Research – Page 3 – Vital North Partnership

The Research Excellence Framework and the Vital North Partnership

In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), Newcastle University submitted an Impact Case Study about the Children’s Literature Unit’s work with Seven Stories: Promoting the preservation, presentation and public understanding of children’s literature with Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children’s Books.

This Impact Case Study received a 4* grading, defined as ‘outstanding impacts in terms of their reach and significance’. This contributed to Newcastle University ranking first out of all UK HEIs for impact in English Language and Literature.

REF2014 really highlighted the excellence of the partnership between the two organisations and what we could achieve together. Following this REF2014 success, Newcastle University and Seven Stories’ Vital North Partnership programme began in 2015, and aims to strengthen and scale up our collaboration.

So, how did this partnership lead to a REF2014 Impact Case Study, and what have we been doing since then? Well, I gave a paper on that very subject back in October as part of a panel on REF Impact and the Heritage Sector at The National Archives and Research Libraries UK’s Discovering Collections, Discovering Communities conference. Take a look:

From Warhorse to the Wombles: Seven Stories and Newcastle University

Of course, Newcastle University has a number of strong partnerships with the cultural sector, and Seven Stories’ weren’t the only museum mentioned in their REF Impact Case Studies. And this reflects the submissions of HEIs across the country: 837 of the submitted Case Studies mentioned ‘museum/s’ and 40% of all arts and humanities Impact Case Studies involved museums in some way.

The National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement, reviewing this data, reflects that there are opportunities here to widen both the discipline base, create collaborations in new areas of museum practice, and broaden the approach to impact; I think that the Vital North Partnership is really helping Newcastle University to grasp the range of opportunities that working with Seven Stories presents.

Discovering Collections, Discovering Communities conference. Photo by Matt Blair.

Now, higher education funders and institutions are looking to the next REF in 2021. Lord Stern’s independent review of REF2014 was published in July 2016, and the four UK higher education councils are currently consulting on detailed arrangements for a second REF. We don’t know the details of REF2021 just yet, but the focus on research having impact beyond the academic environment and assessing this through Impact Case Studies looks set to continue.

Excellence in children’s literature is central to the Vital North Partnership’s vision. And thinking about the collaboration between Newcastle University and Seven Stories from the perspective of REF Impact, it seems to me that sustained and embedded partnership activity is an effective way of achieving and evidencing this.

The Seven Stories Knowledge Transfer Partnership

From October 2015 to December 2016, Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books and Newcastle University collaborated on an innovative Knowledge Transfer Partnership, or KTP, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The Seven Stories KTP is believed to be the first English Literature KTP in the UK!

InnovateUK’s KTP scheme helps businesses to develop and grow by linking them with a university. The aim of our KTP was to help Seven Stories develop a research-led approach to their exhibitions and collections, and enable them to attract adult audiences.

Dr Jessica Medhurst, our KTP Research Associate, was embedded within Seven Stories’ Collections and Exhibitions team during the 15 months of the project, supervised by Collections Director Sarah Lawrance and Dr Anne Whitehead (PI) and Dr Lucy Pearson (Co-I) from Newcastle University’s School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics.

The KTP has had some really interesting and tangible outcomes for Seven Stories. And, by establishing research pathways into Seven Stories’ amazing children’s literature archive and evidencing the benefits of collaboration for both organisations, it’s informing our understanding about how the Vital North Partnership could work in the future.

Here’s a visual summary of the project:

Explore the AHRC’s image gallery for Michael Morpurgo: A Lifetime in Stories, read our KTP case study on the Culture Forum North website, or find out more about Knowledge Transfer Partnerships at Newcastle University.

The Vital North Partnership Pecha Kucha

New year, new blog post. And for my first post of 2017, I thought I’d bring you something a little different – a video! Here it is:

The Vital North Partnership (+19 other ways Newcastle University and Seven Stories are collaborating)

In 2016, I presented this Pecha Kucha about the Vital North Partnership between Newcastle University and Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books at two events; the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Common Ground event in June, and Newcastle University’s Working Together: Bringing About Change event in November. Both events explored collaborations and engagement in the humanities.

Pecha Kuchas are short, visual presentations. As you talk, you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. Your slides change automatically. And they’re more than a little tricky to deliver…

The Vital North Partnership (+ 19 other ways Newcastle University and Seven Stories are collaborating) is exactly what the title suggests: a presentation about 20 current Partnership projects. And what are those projects? Well, watch the video and find out!

