Arts-Based Knowledge Creation, Exploring ways to incorporate creative research dissemination praxis into academia.

In social and behavioural sciences, the standard formats used for research dissemination are written articles, handbooks, and research reports. This suggests that a lot of what we produce in terms of knowledge loops back to our own research community, but fails to reach impact among other stakeholders in society.

This research intends to investigate the potential of and experiences with creative research dissemination practices (CRDP), either as an alternative or as a supplement to standard written academic formats for research dissemination. With CRDF we refer to five major types of artistically inspired or design related creations: Interactions (games, websites, videos), Visual art forms (photographs, paintings, cartoons, still images, video productions, drawings, paintings,), Performing Arts (dance, drama, musical productions), Literary works (poetry, fictions, short stories, blogs, creative writing) and Projects (prototypes, designs, installations, 3D sculptures etc.) (Gergen & Gergen, 2011; Leavy, 2009; Wang, Coemans, Siegesmund & Hannes, 2017). Previous research has shown that research insights communicated through CRD formats are more memorable and accessible for people beyond academia (Kjellberg, 2010; Haywood-Rolling, 2017), are more likely to generate new types of meaning that can further inform a debate, change its direction (Barab & Squire, 2004), and stimulate new, potentially provocative ways of reflection (Eisner, 2002).

The project is guided by three core research questions:
- How does our recent historical and societal context influence our thinking and acting upon CRDP in academia?
The following questions will further guide our inquiry: Which educational ideologies and regulations currently define academic dissemination practices in social and behavioural sciences? How are these practices patterned by academic institutions, habits, and social power relations? What are the historical tipping points in the way research is conducted and disseminated, and what are the societal, ideological, and epistemological factors related to such shifts? How do important historical methodological developments such as the Vienna method (Leonard, 2001), the arts-based movement (Eisner, 1995), the multi-modality discourse (Archer, 2006) and digitalization trends influence the way we currently conduct and disseminate research?
- To what extent do European (student)researchers engage with CRDP and what are the experiences and challenges involved in using them?
The following questions will further guide our inquiry: What is the current state of the art in European universities in terms of academics engagement with CRDP? Who uses what, how often, in which context and with what specific purpose? How do the different universities and academics compare to each other? What are potential challenges and opportunities for academics who use CRDP? How does an academic involvement with different modes of academic expression contribute to or hinder personal and career development? How do we see this movement evolve over time?
- How does a pedagogical module integrating CRDP operate and affect (student)researchers?
The following questions will further guide our inquiry: Has the replication of the aesthetic pedagogical model that served as a demonstration project in arts and design disciplines been useful in the context of training social and behavioural scientists? Has it facilitated meaning making processes? How does it operate? What are its strengths and weaknesses? What is the perceived impact it generates, e.g. in terms of cognitive-intellectual, personal, and career development? How does it perform in terms of shaping students’ future disciplinary self? What can potentially be improved or optimized or changed in the process of engaging (student)researchers with artful forms of pedagogy?