CPC 2025

The Individual Voice in Academia: Blending Creativity and Scholarship

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Taking place from June 5-6 at the University of Birmingham, Creative Practice Colloquium 2025 explores the mobilisation of the personal for creative practice research in diverse disciplines including audio-visual, creative writing, music and drama. Following an ethos of 'unconferencing', we engage collaboratively to consider challenges that arise at the intersection of the personal, creative, and academic. Via mutual exchange and dedicated creative time, all participants have the opportunity to explore ways in which their own personal voice may enrich their research.

Day one of this event brings participants into conversation with three keynote speakers pursuing practice-based research in different creative disciplines: Dr. Luke Kennard (creative writing); Dr. Eleanor Yule (film); and Dr. Tom Attah (music). On day two, we engage the spirit of improv for a making day – an opportunity for all participants to work individually or collaboratively in a shared space, exploring via practice the themes and strategies identified through day one’s conversation.

In our ethos of unconferencing, collaborative knowledge exploration supersedes conventional hierarchies. Our two-day structure – especially day two, the making day – aims to create an environment that prioritises individual voices, lived experience and collaborative practice-based investigation. This approach recognises the collective expertise of participants as the driving force behind innovation. By bringing together diverse creative practitioners to explore personal voice in research, we hope to facilitate an unfiltered exchange of ideas across disciplines, fostering valuable connections through thoughtful design and open facilitation.

Creative Practice Colloquium is organised by postgraduate researchers in the University of Birmingham's Department of Film and Creative Writing. We are supported by B-Film at the University of Birmingham, the BAFTSS Practice Research Special Interest Group, and the University of Birmingham College of Arts and Law Graduate School Community Development Fund.

We particularly welcome applications from doctoral students undertaking creative practice research and academics with current or previous involvement in the creative industries.

Dates: June 5-6 2025

Location: Westmere House, University of Birmingham

To apply, please fill in this Google Form or email rpm361@student.bham.ac.uk by Wednesday 30th April, with the following details:

Name
Email
Institution (if relevant)
A short summary of your practice area and why you would like to attend this event (max. 250 words)

Best wishes
Xanthe Pajarillo, Radha Smith, Beth Preece, Rich Matthews and Qinran (Leo) Wang

Keynote speakers

Dr. Eleanor Yule

Scottish by birth, Eleanor Yule is a writer, filmmaker and teacher who has worked across an eclectic range of arts disciplines including theatre, film, television, creative writing and education.

Her early career saw her working on documentaries, a UK BAFTA-nominated short film, and regional TV drama. Her feature film Blinded (2004), a Gothic thriller starring Peter Mullan and Jodhi May, was selected for festivals in Edinburgh, Moscow and Istanbul. At the BBC, Yule’s work included award-winning arts documentaries with actor and travel documentarian Michael Palin exploring the lives of forgotten painters. Her celebrated film portraits have looked at figures including post-impressionist painter Pierre Bonnard, Scottish author Muriel Spark, and controversial psychiatrist R. D. Laing. One of her most significant projects is a nuanced portrait of Tove Jansson, the Finnish artist and writer best known for creating the Moomins, which was screened in Sweden as part of Jansson’s centenary celebrations in 2014.

Yule has made significant contributions to film education. Since completing a PhD in screenwriting which highlighted the lost legacy of the female Troubadours in 12th-century France, she has taught at various institutions including Glasgow and Falmouth universities. She currently teaches in the Screen School at Liverpool John Moores University, where she has mentored aspiring filmmakers and shared her industry expertise. Her teaching style is known for combining technical knowledge with an emphasis on creative exploration, encouraging students to develop their own unique voices.

Yule's writing work includes screenplays, theatre plays, published short stories, and critical writing. With cultural historian David Manderson, she published a critical study of Scottish cinema, contributing to academic discourse on the country’s film heritage and the complexities of Scottish identity. She is currently working on a novel inspired by her experiences of living and working in Cornwall and developing a documentary profile of a salvaged local history archive.

Dr. Tom Attah

Dr. Tom Attah is a creative musician who has toured internationally and composed original works for national and international media. He has produced public-facing broadcast work on blues music, jazz music, popular music, and science-fiction television and film for the BBC, ITV, Sky Arts, Sony Music, and independent filmmakers. He has worked in UK higher education and was appointed Associate Professor at Leeds Arts University in 2022. He holds an MA and PhD from the University of Salford, UK. He continues to deliver public lectures on blues music and blues dancing to generalist audiences.

Dr. Attah is the author of numerous chapters and journal articles on popular music and popular culture. Recent published chapters include work on Prince (Bloomsbury, 2020), Robert Johnson (Routledge, 2022), and Little Richard (Bloomsbury, 2022); he is co-editor of a text on popular music narratives (Taylor & Francis 2019). Forthcoming work includes an edited collection on popular music autobiographies (Bloomsbury, 2025).

Dr. Attah is chair of the RMA study group on popular music, and is currently part of the editorial board for Manchester University Press’ Popular Music series.

Dr. Luke Kennard

Luke Kennard is a poet and novelist. His sixth collection, Notes on the Sonnets, won the Forward Prize in 2021. He is a professor of Creative Writing at the University of Birmingham.