Innovation Hub collaborations

Shining Lights aims to bring new knowledge regarding the activity and outputs of Black photographers making work in the UK to a broad public audience. The project is building new debate related to the recent publication, Shining Lights by Joy Gregory which is the first critical anthology to bring together the ground-breaking work of Black women photographers active in the UK during the 1980s and 1990s, providing a richly illustrated overview of a significant and overlooked chapter of photographic history.

Seen through the lens of Britain’s socio-political and cultural contexts, Shining Lights draws on both lived experience and historical investigation to explore the communities, experiments, collaborations, and complexities that defined the decades. The innovative and diverse work created during this period spanned documentary and conceptual practices, including the experimental use of photomontage, self-portraiture, staged imagery, and photography in dialogue with other media.

Shining Lights showcases the breadth of this work, illuminated by ephemera and archival material, historical essays, and roundtable conversations. First-hand experiences and critical reflections are provided by new writings by pioneers of the period.

Partner: Victoria & Albert Museum

UCA Contact: Anna Fox

The KE project is a collaboration between A IS FOR ARCHITECTURE and Gabor Stark (UCA Canterbury) to explore the intersection of architecture and sound. Stark will reinterpret the practice’s designs through a sonic/musical lens, expanding cross-disciplinary dialogue. This builds on his research into graphic notation as a shared language between architecture and music, with past exhibitions at the Venice and Larnaca Biennales. The project fosters industry connections and enhances practice-led research.

Key Contact: Gabor Stark

Partner: A is For Architecture 

In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats is an acclaimed VR experience that immerses users in the 1989 Coventry rave scene, capturing the cultural and musical essence of the Acid House movement. While currently a single-player experience, this research—funded alongside Innovate UK support for East City Films—aims to expand it into a multiplayer format, enhancing accessibility and audience engagement.

By integrating networked VR technology, the project will enable participants to experience the rave scene together in real time, interacting with key figures such as promoters, police, and fellow rave-goers. This transition is expected to increase audience throughput, making the experience more operationally efficient and commercially viable for venue-based installations.

Through technical feasibility studies and user experience testing, the research will evaluate whether a multiplayer adaptation can preserve the narrative integrity and immersion of the original. Findings will inform the business model for VR location-based entertainment (LBE), reducing risks and unlocking new revenue streams through group ticketing, ultimately ensuring the experience is scalable, accessible, and financially sustainable while retaining its artistic and cultural impact.

Key Contact: Roderick Morgan

Partner: East City Films

This project explores the translation of physical art installations into virtual experiences, leveraging emerging technologies (VR/XR and browser-based platforms) to create accessible, immersive sculptural and installation-based visual arts. The focus is on diverse perceptions of time, particularly through the lens of Crip Time, which acknowledges the unique temporal experiences of deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent individuals.

By developing digitally accessible art installations, the project aims to expand digital capabilities within the visual arts sector, integrating adaptive, user-centered timelines that accommodate individual sensory and cognitive rhythms. Through collaboration with artists, technologists, and marginalized communities, the project will foster inclusive virtual art spaces and document best practices for accessibility.

The virtual installations, envisioned as "time machines," will engage UCA students and staff to gather insights and shape responsive, immersive digital environments. The research will contribute to advancing digital inclusion in contemporary art, ensuring that immersive experiences are designed to be accessible, adaptable, and reflective of diverse lived experiences.

Key Contact: Sophy Smith

Partners: Cathy Mager (Artist), The Space

This project explores the potential of Virtual Production (VP) as an early intervention tool in the pre-production and production phases of long-form sci-fi drama television, demonstrating how VP can enable ambitious creative storytelling while reducing costs. The research will focus on a three-day VP studio shoot for the pilot of FAULTS, leveraging real-time rendering and in-camera effects to test VP’s efficiency, flexibility, and scalability for independent productions.

By integrating students, graduates, and industry professionals, the project fosters knowledge exchange and real-world industry engagement. A curated team of UCA alumni and students from disciplines such as Games Art, Animation, Film, Set and Prop Design, and Performance will collaborate alongside industry mentors, ensuring cross-sector collaboration and hands-on learning. Each key crew member—including director, producer, DOP, and VP specialists—will mentor a UCA student or graduate, establishing a new model for work experience that aligns with UCA’s industry-academic parity goals.

A ‘Making Of’ documentary and case study will capture the project’s development, providing impactful research insights and promotional content, strengthening UCA’s Knowledge Exchange (KE) initiatives, and positioning VP as a commercially viable tool for independent film and TV production. This research will enhance industry collaboration, generate new funding opportunities, and highlight UCA’s leadership in immersive media innovation.

