Research Assistant, Fierce Festival, Mac Arts Centre, Birmingham, UK
As a Research Assistant for the Sociology Department at the University of Warwick, I worked with Dr Cath Lambert to design and deliver a research hub within a public exhibition space at the Fierce Live Art Festival in Birmingham. The hub accompanied artist Brian Lobel’s project 'Fun With Cancer Patients', which used art to challenge taboos around cancer through creative collaborations with local teenagers who had experienced the illness.
Our research space invited visitors to share thoughts, feelings, and questions in response to the exhibition through writing, drawing, and other expressive forms. We gathered and analysed oral, visual, and textual evidence from audience members, performers, and teenage participants, employing interdisciplinary, arts-led methodologies to explore how live art can provoke dialogue and reframe difficult subjects.
This project gave me hands-on experience conducting research in a public setting, using participatory approaches to study performance and theatre-based work. It demonstrated the potential of creative methods to generate meaningful insights into social issues and audience engagement.