This work package extends our Creative Industries digital expertise to humanities research. Five research units identified related strategic plans within their REF2021 Unit Environment Statements for the next REF cycle. This work package enables the realisation of research impact via screen technologies.
WP2-1: Heritage Proof of Principle (PoP) fund
WP2-1: Heritage Proof of Principle (PoP) fund enables (normally) one award of £5,000 in each academic year. It aims to extend the Faculty Creative Industries expertise to Humanities Research, aligning with Studio Ulster and related strategic projects. Outcomes are expected to include digital content which provides a pathway to impact collateral.
-
"Witch-Hunting" A Serious Game Commercialisation project
This project saw the team collaborating with Game Design Lecturers at Ulster University to produce a ‘Serious Video Game’, based on the 1711 witch trial of Islandmagee. The choice-led gameplay involves the user investigating a ‘real’ trial. Its placement in heritage contexts will impact how museums and archives engage with Irish history and will develop inclusive, future-focused technologies for use by heritage professionals. It will enhance public knowledge and awareness of the NI witch trials, also providing professional development and enhanced artistic achievement for game developers. This award will provide the team with marketing, commercialisation and impact generation resources.
-
Crow - a short horror-style 360° film aimed at highlighting sexual harassment towards women
Crow employs 360° immersive XR filmmaking to place the audience inside in the experience of a female student as she walks home from university. The film features real-world examples of sexual harassment: being silently followed by an unknown male; being flashed as she walks through a narrow street; witnessing an inebriated young woman being ‘helped’ by two males; being jeered at and cat-called by a group of young men. The film combines these hyper-realist elements with the fantastical in its denouement, when the protagonist transforms into a crow to protect herself from a home intruder.
WP2-2: What if? Award
WP2-2: What if? Award encourages imaginative and ambitious visions for Impact. We aim to support normally one of these projects each year. Visions should strive for strategic impact pathways that seek a step-change in a particular sector or area of research.
-
Cultural Belongings: The Gerald Dawe Poetry Project
This project focused on celebrating the works of Belfast poet, Gerald Dawe. Dr Frank Ferguson and Dr Kate Byrne from Ulster University curated a panel exhibition of Dawe’s work, that will tour Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the United States. This global project aims to spotlight the work of Gerald Dawe and enable literary research at Ulster to collaborate and travel with global partners, such as the John J. Burns Library, Boston College. Launches of the exhibition to date have been highly successful.
WP2-3: Translational Seed fund
WP2-3: Translational Seed fund provides mentorship from screen sector professionals to inform the researcher's plan for screen-based research impact outcomes and delivery.