Key Contact: Ted Wilkes

Partner: Ligatura Films , Sunbelt rentals

This project investigates the effectiveness of augmented reality (AR) in enhancing visitor engagement at the National Museum of Malaysia, with the aim of informing future AR applications in UK museums. By evaluating AR’s impact on sustainable tourism and cultural heritage preservation, the project will provide insights into how AR can improve accessibility, visitor satisfaction, and engagement with museum collections.

A pilot study at UCA will involve the development of AR content, replicating a section of the National Museum of Malaysia to collect user interaction data. On-site research will include data collection on visitor engagement and AR effectiveness using established evaluation models (UTAUT and UEQ). Additionally, workshops with museum staff and DreamEDGE Sdn Bhd will refine AR content based on visitor feedback, ensuring improvements align with audience preferences.

Key Contact: Adila Nordin

Partner: Department of Museums Malaysia

The project aims to conduct user trials and market research for the Moo-Moo Lasso, a patented and registered product. A batch of prototypes will be produced for public testing, starting with Fallowbrook Western Riding Club, to refine the design and assess pricing.

Further trials will take place at the Black Deer Festival, where visitors can try the product, receive instruction, and provide feedback, helping to determine its commercial potential.

Key Contact: Stephen Davis

Partner: Fallowbrook Western Riding Club

The aim of this project is to explore the potential of Virtual Production (VP) as an early intervention tool during the pre-production and production phases of long-form sci-fi drama television series. The project seeks to demonstrate how VP can facilitate artistic visual explorations that would otherwise be restricted by time and cost limitations. This will take place during a 2-3 day shoot in our VP studio, capturing a scene to be used in the pilot of TV series ‘FAULTS’.

UCA Contact: Lauren Newport-Quinn, Ted Wilkes, Roderick Morgan

The Fast Forward project, Putting Ourselves in the Picture – Part 2: Engaging with Industry, launched in May in collaboration with five pioneering organizations, including Women for Refugee Women, Autograph, Creative Response, National Galleries of Scotland, and Work Show Grow. The project works with marginalized women and non-binary photographers in Farnham, Edinburgh, and London, connecting them with the photography industry through workshops, field visits, and talks.

A key goal is to produce a publication in collaboration with National Galleries of Scotland and Autograph, documenting participants' work. This will serve as a legacy for the project, a promotional tool, and a means to engage local audiences while boosting participants' confidence and professional skills. The publication will also help showcase their work for exhibitions and further industry opportunities.

Key contact: Professor Anna Fox

Partner: National Galleries of Scotland, Autograph

The Navigating Luxury initiative is a growing platform for industry engagement, bringing together academics, industry leaders, consumers, and luxury enthusiasts. Since its launch in 2022, it has explored themes such as ‘Quality by Association’ (2023) and ‘Quiet Luxury?’ (2024), gaining strong recognition in both British and international luxury sectors.

The project serves as a networking and knowledge exchange hub, allowing UCA staff, students, and alumni to connect with leading industry figures. The event’s prestige is reflected in high-profile attendees from industry examiners, reinforcing its role as a key fixture in the luxury calendar.

Key contact: Nadya Ostroff

Remember Nature 2025 (RN25) marks the 10-year anniversary of Gustav Metzger’s nationwide day of action, first launched in 2015. This ambitious re-staging will engage 14 regional partners across England, working with underrepresented communities to promote climate justice through mass participation in the arts on 4 November 2025.

RN25 will feature 14 commissioned artists, a public day of action, a live-streamed event, a press and marketing campaign, and a new accessible website. The project builds on Metzger’s vision of art as a force for the common good, fostering collective creative action to reframe our relationship with nature and culture.

Key Contact: Andrea Gregson

The NPG-UCA partnership builds on the Photo Portrait Now project to explore sustainable knowledge exchange and outreach between the National Portrait Gallery and HEIs. In 2024/25, UCA will pilot the initiative, providing students and staff with direct engagement opportunities with NPG curators, archives, and industry professionals. Through curator-led seminars, artist and industry talks, and hands-on workshops, participants will gain insights into portrait photography, curatorial practice, and professional pathways. The project will culminate in a student exhibition at UCA Farnham and an industry symposium at NPG in May 2025, fostering connections between academia, the gallery, and the professional photography world. By creating new industry networks and professional development opportunities, the initiative strengthens academic-industry collaboration and enhances the student experience while shaping a long-term model for HEI partnerships with NPG.

