Spring Update from Network: The QMUL Centre for the Creative and Cultural Economy

We caught up with Professor Morag Shiach to talk about the latest from Network: The QMUL Centre for the Creative and Cultural Economy, which is based in the School of English and Drama. The centre has been involved in a number of international collaborations over recent weeks.

In February it participated in a workshop with researchers at the Laboratory of Excellence for the Creative and Cultural Economy in Paris, exploring how researchers from QM might work with them in the future. Colleagues from English and Drama, Business and Management, and Law shared their research on creative clusters, digital innovation, and intellectual property.

Last week Network welcomed to QM a delegation of policymakers and creative economy practitioners from Egypt and Indonesia, who were part of the British Council project Developing Inclusive and Creative Economies (DICE).

The workshop presented QM’s work on arts and social transformation, on social inclusion in the creative economy, and on digital platforms for craft. Finally, Network has just been invited to undertake some consultancy for the British Council focussed on the development of effective methods of assessment and evaluation for creative hubs in Thailand. This will work particularly with ‘hyperlocal’ creative hubs, co-creating effective and robust approaches to understanding what works for them.

Join our experts Shahidha Bari, Tiffany Watt Smith and Jen Harvie at #BBCFreeThinking Festival 2019

Join our experts Shahidha Bari, Tiffany Watt Smith and Jen Harvie for #BBCFreeThinking Festival 2019 with this year’s theme ‘Free thinking gets Emotional’ from 29 March with BBC Radio 3 in Gateshead.

Highlights include:

  • The Actors’ Guide to the Emotions hosted by our very own Shahidha Bari and featuring Jen Harvie on the panel on 31 March
  • Discover strange and forgotten emotions from the past with the Lost Emotions Machine from Queen Mary University of London’s ‘Living With Feeling’ project. Happening throughout the festival.
  • The Emotion of Now panel discussion including Tiffany Watt Smith talking about Schadenfreude on 30 March.
  • “Calm Down Dear” – How Angry Should Politics Get? debate chaired by Shahidha Bari on 30 March.

Movie over Marie Kondo, Markman Ellis is here to prove filing has been around since C18

Our very own Professor Markman Ellis’s essay, “Letters, Organization, and the Archive in Elizabeth Montagu’s Correspondence,” appears in a special issue of the Huntington Library Quarterly edited by Nicole Pohl: “‘The Commerce of Life’: Elizabeth Montagu (1718–1800).”

In an introductory blog post File Under Fascinating, Sara K. Austin, editor of the Huntington Library Quarterly introduces Ellis’s use of the correspondence of Elizabeth Montagu at The Huntington to reflect on how people have organized and saved papers over time.

Image
Filing tag made from printed visiting card of Mr Montagu Manchester Square, ephemera, MO 6922 (13), Elizabeth Robinson Montagu Papers. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Photo by Markman Ellis.

Essential Resources for Master’s Funding

Funding an MA can be a tricky business as it’s not as clear as for undergraduate study so we created this quick guide to finding funding so you can take the next steps on our English and Drama postgraduate courses.

Please note that students often get funding via loans, self-funding or government funding and/or working whilst studying a Master’s degree.

If you’re an international applicant please speak to your country representative to talk about what’s available in your country.

Queen Mary Scholarships Database

The most up to date listings of scholarships from Queen Mary University of London.

UK Government Postgraduate Master’s Loan Information

Up to £11,836 is available if you start after 1 August 2022. Conditions apply.

Queen Mary Postgraduate Funding Guide

An up-to-date downloadable guide written by our student welfare team.

Alternative Postgraduate Funding Guide

A good directory of current grants you can apply for.
Username: sed-web@qmul.ac.uk Password: r2uw7xgx

QMUL Alumni Loyalty Award

10% off fees for Queen Mary graduates (anyone who has undertaken an undergraduate degree, postgraduate degree at Queen Mary University of London). Conditions apply so do check if you’re eligible.

