Stream 1 – Panel 1 “Participatory and Collaborative Methods”
Clare Courtney, University of Manchester, “Connecting Through Food: Relational Methodologies in Migrant Provision Spaces”
Against a backdrop of escalating hostility towards people seeking asylum and migrant communities in the UK, questions of who belongs in the UK and who does not have become central to spatialised inequalities. Embodied feelings of belonging and exclusion increasingly shape both lived experience and public debate, highlighting the need for creative research methods that attend to emotions, the senses, and the body. In Manchester, a city marked by widening socio-economic and political inequalities, grassroots projects in the third sector respond to these injustices through food-based practices grounded in care, connection, and solidarity. Drawing on ongoing ethnographic research and close relationships within migrant provision spaces, this talk details food-centred methodologies to explore how foodways (eating, making, growing, and sharing) operate as everyday practices through which inequality, care, and belonging are both experienced and contested. Multi-format food diaries and creative ethnographic approaches foreground connections between staff, volunteers, and service users, illuminating how shared food practices can shape relationships, negotiate power, and foster a collective purpose within a context of exclusionary national politics. This talk reflects on the challenges of sharing power and stewards embodied and sensory data, arguing that food-centred, participatory methods make visible alternative, more just geographies of care and belonging. Kat Tranter, Lancaster University, “Plans to engage marginalised young people in research design: the value of collaborators with existing relational knowledge”
I aim to co-design my research into youth homelessness in the North of England, by co-establishing priority areas for research into this field, alongside young people with lived experience of homelessness. By planning priority setting workshops alongside staff collaborators who actively support young people I hope to engage, my confidence as a youth centred researcher is hugely bolstered. Through sharing perspectives and experience of what may work best for the young people they support, of whom they have existing relational knowledge, I have been encouraged to rethink certain planned activities and approaches. The range of workshops and informal drop-in sessions currently organised, have been inspired and adapted via my improved understandings of the scale of flexibility and patience required to engage with this diverse group of transitory young people. I am yet to hold these workshops and am under no illusion about the unpredictability of working with participatory methods. Amid this uncertainty however, through incorporating staff’s existing relational knowledge, I am confident that the sessions will take young people’s practical and emotional realities more fully into account than had I devised them independently. Who knows, we may even have some…fun. Cesar Vicencio Vega, University of Manchester, “The Anniversary as Method: Storytelling, Insider Positionality and the Research of Urban Discard in Chuquicamata, Chile”
Can a celebration be a research method? This presentation argues that it can. In May 2025, the 110th anniversary of Chuquicamata, Chile, functioned as an ethnographic device that allowed observation, from the inside, of the central paradox of this research: hundreds of former residents celebrating for three days in a space they can no longer inhabit, whilst the mine continued operating without interruption a few kilometres away. This presentation explores storytelling as a methodological strategy for researching urban discard in extractive territories. It argues that situated narrative, constructed from an insider positionality that combines lived experience and fieldwork, allows the capture of dimensions of the phenomenon that conventional methods rarely reach: paradox, contradiction and memory as evidence. Drawing on a testimony that is representative of the event, I propose that telling a story may itself be an act of research. Rebecca Parnell, University of Manchester, “Finding connection: developing and maintaining fieldwork relationships”
During ethnographic fieldwork, researchers are often required to interact with a broad range of interlocutors. To connect with a diverse group of people requires a particular set of skills which are often refined in the field, continually improved as the result of experience, self-belief, and repeated reflexive work. These skills are particularly important when undertaking a collaborative PhD with a professional organisation, particularly when dealing with complex or sensitive issues relating to organisational politics or power structures. This lightning talk will focus on my experiences developing and maintaining relationships with the various stakeholders involved in my PhD project, from CEOs to politicians and professional musicians to refugee groups.