Key contact: Annie Ras

Partner: National Portrait Gallery

The Directional Forces - New Horizons residency builds on UCA’s Artist-in-Residence (AIR) legacy and Professor Hedley Roberts’ Directional Forces initiative, engaging early to mid-career artists from underrepresented backgrounds in a structured Art and Advocacy program. Inspired by Joseph Beuys’ concept of “Directional Forces” (Richtkräfte), the residency fosters community engagement, social transformation, and creative advocacy by connecting external artists with Kent’s creative communities and regional organizations. Through workshops, open studio days, and community dialogues, the artist will use their practice to break barriers, promote inclusivity, and explore themes of decolonization, cultural inclusion, and social change. The residency will culminate in a public exhibition and showcase, reinforcing UCA’s commitment to artistic exchange, accessibility, and social impact while laying the foundation for a future research centre and long-term advocacy initiatives.

Key Contact: Hedley Roberts

Partners: Canterbury Arts Network

The UCA-NPG collaboration offers an interdisciplinary knowledge exchange for fashion image students at UCA (Epsom) in connection with NPG’s The Face magazine exhibition (Feb-May 2025). This initiative provides students with industry exposure, hands-on learning, and public engagement opportunities, enhancing their understanding of fashion photography’s historical and contemporary impact.

Through a study day at NPG, campus workshops with industry professionals, and a final showcase, students will develop creative responses to a brief set by NPG and The Face magazine, receiving professional feedback and digital visibility via NPG and The Face’s online platforms. The project culminates in public activations, a student showcase at NPG, and a digital zine, fostering industry connections and broadening the reach of students’ creative output. By integrating education, industry, and public engagement, the initiative strengthens UCA’s Fashion Image cluster’s profile while supporting NPG’s future education programming.

Key contact: Sally Waterman

Partners: National Portrait Gallery (NPG) and The Face magazine

This project explores carbon calculation in media production, industry mentorship, and professional practices through a live-recorded panel discussion on the golden age of broadcast comedy. Bringing together industry experts and UCA staff, the initiative will examine sustainable production methods, the evolution of comedy television, and the role of resilience in the industry.

Through workshops and mentorship sessions, participants will engage with professionals to develop insights into broadcast production, sustainability, and industry expectations. The discussion will be recorded, edited, and documented as a case study, culminating in an academic chapter on industry practices and a research paper on resilience in comedy television. This project strengthens industry-academic collaboration, advances knowledge exchange, and contributes to the development of sustainable production resources for future practitioners.

Key Contact: Katarina Sengstaken

Partner: Maidstone TV studio

Building on the development of a reuse-carbon calculator/methodology, this project aims to adapt a beta cricket gear/clothing reuse-carbon tool has been developed for use at a cricket club level. The tool is presently in a ‘back office’ format and only usable by a project manager. The goal is to transform the existing tool into an online user-friendly version that can be widely used by cricket clubs and leagues without prior training. This tool informed by the lessons learnt from the development of the LTCGRS carbon-reuse calculator, the Cricket Gear Reuse Project (CGR) project and the repair-carbon calculator developed with/for Farnham Repair Café that is being used by over 100 repair cafes. The goal will be to further develop, test and trial an adapted club-based methodology and tool in a London-Surrey cricket gear/ clothing reuse pilot in 2024-2025 that is being developed with the Coop and potentially Surrey County Cricket Club/Foundation. The tool aims to enable local cricket gear/clothing reuse schemes to assess and report on the carbon emissions (CO2e) savings at a cricket club/league level.  The objectives are:  

• To adapt the back-office club carbon-reuse methodology/tool based on the development of the LTCGRS reuse-carbon methodology and calculator and practical experiences of the Cricket Gear Reuse Project (CGR) to develop a user-friendly tool that can be used directly by cricket clubs and leagues. 
• To test the user-friendly online reuse-carbon calculator with clubs/leagues within a London-Surrey cricket gear/clothing reuse pilot to be organised in 2024-25 and to feedback lessons learnt for further improve the methodology/tool.
• To display to organisations and individuals engaged in cricket gear/clothing reuse schemes estimated carbon emissions and landfill savings in a quantified and consistent manner.

Partners: The Coop, Surrey County Cricket Club, Spencer Cricket Club, Yorkshire Cricket Foundation.