With thanks to Jeff Wilson from the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, who produced this video.

Being part of Being Human 2016

The concepts of fear and hope are central to children’s books.

The Vital North Partnership is part of Newcastle University’s Humanities Research Institute.

So when Being Human, a national festival of the humanities, announced their 2016 festival theme of Hope & Fear, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for the Vital North Partnership to get involved!

Dr Lucy Pearson introduces Hope and Fear in Children's Books. Image: Newcastle University — Dr Lucy Pearson introduces Hope and Fear in Children’s Books. Image: Newcastle University

On 24th November, Newcastle University’s Children’s Literature Unit hosted a Being Human event at Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books.

The aim of Hope and Fear in Children’s Books was to engage non-academic audiences in children’s literature research in a fun and interesting way.

After an overview of how children’s books engage with hope and fear by Dr Lucy Pearson, Lecturer in Children’s Literature, our first stop was the Michael Morpurgo: A Lifetime in Stories gallery.

Dr Jessica Medhurst giving a guided tour of the Michael Morpurgo: A Lifetime in Stories exhibition. Image: Newcastle University

Dr Jessica Medhurst, Knowledge Transfer Partnership Research Associate, gave us a guided tour of the Michael Morpurgo exhibition. Dr Medhurst has been working with Seven Stories’ Collections Team to uncover the treasures within Morpurgo’s archive, and her tour highlighted the themes of hope and fear within Morpurgo’s work. One visitor said:

“The Michael Morpurgo exhibition was really visually pleasing. The person who took us around was really passionate and informative.”

Seven Stories' Collections Assistant Danielle McAloon talks to visitors. Image: Newcastle University — Seven Stories’ Collections Assistant Danielle McAloon talks to visitors. Image: Newcastle University

Next, we headed up to the Attic, where the Seven Stories Collections Team and Dr Pearson facilitated a hands-on session with original material from Seven Stories’ Catherine Storr, David Almond and Judith Kerr collections.

Our visitors really appreciated the chance to explore this original material in detail:

“The chance to look at the objects / drawings from the collection / archive was great.”

Then, Seven Stories’ Storycatchers Jayne and Lawrence introduced us to the Rhyme Around the World gallery, where we had some self-led time to explore hopes and fears in nursery rhymes. And to have fun with the interactives… “I dressed up as a sheep!”

Dressing up in the Rhyme Around the World gallery. Image: Newcastle University

The evening closed with a drinks reception and quiz in the Attic, sponsored by Newcastle University’s Humanities Research Institute. My knowledge of hope and fear in children’s books was certainly tested, anyway!

Commenting on what they thought was most successful about Hope and Fear in Children’s Books, I was really pleased to see that a number of our visitors said they liked the opportunity to ‘chat to experts’. And I think this piece of feedback from a participant about the impact the event had on them sums the evening up for me, too:

“It’s made me think about how literature can help children (and adults!) cope with fear, and indeed hope.”

Being Human is the UK’s only national festival of the humanities and took place this year between 17^th – 25^th November 2016. The festival is led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London, in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy.

Seven Stories Research Scholarship: Q&A

Earlier this year, a Speech and Language Sciences student, Zoe, spent 8 weeks with Seven Stories’ Learning and Participation Team working on a Newcastle University Research Scholarship.

In November, Seven Stories’ Business Development Manager John Beattie and I caught up with Zoe at Newcastle University’s Research Scholarship celebration event, where she presented a poster about her work with Seven Stories.

Hello Zoe! You undertook a Newcastle University Research Scholarship with Seven Stories. What’s that, and how did you secure it?

A vacation Research Scholarship is offered to students in their middle or penultimate year of their degree from Schools across the University. Back in January 2016, we were notified of this opportunity to conduct some research and receive a bursary. My supervisor Professor James Law notified me that Seven Stories would like some research to be conducted in collaboration with them. I organised a meeting at Seven Stories where I met members of the Learning and Participation Team. We decided on a topic and wrote a proposal that was handed in February 2016. In March I found the proposal was successful and began the scholarship in June 2016.

What did you do during your Research Scholarship with Seven Stories?

We decided to do a study about Hooks into Books at Seven Stories and sent Snow Dogs book packs into two schools to evaluate how they were received, and if anything could be improved. This involved doing a literature review surrounding reading for pleasure and its implications. After packs were delivered I then attended each school, carried out questionnaires and observed a session. This was great, seeing the school staff and children’s reactions to the books.