Listen to Show and Tell #3 Podcast

Show and Tell is a series of TED-talk style events where speakers from the arts, humanities and creative industries tell their stories at Queen Mary University of London.

Join us for 2019’s edition: bit.ly/showandtell19

This episode features broadcaster Shahidha Bari, theatre artist Mojisola Adebayo, lecturer and writer Karina Likorish Quinn and theatre director Billy Barrett. Introduction by Jonathan Boffey.

It was recorded on Wednesday 19 September 2018.

Host

Rupert Dannreuther

Rupert is responsible for marketing within Queen Mary’s School of English and Drama. He has worked for numerous organisations including Cineworld, Hackney Empire, The Yard Theatre and Rose Bruford College. In his spare time he runs To Do List a website about offbeat things to do in London: http://todolist.org.uk.

Show and Tell Panel

Shahidha Bari

Shahidha Bari is a writer, academic and broadcaster working in the fields of literature, philosophy and art. Born in 1980, she was one of the first ever BBC Radio 3 New Generation Thinkers (2011) and a winner of the Observer Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism (2015). She is Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London and Fellow of the Forum for European Philosophy at the LSE, and writes for the TLS, Guardian and Financial Times, amongst others. She features frequently on BBC Radio 4, and currently presents BBC Radio 3’s nightly Arts and Ideas programme Free Thinking. She lives in London.

Mojisola Adebayo

Mojisola Adebayo BA, MA, PhD, FRSL, is a performed and published playwright, performer, producer, director, workshop facilitator and teacher. She has been making theatre internationally for over 25 years, from Antarctica to Zimbabwe.

Karina Lickorish Quinn

Karina is a Peruvian-British writer and a PhD student and teacher of creative writing here at Queen Mary. She has published short stories and translations in various journals and is working on her debut novel about ghosts, guano and two-headed cats.

Billy Barrett

Theatre-maker, Breach Theatre and MA Theatre and Performance student.

Coming up

Show and Tell is back for 2019 with a whole host of exciting new speakers.

See the line up and book a free ticket here: bit.ly/showandtell19


Just Announced: 2 Job Opportunities in Creative Writing at Queen Mary

We have just announced the following 2 academic job opportunities.

Please see the links below to get more information about the roles.

Lecturer in Creative Writing 0.5 FTE (Prose Fiction)

Professor in Creative Writing 0.5 FTE (Creative Non-Fiction)

Apply before 18 January for LAHP Studentships and 31 January 2019 for Queen Mary Principal’s Studentships PhD Funding

UK/EU PhD applicants have the opportunity to apply for London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP) studentships as well as Queen Mary Principal’s Studentships (QMPS) but the deadlines differ.

Please see below for useful information from Dr Rehana Ahmed (Director of Research) or email sed-research@qmul.ac.uk.

London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP):

  • Home and EU students who wish to be considered for AHRC funding must apply directly to LAHP. International students are not eligible to apply.
  • Detailed information on LAHP and the application process is available here: https://www.lahp.ac.uk/apply-for-studentship-2019-20/
  • There are two LAHP routes: the CDA (Collaborative Doctoral Award) and the ‘open competition’ route.
  • Prospective supervisors apply to the CDA route (the deadline for CDA applications is 3 December 2018).
  • Potential candidates for the LAHP open competition will need to make an application directly to LAHP. This will open for applications on 26 November 2018. The deadline is 28 January 2019.
  • Candidates must also apply for a place to study at their home institution by 18 January 2019. The nominated primary supervisor will be required to submit a statement of support in addition to the application form, and supporting statements must be received by 4 February 2019 in order for applications to be considered.
  • If you’d like further information and guidance about the responsibilities of academic supervisors, the LAHP is running an information session on 26 November, 1-2 pm, Room 243, Senate House. You can register via this Google Form

QM Principal’s Studentships (QMPS):

  • As in previous years, the College is also running the QMPS round, although with a reduced number of studentships available across HSS (down from 20 to 18 across HSS, we think – but it is not impossible that this number will be reduced further).
  • Home, EU and international applicants are all eligible to apply. The deadline for applications to QM is 31 January 2019. All applications received by this deadline are automatically considered for QMPS.
  • SED can make a set number of nominations; these are written and submitted by the Directors of Graduate Studies (for English and for Drama). There’s no need for a supporting statement from supervisors – but we may ask you for information or similar to help with the nominations.