UCA Contact: Martin Charter

The aim of the project is to bring together industry, local community and UCA to build a critical mass of creativity centred around the University and Farnham Maltings. The project aims to build Music & Film into an annual festival called KinoSonic that explores themes of sound and image in cinema and beyond. We aim to create knowledge exchange through performances, screenings, workshops and networking events. The programmed events have been designed to impact different members of community from local musicians, cinema goers, young people, students, through to hobbyists and retirees with a general interest in arts and culture, including:

• Live soundtrack performance of Dr Caligari by Minima.
• Screenings of immersive documentaries 32 Sounds and Sisters with Transistors.
• Talks with Ivor Novello award winning film composers Geoff Barrow (ex-Portishead) and Ben Salisbury.
• Industry talks from Ableton and BFI.
• Workshops at UCA on Foley, Ableton.
• Live soundtrack performance to a selection of Laurel & Hardy films by Neil Brand.
• Improvisational soundtrack workshop led by Sea of Cables.

Partner: Farnham Maltings

UCA contact: Matt Lindsey

The project involves a community-based exhibition and events project that will take the history of London’s street markets to the localities where they still continue today.   Street market communities will be engaged in co-creation of a shared history, and this history and heritage will be deployed to reinforce the place-making potential of the markets.

The project will deliver a series of small, local exhibitions and pop-up History Stalls in London’s street markets, exhibiting historical photographs and material, including Laszlo Moholy-Nagy’s 1936 photographs from his photobook The Street Markets of London. Contemporary photographers will be commissioned to document present-day street markets, and work with community-based groups to generate new photographic material from non- professional photographers. Oral history testimory and old photographs from street market communities will be included.

Partners: London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Street Trading Office Assoc. of London Markets, Greater London Authority Markets Board.

UCA contact: Victoria Kelley

Mechanical Memory offers a ‘happening’ of interdisciplinary events, workshops, and exhibitions that showcase research findings, artistic works, and technological innovations related to memory.

It’s multiple purposes include: Launching and evaluating the ACT app to assess its impact on the quality of life for individuals living with dementia and their caregivers; Facilitating artistic collaborations and disseminating research findings and artistic outputs through, presentations, and public engagement activities.

The project consolidates and advances research on memory at UCA,  fostering a cohesive narrative for both academic impact and research culture as well as promoting interdisciplinary collaboration and engaging the local community.

UCA contact: Harry Whalley

This community-based project spans from Farnham to the Caribbean, using the work of Guyanese author Edgar Mittelholzer as a starting point for a VR film and live event. It combines spoken word, music, documentary, and latest virtual studio production.

We believe that a new audience exists for the once prolific writer whose books are largely forgotten. The aim of the project is to create an interdisciplinary project that allows for a reimagining of Mittelholzer’s work through a collaboration with historians, writers, and musicians.

2025 will mark the 60th anniversary of Mittelholzer’s death in Farnham and this will be an excellent opportunity to celebrate his work from a new and unique perspective and develop new audiences and networks.   

Partner: Farnham Literary Festival

UCA Contact: Simon Aeppli

This project has two main aims: first to expose educators at UCA to the Lego® SERIOUS PLAY® methodology, and second to create a UCA working group for the THE UCA X SeriousWork: LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®  project.

In the first stage, SERIOUSWORK run a 1.5 day session to available staff to explore the LSP® methodology in a classroom context. This would allow for a collaborative training environment where lecturers from across disciplines would be able to develop strategies to use LSP® in their own learning and teaching.

In the second stage, and further to the initial session, we will look to establish THE UCA X SeriousWork: LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Creative Development Lab where we will encourage interested parties from across disciplines to look at further refining the methodology to create a unique way of using LSP® for developing creative artefact responses and / or teaching within an art school environment.

Partner: SeriousWork

UCA contact: Ted Wilkes

This immersive learning project aims to empower children by teaching them how to use virtual reality (VR) technology and enabling them to share their stories and experiences through creative storytelling.

The project collaborates with both Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) and the Army Welfare Service (AWS), leveraging their unique strengths to empower children through VR technology and storytelling. Working with SAS allows us to engage children with critical environmental issues, fostering a deep connection to ocean conservation through the creation of immersive VR experiences. Simultaneously, our partnership with AWS focuses on supporting military children, providing them with a platform to share their personal stories and navigate their unique challenges in a creative and therapeutic environment.

Partner: Surfers Against Sewage

UCA contact: Lucy Hayto

This project explores collaborative opportunities and develop a funding relationship with Children’s Health Ireland, showcasing how UCA’s games and creative technology provision can be used to inform practice-based research with real-world impact.

We aim to build creative technology prototypes for the clinical team in the Forest Hospital to use to develop grant applications with a focus on children 8-17 who cannot leave the ward due to illness or treatment, and also establish a proof of concept and research relationship that can be used to explore future international funding opportunities with Children’s Health Ireland.    

