OpenARC launch event

Dates: Monday, June 10, 2024 - 10:30 to 16:00
Location: The Hub Theatre, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA and Online, Microsoft Teams

We’re delighted to invite you to the launch of OpenARC, the new school-wide research centre in Arts and Humanities at The Open University, on the 10^th June 2024. With the theme of ‘Arts and Humanities research for the 21^st century’, the event showcases and explores new directions in Arts and Humanities research, through an exciting mix of talks, stalls and an afternoon panel of high-profile external speakers.

Please register by the 29th May for in-person attendance.

Programme

10.15-10.30

Arrivals, with tea and coffee

10.30-11.00

Welcome

Gemma Allen - (Director of Research, Arts and Humanities)
Kevin Shakesheff - (Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Research & Innovation)
Adrienne Scullion - (Executive Dean, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences)

11.00-12.00

New Directions in Arts and Humanities research

Chair: Nicola Watson

Shafquat Towheed - ‘Engaging readers: addressing mental wellbeing through AI assisted reading’
Clare Taylor - ‘Gilt Leather Rooms: Why making matters’
Luc-Andre Brunet - ‘Global histories of peace and anti-nuclear activism’
Marie Thompson - ‘“None of us drew any bells, did we?”: tinnitus, aural difference and the arts’
Elton Barker - 'A digital journeying around. Or how a first-century CE writer is good to think with for doing research in a digital environment’

12.00-12.30

Broadcasting the Arts and Humanities

Chair: Helen Coffey

Joanna Paul - (Media Fellow, 2019-2024, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences)

12.30-14.00

Lunch and stalls

14.00-14.10

Afternoon welcome

Donna Loftus - (Head of School, Arts & Humanities)

14.10-15.25

Panel on ‘Arts and Humanities research for the 21st century’

Chair: Paul Lawrence - (Director of the Open-Oxford-Cambridge DTP)
Helen Small - (University of Oxford; author of The Value of the Humanities)
Arlene Holmes-Henderson MBE - (University of Durham; Vice-Chair, Arts and Humanities, Universities Policy Engagement Network)
Matthew McCallum - (AHRC, Associate Director of Programmes)

From 15.25