SED staff member Hari Marini presents her video poetry at international festival

Hari Marini (Drama and Admin Team) is presenting her video work Spirals 7th International Video Poetry Festival which takes place in Athens on 14-15 December.

Details here: https://theinstitute.info/?p=3252 and this is the Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/316809979170519/

About the film

Spirals is a poetic journey that crosses geographical borders and unites European female voices in an exchange of languages, cultures, personal narratives and modes of expression. Through the symbol of the spiral, the project explores thresholds, migration, path, nature, home and sense of belonging; the spiral acts as a sign of becoming, transforming and awareness. Poems written by contemporary female poets, recorded material, music and movement are part of a series of performances, photography and video-work. Women create and walk on spirals in a variety of places, such as London, Broadstairs, Coventry, Barcelona, Athens and Belgrade.
Hari Marini – PartSuspended (UK) (www.partsuspended.com/)

Watch online

Read more about the piece here:

https://www.interimpoetics.org/35-4/hari-marini-partsuspended

https://www.interimpoetics.org/35-4/hari-marini-trans-theo-kominis

Serena Ceniccola MA Victorian Literature presents her paper at University of Freiburg

Serena Ceniccola (furthest right in picture above) – graduand with an MA in Victorian Literature from the School of English and Drama- successfully presented her paper “Nobody/Nowhere: the alienation of the Hybrid in Sui Ishida’s Tokyo Ghoul” at the two-day student conference “Exploring alterity in fantasy and science fiction” at the University of Freiburg, making QMUL the only one London based University to take part in the event.

The paper explores the relationship between hybridity and memory in the context of horror manga, which – in its contemporary form – has been heavily influenced by British Victorian Press and 19th century Gothic. Serena – who already earned an MA in Modern, Post-colonial and Comparative literature with Distinction (summa cum laude) from University of Bologna specializing in Japanese, Finnish and Anglo-American studies – is especially interested in the fields of identity, hybridity, and cultural contacts. According to her paper: “Exploring new representations of the Hybrid in fiction is very important if we want to really understand the world we live in today.”

The conference – that took place on October 19th and 20th – saw nineteen MA students and PhD candidates from different countries and with very different backgrounds discussing how otherness manifests in speculative fiction. Their works focused on novels, comics, podcasts, movies, manga, and videogames.

Dr Timothy Baker (lecturer in Scottish and contemporary literature at University of Aberdeen) gave one of the two key lectures scheduled on “The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl vs The Capitalocene.” Dr Helena Ifill (University Teacher at University of Sheffield, co-organizer for the Victorian Popular Fiction Association and co-director for the University of Sheffield Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies) discussed the effects of mesmerism on the self with her lecture “Othering the Self: Speculative Psychological Fiction”.

Apply Now for Studentships from LISS & LAHP

4 amazing opportunities to apply for further study…

London Interdisciplinary Social Science ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership (LISS DTP)

LISS Open Studentship Competition:  this is our competition where we accept proposals directly from prospective students, for either a 1+3 award (1 year Masters + 3 year PhD) or +3 award (PhD only).  You can find detailed information about eligibility criteria and the application process on the following two webpages:

Key frequently-asked points to highlight:

  • The application deadline is 31 January 2019, 17:00 GMT for studentships to start 1 October 2019.  Applicants should be encouraged to read the above webpages carefully to ensure all necessary application materials reach us by that date.
  • We are still able to accept applications from EU residents for this year and wherever possible we will ‘top-up’ the award to pay a stipend to high-calibre EU students from institutional contributions to the LISS grant (since the ESRC only covers fees for EU residents).
  • Proposed research must be at least 50% social science (but can have a strong interdisciplinary component) and must fall within the remit of at least 1 of our 13 Thematic Pathways

LISS Collaborative (CASE) Studentship Competition

this competition initially seeks proposals from academics based in one of our three partner institutions for 1+3 or +3 format studentship research projects which involve significant collaboration with a non-HEI partner, in the public, private or third sectors.

