Innovation Fora outputs
This page highlights some of the outputs of projects in our Innovation Fora programme. They include videos, guides, events, networks and creative outputs.
Complex clinical data and gestational diabetes mellitus
This project brought together a multidisciplinary group of researchers, clinicians, data scientists, industry partners, NHS Digital, and others to discuss the opportunities and challenges for improving clinical care using complex clinical data. The workshop focussed on one specific clinical challenge, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), with consideration of other data science challenges and solutions in pregnancy care more widely and other clinical conditions.
Read the report on the outcomes of the event
FOI as a Research Tool
This project featured a webinar series in autumn 2022, ahead of an in-person workshop in March 2023. The below blog posts summarise the key points from the three webinars.
- Why FOI requests are a powerful but under-used research tool
- Freedom of information at the EU – who can access what and how?
- Navigating FOI in the UK
Investigative Methods: An NCRM Innovation Collection
This project resulted in the publication of a collection of 10 papers on investigative methods of different types. The full collection is available on the NCRM website.
Studying Elites
As part of this project, artists Ruth Beale and Amy Feneck (The Alternative School of Economics) and Professor Caroline Knowles (Goldsmiths, University of London) took part in a discussion about the potential of art and creative methods for studying elites.
Watch the video Studying Elites: Creative Methods in Elite Studies
Decolonial Research Methods: Resisting Coloniality in Academic Knowledge Production
In this project, eminent scholars explored the topic of decolonial research methods in a six-part webinar series organised by Dr Leon Moosavi of the University of Liverpool.
The series aimed to prompt researchers to reflect on the ways in which academic research may either reinforce or dislodge colonial discourses. Recordings of the six webinars are available below:
- Professor Vineeta Sinha
- with Professor Linda T. Smith
- Professor Raewyn Connell
- Professor Walter Mignol
- Professor Sujata Patel
- Professor Jeong-Eun Rhee
In addition to the six webinar recordings, this project produced a final video with responses from attendees of the events.
Watch the final video, featuring responses from participants
"The Mind is Prepared": Using Film for Interdisciplinary Collaborations in Epidemic Preparedness and Response
Dr Luisa Enria is Assistant Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She worked with local partners in Sierra Leone to deliver an Innovation Forum over several events between October 2022 and April 2023.
This project involved screenings of a documentary film that brought together scholars and practitioners to explore the power of film for visualising interdisciplinary collaborations, including the challenges and possibilities of integrating different forms of knowledge for epidemic response.
Watch the film, Tarma: Communities on the Frontline of Epidemic Response
Creative and Authentic Co-Production Methods: Podcasts, Poems and Zines
Professor Sarah Marie Hall and the Austerity and Altered Life-Courses team, in collaboration with Inspire Women Oldham, delivered an innovation forum that promoted creative and authentic co-production as both a methodology and as a sharing process. Through the project, the group created a zine Why Make a Zine? and a ‘how to’ guide.
Technology and Contemporary Classical Music: Methodologies in Practice-Based Research
This project involved the first major meeting of researchers in the UK discussing practice research in music around new technologies. Led by Dr Zubin Kanga, it gathered many of the leading researchers in the field, who discussed and mapped out the unique and significant aspects of this emerging area of research.
In May 2024, Zubin and his collaborators hosted a concert series, Music We'd Like to Hear, which celebrated the launch of Scott McLaughlin's album we are environments for each other.
The initial findings of the Forum were discussed and presented to a wider audience during the team's symposium, Music Ex Machina: Methods and Methodologies for Technology-centred Practice-Based Research in Contemporary Music, on 16 June 2023.
The Cyborg Soloists team worked with the forum researchers to co-author a position paper covering the topics discussed at the Innovation Forum.
Lived Experience Storytelling Method Hackathon
People’s Voice Media convened a Lived Experience Storytelling Method Hackathon in May 2024, as part of their 6th Annual Community Reporter Conference. With support from NCRM's Innovation Fora funding, this event brought together a group of 56 experts to explore the question "How can we make lived experience storytelling practice more accessible and inclusive?"
The project resulted in outputs. A learning report synthesises the results of the hackathon and is structured to highlight key challenges, learnings and practical ideas for equitable practice in lived experience storytelling.
A video report features footage of the hackathon and interviews with attendees, who discuss their experiences of the day and the things they took away from it.
Comparative Judgement Methods
Professor Ian Jones is the head of the Department of Mathematics Education at Loughborough University and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. From November 2023 to September 2024, he ran a series of events exploring the application and potential of comparative judgement methods across academic disciplines with the help of NCRM.
Following the project, a new group was established to foster collaboration and innovation in the use of comparative judgement methods across disciplines. A repository was created to host open-access data, tutorials and resources for researchers.
What is Creative About Creative Writing? Doing Social Research Through Poetry and Fiction
In 2023, NCRM supported an innovation forum that explored the intersection of creative writing and social research. The project, led by Professor Sophie Woodward from The University of Manchester, examined how poetry and fiction can be used as innovative methods for understanding and conveying social worlds. The events brought together writers, poets, sociologists and academics to explore the creative potential of writing in social research.
The project resulted in a specialist interest network for academics and writers to share interdisciplinary practice, and to stay updated and connected regarding any upcoming activity.
Big Qualitative Data Analysis
The innovation forum in big qualitative data analysis was co-organised by Sophie Woodward (The University of Manchester), Laura Radcliffe (University of Liverpool) and Kirsty Pattrick (Mass Observation Archive).
The project generated a number of resources. These include four video interviews showcasing diverse approaches to analysis of big qual data and a co-authored resource on the core questions and challenges that were addressed during the event.