to exercise and her sense of well-being’ by Petra Vojnova, Prof Doc. candidate.
Date: Wednesday 2 March 2022
Enhancing 'best practice' in Trauma-Informed Higher Education: Insights from two qualitative studies exploring educator and student experiences
Date: 13 November 2024
Dr Sarah Lonbay Associate Professor of Social Sciences and Engagement and Dr John Cavener, Assistant Professor of Social Work (Northumbria University).
The existential crunch that is middle age: Exploring the experiential impact of life course events on the psychosocial wellbeing of women in the UK
Speaker: Jacqui Merchant
Date: 26 June 2024
A qualitative exploratory study of trauma informed practice in social work supervision
Speaker: Julie Shaw
Date: 20 March 2024
In recent years trauma has become a well known concept in social work and other helping professions worldwide, in part due to the risk of Burnout, Vicarious Trauma, Secondary Trauma and Compassion Fatigue and retention. How this related to supervision in social work practice, particularly in England, is relatively unknown. This research used an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach to explore eight social workers’ experience of supervision. The study considered whether trauma informed practice had a role in supervisor/supervisee relationships and how social workers made sense of the adversity and traumatic events they witnessed in their role.
The semi-structured interviews explored social workers’ understanding of Burnout, Vicarious Trauma, Secondary Trauma and Compassion Fatigue and the impact of supervision on their personal and professional development. Emergent themes related to: the system as master; supervision, for better or worse; it’s all part of the job, we just get on with it. These were explored in relation to managerialism, the impact of supervisor and environment in supervision and the balance of managing the adversity and trauma encountered in the social work role, alongside personal wellbeing and professional accountability.
