On Monday 9 December, Central hosted its annual Graduation Ceremony at The Royal Festival Hall.
On Friday 24 January, Central’s Postgraduate Research Community presented their annual Intersections Conference to examine the landscape of higher education and the prospects and problems facing ‘early career’ theatre and performance researchers.
The conference, which was organised and curated by the School’s PhD cohort, welcomed early career researchers from Canada, Belgium, and the UK to discuss the ethics, politics and ambitions of future research
A new generation of researchers is forming in an environment of increased precarity and instability. The last ten years have fundamentally changed the landscape of higher education,the government’s industrial strategy is likely to apply further pressure on the already stretched arts and culture sectors, and Brexit remains an unknown. In recognition of the conditions theatre and performance research is happening in, and in anticipation of those that await, the annual Intersections Conference is dedicated to the work of post-graduate and early-career researchers. It provides an opportunity for Central’s students to ask what their research will have to do to adapt, to challenge and to counteract these pressures and how they can resist, rather than conform, to them
Conference speakers and panellists at Intersections 2020 included Jaelyn Danielle Endris, Kirsten Hawson, Nina Lemon, Becky Moses, Bex Tadman and Gabriel Vivas-Martínez; Elvira Crois led a workshop Researcher as Resource: Participatory Methodology and Fair Practiceand Lorena Cervera Ferrer presented her film #PrecarityStory - A Day in the Life of a Precarious Female Academic Worker
The conference’s keynote talks were delivered by Dr Royona Mitra (Agitating the Futures of Dance Studies) and Central’s new Deputy Director of Learning and Teaching Dr Broderick Chow (Endless Summer: Desire, Mourning, and the Academy).
Kate Duffy said of the conference:
“We were struck by the generosity and verve of everyone who attended Intersections 2020 to engage with some of the most pressing issues facing our research community. Together we addressed difficult questions, made visible intersectional issues around race, class, gender and citizenship and ended the conference feeling at once agitated, committed, critical and hopeful for the future of performance studies. Superb keynotespeeches from Dr Broderick Chow and Dr Royona Mitra provided both disruption and provocation, and led to conversations throughout the day across institutions and disciplines. We look forward to next year’s conference!
Intersections was overseen by Kate Duffy and Bojana Janković, with support from Hara Topa. They received support from the research office, particularly Dr Tony Fisher and Kate Pitt.