Stream 1 – Panel 2 “Creative Approaches and Reflexivities”
Abhishek Behl, Keele University, “Conceptualizing Human Emotions and Sentiments using Lego Serious Play”
Human emotions exist as chaotic states that people cannot see or express, yet Lego Serious Play makes them visible. It is interesting to investigate how researchers use Lego Serious Play (LSP) to construct three-dimensional emotional metaphors through their creative building process, in contrast to empirical methods that rely on self-report to assess emotions. Participants create bricks that represent their feelings through colors and structures to develop protective distance for understanding and telling their emotional experiences. The LSP method operates as a controlled emotional testing space that enables participants to assess possible future scenarios without experiencing actual dangers. We can use these playful creations to develop a structured approach to understanding and mapping human emotions, enabling us to convert temporary feelings into collective knowledge that people can discuss. It is also important to use LSP as an approach to both understand each participant's individual take on any situation and help understand how each emotional response is similar/dissimilar to others in the team. The method involves participants not only cognitively but also using their fine motor skills, making them better able to express their emotions through demonstration rather than just narration. Niamh Nelson-Owens, University of Manchester, “Creative Methods and the More-Than-Representational: Working with Unknowing in Fieldwork”
How can researchers work with phenomena that are neither fixed nor fully present, existing only in relational and affective entanglements and exceeding conventional methods of representation? This question has animated my doctoral research, which examines the role of affect and emotion in graphic vegan activist encounters and their relation to broader political processes. In this lightning talk, I reflect on creative methods, including open interviewing, event observation, and autoethnographic reflections, and explore what emerges when we embrace the partiality of representations rather than seeking closure. By attending to unknowing and the impossibility of representation, I show how these methods open space for richer understanding, dialogue, and engagement with the complexities of fieldwork encounters. Lisa Clark, University of York, “When Personal Connection Becomes Method: Challenges of Using Heuristic Inquiry to Explore Companion Animal Loss Among HE Academics”
This lightning talk focusses on the use of heuristic inquiry to explore the lived and remembered experiences of companion animal loss among higher education academics and its significance for identity and academic life (Bloch, 2012, Voegele, 2023). Heuristic inquiry places the researcher’s personal connection to the phenomenon at the centre of the research process (Moustakas, 1990, 1994; Sultan, 2019), creating opportunities for deep reflexive insight but also raising methodological challenges. In particular, I am grappling with how I will balance the dual role of researcher and participant, how to manage emotional proximity to the topic, and how to demonstrate analytic rigour while remaining faithful to subjective and embodied experience. I hope to open a conversation about navigating emotionally engaged personal connection as a method, which enables deeper and more meaningful insight into the phenomenon (Dixon, 2021). Esther, Matina Kapsali, University of Manchester, “From Output to Method: Online Zine-Making as a Feminist Digital Practice”
This presentation explores online zine-making as a research method, not just a creative product. Drawing on our experience of creating an online zine together, we reflect on what happens when a traditionally DIY, handmade format moves into a digital space. In a series of five online workshops, we worked collaboratively using collage, photos, poetry, short texts and visual storytelling under the theme “the social lives of food.” The zine was not only something we produced at the end. It became the space where thinking happened. Through images, fragments, humour, memories and sensory details, we shared experiences in ways that felt different from a typical interview or classroom discussion. In this presentation, we ask: (i) What does online zine-making allow that traditional qualitative methods do not?; (ii) How does working multimodally change who speaks, how they speak, and what counts as knowledge?; and (iii) How does designing and editing together shift power between researcher and participants?. We will reflect on both the possibilities and the challenges of digital collaboration — including questions of ownership, visibility and platform dependence. By sharing our joint experience as facilitator and participant, we suggest that online zine-making can function as a feminist, participatory method that creates space for shared authority, creativity and different forms of knowledge.
