We are looking for postgraduate students, researchers and artists to collaborate on the next edition of Lapworth Lates being held on November 7th, 2018 themed, HERE BE MONSTERS. See below for details and how to apply or find out more about the last event here.
Image Credit: Greg Milner Photography
LAPWORTH LATES – PGRs needed!
We are pleased to announce that we’re on the lookout for a new interdisciplinary team of research students (masters or PhD) to work closely with us on the next Lapworth Lates event! Our inaugural Late, held in July, was a sell-out and huge success so we’re bringing it back on 7th November 2018 from 7-10pm. Expect more amazing museum curiosities, astounding public engagement and cultural delights from researchers and artists to bring the Lapworth to life, this time under the theme, “HERE BE MONSTERS”. As part of our student team you will help us programme and budget for activities, learning key skills in event coordination and production, public engagement and interdisciplinary team work. Hear what our last student team had to say about their experience:
Ting Yan (Electrical Engineering, PhD student):
“Joining Lapworth Lates is such a wonderful and educational new start to use our PhD research skills to co-design a pilot project with new approaches applied in public engagement, to build our new skills such as promotion and greatly improved our team-work/communication ability with our various new partners including our public engagement research group, artists and PhD students.”
Usman Addurrahman (Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education, PhD student):
“Lapworth Lates was an enabler for me to engage with the immediate community towards organizing an event full of fun and knowledge acquisition.”
Chris Harrison (Chemical Engineering, PhD student):
“Lapworth Lates is a great opportunity for PGR’s to get involved in a public engagement event. Not only was the experience hugely enjoyable but it also allowed me to understand how public engagement (with the help of a bit of creativity!) can offer a unique, entertaining experience.”
In addition to working with us on bringing the event together on the night, you will also need to be available for around six planning/operations meetings between now and the event date. We also encourage teams to share best practice and act as mentors to students involved in future events. Chris, Ting and Usman will be working with our team to pass on their learning and advice this time around! In order to register your interest, please email the public engagement team by Sept 12th (noon) to tell us why you want to be involved and what you will bring to the team (200 words max). No subject specific knowledge required and we are hoping to recruit one student from each College. Those who are not picked this time, will be re-approached for future events wherever possible, so don’t be put off – apply now!
LAPWORTH LATES – Researchers needed!
We are also looking for individual researchers and research groups interested in contributing public engagement activities linked (however tenuously!) to our ‘HERE BE MONSTERS’, themed Lapworth Lates event on Wednesday November 7th, 2018 (7-10pm). Lapworth Lates is a new entertaining evening involving academics and artists in the Lapworth Museum of Geology. We are looking for a range of interactive activities from table-top demos, mini talks, workshops and other creative ventures…anything goes as long as it links to active UoB research and we anticipate approx. 200 guests on the night, with a target audience of young adults in their 20-30s. Last time we had 3D printing demos, cancer myth-busting activities, ancient greenhouses to explore and tales of mass extinction…so think creatively!
No matter what your research area, if you’ve got an idea for something you could run or perhaps re-run from a previous event, email us with a catchy activity title and 1-2 sentence description of what people should expect by Sept 12th (noon). Or if you have an idea, but need some support, just let us know. We will try to accommodate as many researchers as possible, but in the very least we hope to host activity from each College. Anyone who cannot be accommodated this time, will be re-approached for future events wherever possible, so don’t be put off – apply now!
LAPWORTH LATES – Artists needed!
The University of Birmingham is delighted to announce an exciting opportunity for an artist or creative practitioner to create an event-based piece of work for Lapworth Lates, an evening event at the Lapworth Museum of Geology, taking place on Wednesday 7 November.
Enabling visitors to explore life over the past 3.5 billion years, the Lapworth Museum showcases exceptional objects from one of the UK’s most outstanding geological collections, with state-of-the-art galleries and a range of innovative and interactive exhibits, all completely free of charge.
Lapworth Lates is designed to attract a different audience to the Museum, with an evening of talks, performances, demonstrations, activities and film screenings. These evenings will include artist-led events, which respond to the collections or exhibitions, or result from engagement with research, and offer fresh perspectives or new means of communicating ideas.
We are seeking applications from practitioners who are interested in responding creatively to the theme, ‘HERE BE MONSTERS’. This could include ideas around diseases, psychological conditions, historical or literary monsters (real or otherwise), modern ‘monsters’ (perhaps related to finance, politics or society), horror and storytelling, or something completely different. Events could include (but are not limited to) performance, workshop or screenings – we are open to proposals of all kinds.
The successful applicants will each receive a fee of £500 (including VAT), to include materials and/or production of the commission. Applications are to be made by email to culture@contacts.bham.ac.uk with the subject Lapworth Lates. Deadline: Monday 17 September 2018. Email attachments must not be larger than 5MB and should include a single PDF containing the following:
- Your name, contact details and website address (if you have one)
- An outline proposal which describes what kind of event-based work you would like to organise and how this responds to the theme of the exhibition/the context of the Lapworth/related research (500 words max)
- An artist’s statement (200 words max)
- An up-to-date CV
- Evidence of your current recent practice in the form of up to 10 images or a direct link to a showreel of film and video work (maximum duration of 5 mins) uploaded to YouTube/Vimeo
We will be offering the opportunity to meet curators and researchers (working in and around the Lapworth collections) and conducting informal interviews on the afternoon of Tuesday 25 September, from 3pm onwards. Please let us know when you apply if it will not be possible for you to attend on this day. If you are interested in applying but have further questions, please contact Lorna Hards, Cultural Partnerships Manager (maternity cover) at: l.c.hards@bham.ac.uk
Lapworth Lates is a collaboration between the Lapworth Museum of Geology, Public Engagement with Research and Cultural Engagement.