Partner: New Children’s Hospital, Ireland

UCA Contact: Jeremiah Ambrose

The project integrates emerging technologies into live performance, enhancing the creative process and final production of Pepa Ubera's new work, “The Machine of Horizontal Dreams” (TMoHD) which will be premiered at Sadler’s Wells in summer 2025.

This project aims to challenge traditional social structures and explore the body's interaction with ecology and technology through interdisciplinary practice.

It’s objectives are: to explore and apply emerging technologies such as AI, projection mapping, live movement capture (mocap and volcap), and hybrid digital/physical performance practices within a live performance context; to foster collaboration between Pepa Ubera, UCA researchers, and students, promoting interdisciplinary knowledge exchange and to create a pioneering performance piece that positions UCA at the forefront of integrating technology within the performing arts, showcased through the premiere at Sadler’s Wells.

Partner: Pepa Ubera

UCA Contact: Sophy Smith 

The key aim of the project is to exchange knowledge between UCA researchers and Stopgap Dance Company in order to explore innovative uses of technology in inclusive dance practices. It aims to leverage motion capture for inclusivity, promoting accessible digital dance while challenging social perceptions to present positive representations of diversity. Barriers to digital dance participation will be identified and addressed, and training and mentoring programs for diverse dancers will be offered. The project will advocate for inclusivity and reflecct on best practices in accessible dance.

Partner: Stop Gap Dance

UCA Contact: Gavin Lewis

Murmuration’s aims to test radical new ways of non-human collaboration, exploring human, plant/vegetal & mineral relationships in the context of neurodiversity & artistic creation (with a focus on writing), whilst developing new ways of curating through community partnerships, including the co-curation of a symposium, outreach & exhibition programme on Neurodiversity, Nature & Creativity, produced in partnership with Living Words and their annual Normal? Festival of the Brain.

The project develops new professional networks for UCA in arts & health sector, and new audiences for UCA, fostering new ways of co-curating, through mentorship & collaboration for both UCA & Living Words while promoting UCA as a cross-disciplinary space for practice-based research.

Partner: Living Words

UCA Contact: Bean

Partners: Farnham Craft Town (also New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham Town Council, Craftspace, Birmingham).

UCA Contact: Stephen Knott

This project aims to adapt and test the PC4Fashion tool developed for the use of the broader textile and fashion industry to meet the specific needs for the design and development of circular sports apparel, and more specifically, cricket clothing as a case study.

The project builds upon the learning from the PC4Fashion tool funded by the previous round of Knowledge Exchange Fund (December 2023) which sought to develop a product circularity starter tool to support the fashion, clothing, and textile industry in commencing their circularity journey. The focus of the PC4Fashion tool was to support the design and development process to produce products that are aligned to circular economy principles.

Partner: Lacuna Sports (sportswear company); Trevor Davis & Associates (TDA); UK Fashion and Textiles association (UKFT); British Fashion Council (BFC) (initial discussion over potential partnership); Decathlon and potentially The Salvation Army (major UK textiles repairer).

UCA Contact: Lilian Sanchez Moreno

Cricket is the 2nd largest sport globally with sustainability activities in the sector focused on the impact of climate change on venues and grounds. There has been little research related to sustainability and specifically circularity related to the gear used to play the game. This project builds on the lessons learnt from previous projects by the team. The aim is to develop tangible outcomes and impacts based on learning from these projects and continue to build relationships with stakeholders.

The project will focus on two areas: a) Place-based innovation (PBI); b) Design and development (D&D); c) Exploitation routes for outcomes of a) and b). PBI: to build on the lessons learnt from 3 pilot projects in Surrey focused on cricket gear reuse that delivered over 450+ items of cricket gear of which a significant proportion was redistributed locally to state schools, disadvantaged individuals and cash-strapped families; to establish a cricket gear reuse and impact analysis programme for cricket clubs in Surrey working with Surrey Cricket Foundation (SCF) and the Coop; to deliver cricket repair and refurbishment training in Surrey with SCF, Coop and Decathlon. D&D: to further develop prototypes: (i) cricket batting pad that incorporates vegan leathers and circular designs; (ii) wicket keeping inner gloves that use vegan leather; (iii) refurbished cricket gloves that utilise recycled leather; and (v) cricket gear repair kit. Complete a plan related to routes for exploitation of outputs from a) and b).

Partners: Various

UCA Contact: Martin Charter

Classed Acts is an ongoing series of socially engaged research projects whose key aim is to address barriers to inclusion for people from working-class backgrounds in Creative Higher Education (CHE) and the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs).