Stream 1 – Panel 3 “Researching Inequalities”
Freddie Jones, University of Manchester, “Connections beyond words: the social lives of non-speaking neurodivergent young people”
This lightning talk explores ways researchers can illuminate the social lives of non-speaking neurodivergent young people, challenging common assumptions that limited speech equates to limited social engagement. Drawing on qualitative insights, the talk highlights methods which can be used to work with young people to understand how they form, maintain, and experience relationships through alternative forms of communication, shared activities, and digital spaces. It emphasises the need for qualitative methods for data collection and data analysis to recognise and respect more diverse communicative practices. The presentation also explores the potential role of supportive environments, such as green spaces, in enabling meaningful social connections for non-speaking neurodivergent young people. By centering the methods which elicit the perspectives and experiences of non-speaking individuals, the presentation aims to broaden understandings of sociality and encourage more inclusive approaches in research, education, and practice when supporting neurodivergent young people. Lala Karimova, Lancaster University, “Exploring Female Leadership in Azerbaijani Higher Education: Barriers and Overcoming Strategies through Feminist Narrative Inquiry”
The current study employs a qualitative research design, using Feminist Narrative Inquiry to delve into the experiences of women in leadership roles within higher education in Azerbaijan. This methodological framework focuses on the significance of personal narratives and storytelling for gaining a deep understanding of individuals' lived experiences within the context of power, gender, and institutional structures (Clandinin, 2006; Woodiwiss et al., 2017). By adopting this approach, the study aims to uncover how women in leadership roles within universities navigate their positions, while confronting and overcoming various obstacles. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with female leaders in universities of Azerbaijan. Semi-structured interviews provide flexibility in the discussion, allowing the researcher to explore participants' answers more thoroughly while ensuring the conversation remains focused on the primary research objectives. The purposive sampling was applied to select women leaders in senior administrative roles, such as rectors, vice-rectors, deans, and department heads from both public and private universities (Creswell, 2017). This study is grounded in Nancy Fraser's Three-Dimensional Theory of Justice, which addresses justice through the lenses of redistribution, recognition, and representation (Fraser, 2013). By employing Fraser’s theory, the study explores how women leaders in Azerbaijan challenge gender inequalities in higher education institutions. Thematic analysis, which was utilized to analyze data, allows the identification of key themes and patterns emerging from narratives (Creswell, 2017). This will be followed by a critical analysis to assess how the findings contribute to the understanding of gender dynamics in higher education leadership in Azerbaijan. Julius Nyerere Gbowee Embassy of the Republic of Liberia, “Who Shapes the Narrative? Examining the Imbalance Between African thinktanks and UK and European thinktanks”
This research will examine the imbalance in knowledge production between African Thinktanks and thinktanks in the United Kingdoms and Europe when it comes to who shape policy narratives regarding African issues in the geopolitical area. The paper will analyze the disparities in funding, institutional capacity, access to data, and integration into international policy networks systematically advantage UK and European think tanks, enabling them to dominate agenda-setting processes and influence global discourse on Africa. Drawing on a comparative analysis of publication output, citation patterns, and policy engagement, the study highlights how African driven perspectives are often underrepresented or mediated through external influence. The research will further explore how this imbalance reinforces broader global policy dependency between Europe-based and Africa-based policy institutions. It concludes by proposing strategies to strengthen African think tank ecosystems, including increased domestic investment, and more equitable partnerships in global knowledge production. Oluwatosin Ajibola, University of Manchester, “The Legal Determinants of Maternal Mortality: Addressing Racial Inequalities Among Recent Black Migrant Women in England”
My research investigates the disproportionately high maternal mortality and morbidity rates among Black migrant women in England. It adopts a mixed-methods, interdisciplinary design that combines doctrinal legal analysis with qualitative inquiry to capture both structural and lived dimensions of maternal health inequities. Doctrinal analysis is used to critically examine legal frameworks, policies, and the existing academic literature relevant to maternal health and racial inequities, which shape Black maternal health outcomes. This is complemented by qualitative methods, including semi-structured interviews with Black migrant women who have accessed maternity services in England within the past five years, capturing lived experiences of navigating legal, welfare, and healthcare systems. Focus group discussions with professionals in law, policy, and maternal health advocacy provide institutional perspectives and enable triangulation of findings. Purposive and snowball sampling strategies are employed to ensure inclusion of diverse and often marginalised voices. The qualitative approach enables an in-depth exploration of how legal and institutional systems are experienced in practice, particularly in relation to race, immigration status, welfare, and access to healthcare. Riyanka Sharma, University of Manchester, “Mechanisms, Assumptions, and Boundary Conditions in a Domestic Supply Chain”
Domestic supply chains (DSCs) are increasingly positioned as a strategic response to global supply risk, geopolitical uncertainty, and coordination complexity. Yet while prior research often assumes that geographical proximity improves operational performance, the mechanisms through which such benefits arise remain under-theorized. This creates a gap in understanding how and when DSCs deliver improved outcomes. This study investigates DSCs in emerging economies through a comparative multi-case study of four industrial manufacturing firms in India. This context is particularly relevant given policy initiatives such as Make in India, which promote supply chain localization and highlight the need to understand its performance implications. Emerging economy supply networks are further characterized by institutional variability, capability asymmetries, and hybrid governance structures, making them both theoretically important and underexplored. The study critically examines whether spatial proximity alone explains responsiveness or whether coordination processes and institutional conditions enable DSCs to generate operational advantages. The research may encounter challenges in accessing multiple firms, capturing cross-functional perspectives, and comparing heterogeneous networks, which the study aims to address through a multi-case, cross-functional interview design.
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