Zoe's research poster: How do children engage in reading for pleasure? — Zoe’s research poster: How do children engage in reading for pleasure?

What were your research findings?

Children’s reading habits did not differ between the schools (regardless of pupil premium percentage).

Teachers and Schools have different definitions therefore different approaches to reading for pleasure. School A: ‘Enjoying stories for the sake of it and being able to be comfortable laying down in a nice environment.’ School B: ‘Having enough knowledge and understanding to be able to read for fluency.’

Schools took different approaches to reading the story (one read all one read half). They also had different ways of choosing the story (one asked colleagues, one looked at illustrations). The activities they did using the books were also different: one was purely creative and artistic whereas the other followed more closely the curriculum with creative writing and pictures.

How did you find working in a cultural education setting like Seven Stories, in comparison to a speech therapy role?

I really enjoyed working with Seven Stories and felt very supported throughout my time there.

It was enjoyable working in the office, then experiencing the hustle and bustle of schools. In comparison, as a speech therapy student every day and placement can be different, from hospitals, to children’s centres, to community clinics and schools.

Newcastle University's Research Scholarship celebration event in November 2016. Image: Newcastle University — Newcastle University’s Research Scholarship celebration event in November 2016. Image: Newcastle University

What have you learnt from your Research Scholarship?

I have learnt lots of research skills from my project, particularly how to form child-friendly questionnaires and write literature reviews. I have also learnt how to format and design posters.

What impact will your Research Scholarship and time with Seven Stories have on your future studies, research and career plans?

I hope to incorporate my experience into speech therapy in the future, particularly the links between ‘reading for pleasure’ and speech and language difficulties. The formatting skills I learnt will help me in the future to make assessed posters whilst still at university, but also in the future when making information sheets for colleagues of clients.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?

I would encourage anyone to take up the opportunity of a summer vacation Research Scholarship. It was a valuable experience which will definitely have benefits for my future.

The Catherine Storr Experience: From Collection to Cardboard

This digital age of ours poses a challenge to both museums and higher education. How can museums present physical collections digitally? And how can academic research into these collections engage the Google Cardboard generation?

The Catherine Storr Experience, a new augmented reality exhibition based on the work of author Catherine Storr, launched by Newcastle University and Seven Stories: the National Centre for Children’s Books, attempts to meet that challenge.

The content for the experience was provided by Kim Reynolds, Professor of Children’s Literature in the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics. Kim wanted to produce a digital exhibition based on her research into Seven Stories’ Catherine Storr archive. Discussing this with the Seven Stories Collections Team, it quickly became apparent that Kim’s ambitions for the project were to do something really new.

So I put Kim in touch with Dr Tom Schofield in Digital Cultures in Culture Lab at Newcastle University to see if they could help. Tom worked with developer Dan Foster Smith, Seven Stories’ Archivist Kris McKie, and Kim to put The Catherine Storr Experience together.

The Mirror Image Ghost. Image: Newcastle University

The result? The Catherine Storr Experience explores the unsettling novel of Storr’s Marianne Dreams (1958), and the house that Marianne draws. Using the context of Marianne’s room, the augmented reality experience introduces a number of Storr’s books and illustrators, as well as some aspects of her life. The experience allows you to explore different objects, characters and settings by moving your smartphone or cursor.

It uses the very latest in WebVR technology. I haven’t seen anything like this yet in digital collections, so I asked Dan about the technological innovation:

“This is new and experimental technology, which is on the edge of a breakthrough into the mainstream. It has the ability to take information that has traditionally been displayed in a flat, 2D way and literally add another dimension to it!

Websites have the great advantage of allowing the viewer to navigate the information at their own pace. Video and TV captivate and engage the viewer. This sort of experience combines the best of both; I like to think of it as a guided tour with the ability for you to ‘ask’ questions along the way.”

Inside the house of Marianne Dreams. Image: Newcastle University

Throughout The Catherine Storr Experience you can spot illustrations, photographs and other items from the Seven Stories Collection. Some of the materials included in the experience also relate to Storr’s personal life and were kindly loaned by her family, extending the Seven Stories material. The project has also enabled Seven Stories to digitise all of their Storr holdings so this is available to readers and researchers around the world.

From Seven Stories’ perspective, Kris commented that this partnership had brought a new dimension to their digital collections:

“It was interesting to see how a group of talented people from outside the museums and heritage sector were able to respond to the challenge of representing an archive in a new way; Kim was able to bring her expertise to write the content, and Dan and Tom were able to envision a unique platform to present it. It will be intriguing to see what people make of The Catherine Storr Experience and the additional content on our website.”

