Our Research & Projects

ALL is a European research project that aims to improve the creative competence of learners, educators, and pracademics (practitioners + academics) by developing an experimental framework for arts-based teaching methods. The experimental framework will develop original arts-based educational materials and an established collaboration amongst partners in other higher educational institutions all over Europe.

The project will build a laboratory for free and structured arts-based experimentation, in a co-creative partnership of leading academic experts who also have practical experiences with/in artistic practices. The material developed will be disseminated through open source and virtual platforms, making them publicly available for use.

The project partners are:

• Aalborg University, Denmark
• Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy
• Audencia Business School, France
• Haskoli Islands, Iceland
• University of Chester, UK
• Hogskulen Pa Vestlandet, Norway
• Lappeenrannan Teknillinen Yliopisto, Finland

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In 2019 we started our collaboration with Nursing colleagues in the Faculty of Health and Social Care to support the new simulation strategy. An evolving simulation for Nursing and Physician Associate students was developed, in which students were required to operate as a multi-disciplinary team and care for ‘patients’ as they would in a real world healthcare environment. We are combining Immersive Theatre theory and practice with simulation training to create a truly immersive learning environment.

"The simulation session was the best feature of the module as it allowed me to reflect on my practice in a safe environment along with my peers." — Student Nurse

At the start of the process, we worked with an acting coach to develop and deliver a series of workshops for faculty staff to develop their acting skills. Staff then adopted one or more of the characters in a new ‘simulated patient community’ and took part in the immersive simulation with the ability to embody a character and fulfil their role within the simulation.

"I thought the practice simulation with the actors was very useful." — Student Nurse

We now include other artists in immersive simulations to introduce and embed arts and health experiences through practice for Faculty of Health and Social Care students and build on the Creative Health and WHO Europe report recommendations.

We return to the Education Studies programme in 2022 in collaboration with the programme lead Helen Eadon-Sinkinson. This year, Matt Baker makes a comeback to create some new songs with all of the new first year students. The content of the songs, their lyrics and melodies will all be created by the students through a democratic, participatory music making exchange. These creative sessions are an informal and fun way for students and staff to get to know each other and begin forming both relationships and a sense of Education Studies community, which will be an important support during their time at Chester and beyond.

Take a look at the video below if you’d like to see some of our other work with the Education Studies programme.

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We have worked with the University of Chester Midwifery team to introduce arts-based elements into the new programme. These arts-based learning experiences build upon similar elements pioneered in the Nursing programme and contribute to the growing portfolio of innovative Creative Health training at Chester, such as:

• Theatre-based induction experience: A way for new students to form social bonds and connections with members of staff and a sense of belonging.
• Sketchbook, multimedia journals: A way to document and make sense of university learning and placement experiences, as well as a method to support personal and emotional wellbeing during studies.    
• Movement: A way to learn about their physical selves, how their physicality can impact on both people and spaces as well as how their sense of touch can support positive communication, relationships and trust.
• Theatre-based process: To maximise immersive simulation learning experiences throughout the programme.

All of the Creative Health related training at Chester, including this innovative Nursing placement, has been developed in response to recommendation eight from the report Creative Health: The arts for health and wellbeing (APPG, 2017):

"8) We recommend that the education of clinicians, public health specialists and other health and care professionals includes accredited modules on the evidence base and practical use of the arts for health and wellbeing outcomes..."

After a 2021/22 pilot, the Nursing Creative Health placement is now being rolled out as a part of the first-year curriculum. The placement is an opportunity for Nursing students to experientially learn about Creative Health practice directly from a range of experienced artists who are all active in field and apply their learning through co-creation projects with participants from the communities in which the university belongs.

Turtle Song is a creative music-making project that involves song writing, movement and singing for people living with dementia, delivered by Turtle Key Arts.

We worked with Turtle Key Arts to run training sessions for artists, health professionals and Chester students in creative music-making and share the Turtle Song methods. We are also undertaking an ongoing research project with Turtle Key Arts and RECAP colleagues, exploring the experiences of Turtle Song practitioners through arts-based methods.

We worked with Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust to develop and deliver a one-day, visual arts-based workshop with allied health professional (AHP) support workers. The workshop was an opportunity for support workers to share their sense of professional identity, perceptions of their role and, through a democratic, arts-based process take the lead in shaping an AHP support worker development strategy for the Trust.

Facilitated by an experienced visual artist, the day started with each participant making a 2D collage about themselves and their professional role by layering, creating texture and opportunities for chance juxtapositions. Following this, participants overlayed a line onto their collage to represent their professional journeys, exploring words and images to describe their role, skills and challenges, as well as how they felt they would like to develop. Throughout the process, participants created an identity book, which captured their dreams and ambitions. By the end of the day, a large, collaborative group piece of visual art had been created that represented support worker perspectives of their professional experiences and provided person-centred, grassroots-based information to inform the new support worker development strategy.

Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust is now exploring how arts-based processes can feature in their future development planning.

During September and October 2022 we worked with TiPP and the Music and Performance students at our Kingsway campus to launch their learning at Chester with music making. TiPP’s Rock Up process was the basis for our project, an inspiring creative music project that TiPP deliver across the North West with young people engaging with youth justice teams.

"I learned how to come out of my shell." — Participant

"I loved getting to know everyone on the course." — Participant

This induction project enabled the Music and Performance students at Chester to immerse themselves in a creative experience that supported them to develop relationships with each other and form connections with staff, as well as make professional connections with our industry partner TiPP from the beginning of their course.

"We’re delighted to be working with the Philip Barker Centre and TiPP to provide an exciting collaborative project for our new students in order to welcome them to the start of their music degree and creative journey." — Dr Ruth Dockwray, Associate Professor of Popular Music

In this ongoing series we will hear from friends of the Philip Barker Centre who will give their Perspectives on an area of interest. Each Perspective will be grounded in the Arts but may intersect or connect with other disciplines, such as Arts and Health. Perspectives is a multi-media series, so ideas may be shared with you through a variety of formats, such as audio recordings, text, visual images, song or video.

Conflict and oppression continue to be prominent in the world today. With this in mind, in our very first Perspective we hear from the Philip Barker Centre’s Visiting Associate Professor Tatiana Chemi in a short film about her Perspective of love in the context of arts-based education.

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