Full details about submitting a proposal (as an academic) are available here: https://liss-dtp.ac.uk/studentships/collaborative-case-studentships/  The deadline for proposals for studentships to start 1 October 2019 is 12 November 2018, 23:59 GMT.  To see details of currently-funded CASE studentships, please see this webpage: https://liss-dtp.ac.uk/case-studentships-student-applicants/

  • We welcome proposals where a proposed student to be awarded the project is already named, but this is not necessary and it does not reflect negatively on a proposal not to have a named student.  Academic winners of the proposal stage will be informed by the end of November 2018 and recruitment of a student can begin after this point.
  • A financial contribution from the non-HEI partner is encouraged but not required.  In any proposal, evidence of a strong, two-way plan of collaboration between the academic/student and non-HEI partner must be shown, along with in-kind benefits for the student such as: mentorship within the partner organisation, periods of time spent at the partner organisation, data sharing, access to specialised training through the partner etc.
  • Again, proposed research must be at least 50% social science (but can be strongly interdisciplinary) and must fall within the remit of at least 1 of our 13 Thematic Pathways.

LISS Postdoctoral Fellowships:  administration of the ESRC’s one-year postdoctoral fellowship scheme has now been devolved to LISS DTP.  Details about this scheme can be found here on the LISS website: https://liss-dtp.ac.uk/esrc-pdf/ . We do not have full details yet, but expect the timeline to be similar to last year, with the deadline for applications in mid-late March 2019 for fellowships to start in October 2019.

 

London Arts & Humanities Partnership AHRC (LAHP DTP)

London Arts & Humanities Partnership Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA) Scheme

The London Arts & Humanities Partnership (LAHP) is delighted to announce that its Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA) Scheme is open for proposals for studentship projects to commence in October 2019.

Collaborative Doctoral Awards (CDAs) provide funding for doctoral studentship projects, developed as a partnership between an HEI-based academic in collaboration with an organisation outside higher education. They are intended to encourage and develop collaboration and build partnerships.

CDA projects provide opportunities for doctoral students to gain first-hand experience of work outside the university environment and enhance the employment-related skills and training a research student gains during the course of their studies.

Those wishing to propose a CDA project to commence in the 2019/20 academic year can find full details of the scheme and download the LAHP DTP CDA Application Form on the LAHP website. The deadline for proposals from HEI academic staff/non-HEI partners for CDA studentship projects (commencing in the 2019/20 academic year) is Monday 3rd December 2018 at 09.00. Any queries should be directed to info.lahp@london.ac.uk

London Arts & Humanities Partnership Open Studentship Competition

The London Arts & Humanities Partnership (LAHP) open studentship competition for PhD applications in the arts and humanities to begin in October 2019 will open at the end of November.

Further details will be published on the LAHP website

Dr Charlotta Salmi awarded funding to investigate representations of gender-based violence

Dr Charlotta Salmi who uses street art and comics to understand social movements has been awarded funding by the British Academy to carry out research on gender-based violence in Nepal.

Dr Charlotta Salmi, from Queen Mary’s School of English and Drama, will investigate representations of gender-based violence (GBV) in graphic art forms in Kathmandu and Pokhara, Nepal.

Read the full post on the QMUL news here

Listen to our Show and Tell #2 Podcast featuring Susheila Nasta (Wasafiri), Raifa Rafiq (Mostly Lit), Hetta Howes (City), Emma Shapiro (Pembroke College Library) and Edie Edmundson (Puppeteer)

Show and Tell is a series of TED-talk style events where speakers from the arts, humanities and creative industries tell their stories at Queen Mary University of London. Find out more: bit.ly/showandtell18

This episode features Wasafiri magazine editor Susheila Nasta, Medieval broadcaster Hetta Howes, podcaster Raifa Rafiq, researcher Emma Shapiro and puppeteer Edie Edmundson. Full biogs below.