The proposed project ‘Classed Acts: Turning up the Volume’ is a public engagement event which builds on the successes of knowledge exchange partnerships built through the Classed Acts podcast – a UCA/EDI/ECR funded research-podcast launched in December 2023.

This public engagement event will develop themes from the podcast through an afternoon symposium with a keynote speaker and panel discussion of invited guests from the podcast and more widely, and an evening event of live music and performance showcase by invited artists from working-class backgrounds.

This public engagement event will expand on discussion from the Classed Acts podcast, addressing inequalities and social inclusion in the CCIs and CHE; inform and engage wider audiences and reshape public opinion on working-class narratives through exploring the experiences of those in careers in the arts and creative education; foster industry engagement and deepen partnerships with stakeholders including Story Compound and Uncultured Creatives. 

Partner: Story Compound and Uncultured Creatives

The project aims to develop a ‘street furniture’ for the local communities of Dajing Village, an urban village adjacent to Xiamen University’s Zhangzhou Campus where ICI is located. The piece aims to combine a system of composting, cultivation space allocation, and socializing.

One objective concerns the recycling of organic waste matter, which when turned into compost, can be used for community cultivation. The compost produced through organic composting is free of heavy-metal pollution and thus produces healthier food and contributes to the cycle of sustainability.

Space is an issue in the village, which is why the concept seeks to create a public system of space allocation through provision of planting trays and the use of rooftop spaces, thus impacting the way of thinking in space planning of the village.

Lastly, the piece aims to incorporate social space and structures that allow people to just sit, relax, and gossip. As a matter of social innovation, undertaking of this project requires constant dialogue with the village authority and other enterprises. Thus one of the key aims is to foster long-term research relationships between academia, community and enterprise through a project that could potentially benefit all three and thus breakdown boundaries for increasing impact.

Furthermore, the project aims to organize a team of students to work on it collaboratively, therefore integrating sustainability, social innovation and commercial value-generating with pedagogic practice, benefitting enterprise, local communities, as well as education

Partners: Dajing Community Shareholders Economic Collaborative Collective,  Xiamen Hua Li New Architectural Decor Corporation Ltd., Xiamen Black Truffle Commerce Company Ltd.

UCA Contact: Zihong Yue

This KE project presents an architecture & sound-based collaboration between the architecture practice A IS FOR ARCHITECTURE and Gabor Stark, Senior Lecturer at UCA Canterbury. The project aims to establish a research and practice-led knowledge exchange between architectural design practice and academic research, and to share the outcome of this dialogue with the wider public. Both parties aim to expand their professional networks, to foster existing and to create new industry/sector links

Partner: A IS FOR ARCHITECTURE Ltd.

UCA Contact: Gabor Stark

This project aims to carry out user trials and market potential research of a new design, the Moo-Moo Lasso product, which has a granted UK Patent and Registered Design, to test and gain confidence that the product could be commercially successful. Having already achieved a working prototype with IP (granted UK Patent and Registered Design), the next stage of the project is to have a batch of the products made to further test these with the public. This is to gain further feedback, which may lead to design modifications and also to test how much people will pay for the product. This initial testing will include working with Fallowbrook Western Riding Club. Further activities include public feedback on the products and test marketing.

Partner: Fallowbrook Western Riding Club.

UCA Contact: Stephen Davies

Navigating Luxury brings together in one evening speakers and audiences from around the globe to discuss and debate luxury as an interdisciplinary art. Industry insiders, academic experts, luxury connoisseurs and devotees will all attend. From a private club in the heart of Mayfair, London, we will explore the themes of luxury as sustaining quality, ritual and performance, art collaborations, immersive, transformative experiences and the commodification of fine art. After successfully launching in 2022 we have had three successful years of growing this annual event exchanging knowledge between academia and industry, educate consumers and devotees, becoming not only part of luxury calendar, but also a centre for exchanging information, views and debates about the complex and often closed world of luxury.  

UCA Contact: Nadya Ostroff

For Putting Ourselves in the Picture – Part 2: Engaging with Industry we are working together with our partners developing the project with communities of marginalized women and non-binary people in three locations: Farnham, Edinburgh and London. Part 2 focuses on developing relationships with the photography industries that will offer work experiences such as day long field visits, workshops and talks with industry partners who are willing to work with us as experts and develop future opportunities for our participants, the emerging women and non-binary photographers.

