The Knowledge Exchange: An Interactive Conference
When we described the delivery of a conference specifically on KE between the arts and humanities in our Creative Exchange bid to the AHRC, we did not really pay much attention to it. As it approached two things became apparent; firstly that a sit-and-listen conventional approach was not going to cut it, broadcasting about knowledge exchange would be ridiculous and the second thing was that, as Director of KE for Creative Exchange, this was landing in my lap.
As a response to this we pulled together an exceptional team of designers and creatives to put a great deal of effort into a general re-evaluation of the whole notion of the conference. Our aim was to raise the level of debate around KE between the creative industries and academia. Our response, described in the posts that follow this introduction, was a radical departure from the traditional conference and was consciously (wilfully) experiential with three completely different modes of operation.
One traditional aspect we retained was the peer-reviewed paper. The papers were excellent and are available in full here. Other less traditional aspects included digital tools for exchange, location changes and a bespoke set of physical tools. Our feedback tells us this was very successful but there are also some interesting criticisms and reflection both from our own review and feedback.
The stories below capture a flavour of the conference as a whole and also reflect on some of the things that we would change next time around, or just that are interesting areas for further development in the design of knowledge exchange.
View the collection of the best photographs from the conference here
Leon Cruickshank
Roger Whitham
Naomi Jacobs
Pam Allen
Laura Wareing
Sam Birchall
Gemma Coupe
Dee Hennessy