'Marianne draws a house, and the house is Marianne.' Image: Newcastle University — ‘Marianne draws a house, and the house is Marianne.’ Image: Newcastle University

And I’ll leave it to Kim to have the final word:

“Working with colleagues in Culture Lab and Seven Stories made it possible to experiment with new ways of presenting archival mterial and reaching out to audiences all over the world. It required new ways of writing, and Dan and Tom approached the task in adventurous ways that re-engaged me with the material. It was an exciting and challenging – in the best possible ways – collaboration.”

http://digitalcultures.ncl.ac.uk/Catherine-Storr/

Applications open for the David Almond Fellowships

David Almond (above, with Michael Morpurgo). Award-winning North East children’s writer. Patron of Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children’s Books. Honorary graduate of Newcastle University. So it seems only fitting that we named our annual fellowships in children’s literature in David’s honour!

Newcastle University and Seven Stories’ David Almond Fellowships aim to promote high-quality research into the Seven Stories Collection by supporting award holders to make a study visit to Newcastle. And there are so many amazing collections that you could research! Take a look at Seven Stories’ informative Collections blog for an insight into some of our holdings.

Collections at Seven Stories. Image: Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children's Books. Photography: Damian Wootten. — Image: Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children’s Books. Photography: Damien Wootten

We launched the David Almond Fellowships in 2012 to increase national and international access to Seven Stories’ Collection and build new links with researchers. So far, we’ve awarded 11 Fellowships and over half of our Fellows have come from outside the UK.

Lucy Stone, one of our 2016 award-holders, says of her David Almond Fellowship:

“To take up the pen, pencil or paintbrush proffers the chance to make sense of the beautiful, but also perplexing world into which children are born, grow and find their place as an adult. The Judith Kerr Collection contains a myriad of remarkable drawings, paintings and writings child Kerr crafted pre- and during her family’s exile from Nazi Germany. Thanks to a David Almond Fellowship, I had the wonderful opportunity this summer to examine Kerr’s juvenilia, now part of my doctoral research involving consulting archives across Europe and the US to determine what writing and drawing can offer refugee children. Everyone at Seven Stories and the Children’s Literature Unit were incredibly helpful and supportive; the Fellowship proved invaluable.”

Collections at Seven Stories. Image: Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children's Books. Photograph: Damien Wootten. — Image: Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children’s Books. Photograph: Damien Wootten.

And, applications for the 2016/17 David Almond Fellowships are now open! You have until 1 December 2016 to apply for visits to be taken before the end of August 2017. Have a look at the David Almond Fellowship Information 2016-2017 for full details of how to apply, and download the David Almond Fellowship Application form.

We would love to welcome you to Newcastle as a David Almond Fellow – and you could even research David’s collection…

For more information about the David Almond Fellowships, visit the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics website or contact Professor Kim Reynolds.

Building a new city with Newcastle City Futures

What will Newcastle and Seven Stories look like in 2065?

This October, Newcastle City Futures took over Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children’s Books for a weekend of Big Draw Festival activities which encouraged children and families to design and build their future city…

Over 500 people visited Seven Stories over the course of our Big Draw weekend. 2016’s STEAM Powered Big Draw Festival aims to inspire illustrators everywhere to explore creative innovation, enterprise, digital technologies and the arts through drawing.

This seemed like a perfect theme for Seven Stories to connect with the Newcastle City Futures Urban Living Partnership, a project led by Professor Mark Tewdwr-Jones at Newcastle University. Newcastle City Futures aims to get people and organisations in Newcastle Gateshead talking and thinking about the future needs of the city, and working together to foster innovation.

Now, I think the views of the children and families visiting Seven Stories are pretty important here. After all, they’re the ones who’ll be living and working in Newcastle in fifty years’ time!

So what will Newcastle and Seven Stories look like in 2065? Here’s what Seven Stories’ visitors think…

Building Newcastle Gateshead

Newcastle Gateshead in 2065. Image: Newcastle University

Over the course of the weekend, children and families added to our large map of Newcastle and Gateshead to create their vision of Newcastle in 2065.

And their creativity was amazing! Visitors built homes, cultural, sports and science venues, businesses, hotels, transport systems, power stations and several bridges. In fact, the children organically created pretty much everything you’d need in a future city.