This KE project is for the publication of all the work made, in each location, on this new part of the Putting Ourselves in the Picture project. The publication will be produced collaboratively with National Galleries of Scotland and Autograph who have experience in the publishing industry and will provide a vital legacy for the project as well as act as a vehicle to promote the project, through our networks across the globe. We will also use the publication to engage local audiences and as an important tool for the refugee and migrant participants to promote their work and confidence and in so doing enhance well-being in the community.

Partner: National Galleries of Scotland

UCA Contact: Anna Fox

Remember Nature is the acclaimed project and nationwide day of action instigated by artist Gustav Metzger in 2015. Remember Nature 2025 is an ambitious re-staging with 14 regional partners across England, working with under-represented people and groups, in local communities and priority places, to mark its 10-year anniversary. RN25 calls for the widest engagement across the arts, bringing people together on 4 November 2025 to creatively Remember Nature and promote climate justice.

Partner: REMEMBER NATURE

UCA Contact: Andrea Gregson

A collaboration between Fine Art and Photography Academic staff at UCA Farnham with external professional artists, curators and arts academics.  The artists are commissioned to present a series of bespoke exhibitions responding to the Black Box Project Space based at Farnham campus. We will use this space as a hub for contemporary art research attracting professional artists, curators, and academics to present a site-specific artwork in this space.   Alongside each show, the artists will present a lecture about their work open to the public, UCA staff and students, external visitors, academics, arts professionals, artists and UCA alumni. Black Box Project Space will become a site in which our co-investigators can engage with other artists to develop their own research and practices by networking with these external strategic partners.

Partner: Black Box Project Space

UCA Contact: Andrea Gregson

The aim of the partnership project between the National Portrait Gallery and UCA is to carry out research to investigate how NPG outreach programmes and knowledge exchange networks can be developed with HEI’s, following on from the success of the Photo Portrait Now project last year. The objective of the project is to create opportunities for both UCA students and academic staff to engage with the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) curators, creative producers, and professional photographers while networking with peers from other creative higher education institutions (HEIs). The partnership promotes a deeper connection between academia, NPG, and the professional photographic world, fostering engagement with the gallery's curators, archives, and exhibitions.  Through direct engagement with the gallery, UCA staff and students will gain valuable access to its institutional expertise and industry networks, fostering new professional development opportunities for staff while enhancing the student experience through hands-on learning and exposure to professional practice. 

Partner: National Portrait Gallery

UCA Contact: Annie Ras

This project builds on a successful partnership with Peter Marlow/Magnum Foundation, working with them to offer an archival research fellowship. The Peter Marlow Foundation will house the late Magnum Photographer Peter Marlow’s archive in a world class archive and gallery in Dungeness, Kent, due to open in 2026. The Foundation will also host a Magnum photo book library, dark room, workshops, events and artist residency programme.    We will deliver two outputs, first an Archive Research Fellowship to research photographic archive best practice (physical and digital) as the PMF prepare to house Peter’s archive in its new home in Dungeness. This information would then inform a further programme of work implementing this best practice.   The second output will be a Local Archive Trainee Programme  determining the different roles required to deliver a world class photographic archive and related activities and delivering a training programme for local young people to demystify and encourage them to pursue these as a career.

Partner: Peter Marlow Foundation / Magnum Photo Foundation

UCA Contact: Caroline Molloy

The Directional Forces - New Horizons residency builds upon UCA’s established legacy of Artist-in-Residence (AIR) programs, as well as Professor Hedley Roberts’ prior Directional Forces initiative, which has brought together over 100 international artists across multiple countries. This structured residency program situates UCA as a key hub for art advocacy, providing a robust platform for external artists from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds to engage with Kent’s extended creative communities.

Inspired by Joseph Beuys’ “Directional Forces” (Richtkräfte), the program aims to create a vibrant residency model that empowers external artists to connect meaningfully with regional organizations, expand their networks, and actively engage communities that may not typically access creative arts spaces. Through structured workshops, studio sessions, and community dialogues, the artist-in-residence will not only produce work but will also serve as an advocate and role model, showing how creative practice can contribute to social transformation and influence the creative economy.

Partners: UCA Canterbury Networks - Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury Council, Limbo Margate, Crate Margate, Dover Arts Development, Folkestone Triennale, Turner Contemporary, The Beaney Museum Canterbury, Cementfields, SECEN, SECIF, and others

UCA Contact: Hedley Roberts

This project aims to foster an interdisciplinary collaboration between students at UCA (Epsom) and the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in the context of their upcoming exhibition about The Face magazine (20th February-18th May 2025). This exhibition will celebrate the first 25 years of this trailblazer magazine’s history alongside its contemporary presence, exploring its cultural impact through its most iconic images. The curator, Sabina Jaskot-Gill has collaborated with former Art Director Lee Swillingham, and contributing photographer, Norbert Schoerner.

