In July 2025, the Partnership seed-funding enabled Isabel Davis (Research Theme Lead: Collections and Culture) and Jess Simpson (Senior Interpretation Developer) from NHM to attend a 5-day Videographic Research Summer School led by John Gibbs and Andrew Philip at UoR. Through a series of lectures, seminars, exercises and critical feedback sessions, this interdisciplinary course offers the opportunity to develop skills in new forms of research and communication with potential for collections research and public engagement and supports the sharing of research and engagement techniques.
Video Essays are a particular form of research output which lend themselves to creative methods of research and its communication, and have significant potential for research on museum collections, where the research object is primarily visual and material. The NHM attendees found the course exciting and impactful, and were prompted by the rapid iteration to use the creative process time productively and thoughtfully in a way which they hope will influence future exhibition narratives.
The Summer School introduced the cohort to many resources around development and production of Video Essays, including software, archives, and specialist journals, and emphasised the importance of having a diverse range of expertise and backgrounds in one room to encourage a diversity of conversation. The attendees have already organised discussions with colleagues around using Video Essays in research engagement at NHM, and hope to encourage exploration of audience communication. Isabel is also collaborating on an AHRC grant application with John which will involve a focus on what videographic methods might bring to (and gain from) NHM collections and stories of collections on the move.
Seed-Funding is available to support the development of collaborative projects to be undertaken by researchers at the University of Reading and the Natural History Museum.