The day was broken up into four fun and engaging sessions with breaks including refreshments in between each one. The first session, Telling tales: communicating sustainability research through fairy tale characters, was jointly presented by Dr Katherine Ellsworth-Krebs of Strathclyde University, Dr Carolynne Lord of Lancaster University and Dr Torik Holmes of The University of Manchester. Read the session abstract here:

"Storytelling is an important way to communicate the findings of environmental sustainability research. Storytelling supports collective agenda setting, embraces complexity, and represents one way to tackle the ‘wicked problems’ of climate change. It is particularly important given the commonly opaque nature of scientific outputs, and the urgency in which responses to climate change are now required. Responding to these challenges and recognising the value of storytelling, this workshop presentation will provide guidance and activities that support researchers to translate research in their field using fairy tale characters – as culturally sensitive, yet broadly intelligible, metaphors. Participation in this workshop will provide participants with resources to engage in more creative forms of writing and publication. We’ll share our process of working with an illustrator and developing connections between mermaids, vampires and witches to translate energy and social science research in the empirical contexts of electricity generation, sustainable travel, and plastic pollution in the UK (Lord et al., 2022)."

After a short break, attendees were invited back in to experience the second session of the day What stories can be informed by and unfold from a photograph? This session was given by Dr Marilene Ribeiro, Research Associate at The University of Manchester, and articulated and explored photography as a prolific creative method to inquiry and communicate. It equipped workshop participants with some uses that can be done with and unfold from the photographic medium as a research tool.

Following this, the third session of the day was hosted by Dr Laura Pottinger of The University of Manchester, and was titled Collective and connective stitching. Read Laura's abstract of the session below:

"There is growing interest in the potential of slow, reflective craft practices as both a means of carrying out and communicating socio-environmental research (see for example the Stitching Together Network 2020). The act of stitching or making together in groups can create feelings of wellbeing and connection, and can enable researchers to generate rich data in the process of handling, manipulating, evaluating and talking about materials along with participants. In this workshop, we will think together about how stitching can be used as a creative method for researching environmental sustainability. The session will touch on the transformative potential of connective and collective stitch with examples of different forms textile making (e.g. felt, stitch, knit, dye) that have been used in a variety of research projects. Participants will have an opportunity to make a small stitched piece and reflect on their own experience of collaborative textile making."

To round of the day, the final session was given by Dr Jenna Ashton of The University of Manchester. In her session Research Knowledge Creation, Interpretation, Analysis, and Dissemination through Clay Play, participants were encouraged to explore clay play as method within a variety of research contexts. Participants got hands-on with clay as an exciting and adaptable haptic-led medium, to apply within data collection, interpretation, analysis, to dissemination.