About Us
'Creativity and innovation in education are not just an opportunity, but a necessity' (Ferrari, Cachia, & Punie, 2009, p. 47).
The Creative Practice Colloquium was founded by Nina Jones, Jemma Saunders and Ella Wright, three audio-visual doctoral researchers from the University of Birmingham. It was borne out of a sense of 'gappage': a gap in community, a gap in academia, a gap in practical industry. 'There's no place in academia for someone like you', to quote the title of Dr. Richard Langley's keynote from the Creative Practice Colloquium 2023. With the CPC, we endeavour to bridge these gaps, and create a dynamic platform for dialogue, collaboration, and innovation: a space where creative practitioners in and outside of academia can come together to discuss and tackle issues and challenges, and share successes and approaches.
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The inaugural CPC, held on the 28th June 2023 was on the theme of 'Identities and Methodologies of the Creative Practitioner'.
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The second event, held in June 2024, considered the theme of 'Industries and Institutions: Synergies and Struggles'.
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The third CPC, taking place from June 5-6 2025, looks at 'The Researcher as an Individual.'
Xanthe Pajarillo
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Xanthe Pajarillo is a University of Birmingham PhD student, filmmaker and podcaster focusing on children’s horror and children as horror filmmakers. She received her BFA from CalArts and MFA from USC. Her thesis combines traditional and by-practice research methods to investigate the evolving definition of the children’s horror genre. www.xanthepajarillo.com/about
Qinran Wang
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Qinran (Leo) Wang is a PhD candidate researching the humanitarian gaze in refugee documentaries – a framing device that determines what is visible and how refugees are represented in such films. He is passionate about studying society through audio-visual methodology. His video essays about the humanitarian gaze and refugee filmmaking have been presented in several academic conferences.
Rich Matthews
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Rich is part-way through his creative practice screenwriting PhD, researching digital convergence of fandom and religious behaviours in the post-truth, parasocial era through the prism of Star Trek and Scientology. He is also a Teaching Fellow at the University of Birmingham, Development Director at West Midlands media charity Rural Media and continues to write screenplays in the gaps in between.​
Beth Preece
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Beth Preece is a trans writer and researcher. Her work examines non-normative modes of narrative structure and the interrelation of incoherence and subjectivity in contemporary queer literature. Her short fiction and essays can be found in the likes of The Stinging Fly, The London Magazine, and Extra Teeth. She has been nominated twice for the Pushcart prize and is currently a PhD candidate in creative writing at the University of Birmingham. ​
Radha Smith
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Radha Smith is a writer working at the intersection of fiction and non-fiction. Her PhD research at the University of Birmingham looks at the representation of mixed-race characters in contemporary literature, and asks how new ways of representing mixedness may be opened up through crossings of fiction and non-fiction. Her prose has appeared in journals including Ricepaper Magazine and Mslexia.