I was pleased to see they thought the Angel of the North would still be there, and Seven Stories too!

The house of the future…?

Children drew on (and played in!) our large 3D house of the future. What does this tell us? Perhaps that houses in the future will be more colourful and allow for personalisation. We’ll continue to build in green technologies, and graffiti won’t be going away any time soon…!

The streets of 2065

Designing a new Northumberland Street. Image: Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children's Books — Designing a new Northumberland Street. Image: Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children’s Books

Dr Emine Thompson and students from Northumbria University came in to run a ‘Your City, You Design It!’ workshop. We looked at the streets of Newcastle in 3D and then participants designed a new Northumberland Street using SketchUp. It’s going to look pretty different in 2065…

A big jigsaw for the Big Draw

Drawing on RFID jigsaw pieces — We drew on RFID enabled wooden jigsaw pieces and recorded messages about the future of the city. Image: Newcastle University.

Zander Wilson of Open Lab at Newcastle University provided a fun jigsaw activity. The children coloured in wooden RFID enabled jigsaw pieces, before recording a message about their hopes for the future of the city. Zander will be combining these to make a digital jigsaw – I’m excited to see the finished result!

The future of Seven Stories

A new plan for Seven Stories. Image: Newcastle University

Our last two activities of the weekend were all about planning the future of Seven Stories. Throughout the weekend, children could draw a new blueprint for our galleries, and Teresa Strachan and the YES Planning students at Newcastle University came to deliver a drop-in workshop all about urban planning. Here’s a plan one of the children came up with!

The children came up with so many interesting ideas about what Newcastle Gateshead will be like in 2065 – I’m looking forward to seeing what changes the future holds!

Apply for the Seven Stories Northern Bridge Partnership PhD Award

This autumn, we’re delighted to offer a new fully-funded PhD opportunity: the Seven Stories Northern Bridge Partnership Award!

Northern Bridge is the AHRC-funded Doctoral Training Partnership between Newcastle University, Durham University and Queen’s University Belfast. Northern Bridge offers funded PhD studentships, with support for placements and training, to outstanding applicants through a competitive scheme.

Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children’s Books is a Strategic Partner to Northern Bridge. When Northern Bridge suggested that we could issue a targeted Partnership Award call in this year’s application round, we jumped at the chance…

What are the benefits?

For applicants: well, for starters, it’s a fully-funded PhD opportunity and Northern Bridge’s focus on academic excellence means that these studentships are very highly regarded.

You’ll have the opportunity to study Seven Stories’ amazing children’s literature collection in depth through your PhD research. This could also lead to placement opportunities with us through Northern Bridge: perhaps your work will feed into a Seven Stories exhibition, or you could help us with collection management tasks, or maybe you could deliver a public event?

For Seven Stories: Seven Stories encourage research on our collection. Academic research really helps to unlock the archive and we love the new ideas that researchers come up with.

For Northern Bridge: By launching the Partnership Awards this year, Northern Bridge are exploring a new way of involving Strategic Partners within the Doctoral Training Partnerships – and we’re excited to be trailblazing with them!

Collections. Image: Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children's Books. Photography by Damien Wootten. — Image: Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children’s Books. Photography by Damien Wootten.

So how will it work?

Step 1: Working with Northern Bridge, Seven Stories have developed a call for applications for the Partnership Award. We’re particularly interested in receiving applications in the following areas: Makers of children’s literature: children’s book history 1750-2000, New adults: the growth of teenage literature, and Children on stage: twentieth century children’s theatre. But if you want to look at Seven Stories’ collections from another angle, we’d still be very interested in hearing from you. Take a look…

Step 2: The application period is now live! Students who are planning to apply for the Seven Stories Partnership Award are encouraged to outline their proposed research project and email this with a CV to sarah.rylance@ncl.ac.uk to register their interest by 18 November 2016.

Step 3: Next, students will work with Seven Stories and their proposed academic supervisor to develop their research proposals. Newcastle University will also be holding a Children’s Literature Unit Postgraduate Open Day on 3 November where you can discuss your application!

Step 4: The completed applications will go into the 2017 Northern Bridge Studentship competition and will be assessed alongside all other Northern Bridge submissions. The outcome of the studentship competition will be announced in March 2017.

Step 5: Successful applicants will start their Partnership Award PhD in autumn 2017.

So now I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that we get some great applications!

For more information about Northern Bridge and the Seven Stories Partnership Award, visit the Northern Bridge website.