The show is introduced by Beverley Stewart and hosted by Charlie Pullen from the School of English and Drama at Queen Mary.

Subscribe on Spotify

Charlie Pullen
Charlie Pullen is a PhD candidate and Teaching Associate in English at Queen Mary University of London, where he researches education in the work of various early twentieth-century novelists, including H.G. Wells, D.H. Lawrence, and Dorothy Richardson. His background is in widening participation and outreach and he writes for Times Higher Education.

Susheila Nasta
Professor Susheila Nasta, Prof of Modern and Contemporary Literature at QMUL, Emerita at Open University is a renowned critic, broadcaster and literary activist. Editor-in-chief at Wasafiri, the magazine of international contemporary writing, which she founded in 1984, she has published widely on South Asian Britain.
www.wasafiri.org

Hetta Howes
Dr Hetta Howes is a lecturer in Medieval Literature at City, University of London. Her research specialises in women’s devotion in the Middle Ages, and as a BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker she is committed to sharing that research with a wider audience.

Raifa Rafiq
Raifa Rafiq is a trainee solicitor at one of the leading international law firms in the UK. She is also creator and co-host of the Literature and popular culture podcast Mostly Lit – named by the Guardian and the BBC as one of the top podcasts of 2017.
mostly-lit.com

Emma Shapiro
After graduating with a BA in English and French from Queen Mary, Emma Shapiro was awarded a scholarship to complete an MA in London Studies, where she specialised in the Trinidadian writer Sam Selvon’s London fiction. Following her studies, Emma worked as a voluntary researcher for the Migration Museum project and as the graduate trainee at Pembroke College Library, Cambridge, where she curated an exhibition on the poet and co-founder of the Caribbean Artists Movement, Kamau Brathwaite, working in collaboration with the George Padmore Institute.

Edie Edmundson
Edie is a puppeteer and theatre maker who graduated from Drama at QM in 2015 and went on to train at the Curious School of Puppetry. Since then she has worked with Emma Rice at Shakespeare’s Globe, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Puppet Theatre Barge. She also writes and directs her own work, and is co-founder and associate director of Wondering Hands Theatre. She is currently puppeteering in ‘The Butterfly’s Spell’ at the Puppet Theatre Barge and is puppetry director for ‘The Comedy of Errors’ at the RSC.

English and Drama events at Being Human Festival 2018

We’re excited to announce these events around English and Drama featuring our own staff and the work of the Queen Mary Public Engagement team.

Being Human | 15-24 November 2018

Motherhood & Making

Gender pay gaps, precarious work, paltry paternity leave – what does it mean to be a mother working in the creative arts?

Explore the role of motherhood in contemporary society and how it informs the work of writers and artists in this workshop at Museum of Childhood #BeingHUman18

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/being-human-festival-motherhood-making-tickets-48549438678

Bring your little ones to this one day workshop exploring motherhood & making  with workshops with (@LittleArtists_) & child-friendly talks from @CJessCooke

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/being-human-festival-motherhood-making-tickets-48549438678

Tea’s London Journey

Follow tea’s journey from the docks of the East India Company, via London’s forgotten Chinatown and the warehouses of the East End, to wholesale sites in the City in Tea’s London walking tour

https://beinghumanfestival.org/event/teas-london-journey/

The Last of The London

As night descends on the Whitechapel Road, see the derelict Royal London Hospital building come to life one last time as words and photographic projections evoke the ghosts of its past with our very own Nadia Valman

https://beinghumanfestival.org/event/the-last-of-the-london/

I Write My World!

#IWriteMyWorld family workshop led by with our very own Karina Likorish Quinn allows children and their parents to remember, reflect, and discuss place and memory and write about what it means to them to have heritage from around the world.

https://beinghumanfestival.org/event/i-write-my-world/