This exhibition offers an exciting opportunity for UCA students within the Fashion Image cluster (BA Fashion Photography, BA Fashion Image & Styling and BA Make-up and Hair Design) to enhance their critical understanding of fashion photography in both historical and modern contexts, create innovative work from exposure to industry professionals and provide them with a platform to showcase and validate their work through public engagement activities at NPG and digital channels, whilst increasing their visibility and impact.  The project will comprise of a series of activities that will mutually benefit UCA and the NPG, including a creative brief, study day, workshops, and showcase that will bridge education, industry, and public engagement, empowering students to develop professional skills while contributing to contemporary cultural discourse and informing future NPG education programme development.

Partner: National Portrait Gallery and The Face Magazine

UCA Contact: Sally Waterman, Michelle Marshall

This project aims to:

• Reconceptualise Filmmaking: To explore and implement a collective approach to filmmaking that emphasises collaboration and shared creative processes, thus redefining traditional production paradigms.
• Promote Social Change and Representation: To create a short film and video documentation of the research embodying the principles of social change and representation while utilising the collective's ethos to highlight diverse voices and marginalised perspectives.
• Facilitate Knowledge Exchange: To establish a mentorship framework with ROOD and TAPE that enables the exchange of skills and insights among participants, fostering professional development in filmmaking and collective practices.
• Support Emerging Voices: To provide a platform for emerging international filmmakers and actors, particularly those from marginalised backgrounds, enabling them to showcase their work and gain visibility within the industry.
• Engage the Academic Community: To deepen ties between ROOD and UCA by promoting collaboration and knowledge transfer between students, alumni, and industry practitioners through hands-on learning opportunities.
• Cultivate Community Engagement: To organise a public event at Arthouse Cinema London that screens the collective’s film and other works, followed by discussions to educate audiences about the role of collectives in the film industry and encourage future participation in creative collaborations between UCA.

Partner: ROOD Collective, T A P E Collective, ArtHouse Cinema Crouch End London 

UCA Contact: Gabriela Curpan

The objectives of this project are:

• To develop as set of resources to simplify carbon calculation process for student productions.
• To develop a case study and observe and evaluate student’s professional skillset outside of the core curriculum within a production of an as live recorded panel discussion, editing it into a final film to document and sharing the experience to observe how students from different year groups interact and work together outside of a graded project.
• To record and analyse the students experience and publish the evaluation as a chapter.
• To review and analyse the discussion into a paper about resilience and comedy television in the golden age of broadcast television.

Aims:

• To investigate the students experience with carbon calculation and sustainable production
• To observe the mentorship between the students and industry experts
• To review the experience students have working on an extracurricular production across year groups
• To evaluate the insights and expertise’s impact that it has on the student’s industry expectations and what the students valued from the discussion

Partner: Maidstone TV Studios

UCA Contact: Kat Sengstaken and Chris Roberts

This project aims to investigate the effectiveness of augmented reality (AR) in enhancing visitor engagement  at the National Museum of Malaysia, with a view to informing AR applications in museums in the UK. Since its  implementation at the National Museum of Malaysia in 2022, AR has been used to present 2D and 3D  collections, and this project aims to evaluate its impact on sustainable tourism and the preservation of  Malaysia's cultural heritage. By examining AR's role in attracting visitors and improving the overall visitor experience, the project will provide insights that could influence AR initiatives in UK museums.

Partner: Department of Museums Malaysia

UCA Contact: Adina Nordin

In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats transports users back to the height of the 1989 Coventry rave scene, offering a one-hour interactive journey through the cultural, social, and musical landscape of the Acid House movement. Currently designed as a single-player experience, this VR project has garnered acclaim at international festivals, but scaling its audience reach remains a challenge.  Along with funding provided to East City Films by Innovate UK, this research will focus on expanding the experience to allow multiple users to engage simultaneously within the same virtual space. By leveraging cutting-edge networked VR technology, the project aims to create a shared social experience, where participants can collectively navigate the rave scene, interact with key figures in the story, like promoters, police officers, and rave-goers, and experience the euphoria of the era's music together. This shift from a solo to a multiplayer format has the potential to significantly increase audience throughput, reducing wait times and maximizing operational capacity at venues.  Through technical feasibility studies and user experience testing, the research assesses how multiplayer integration could maintain the integrity and immersion of the original narrative while facilitating larger group interactions. It is hoped that the findings will prove that a multiplayer version could make the experience more engaging and commercially viable, offering a new revenue stream through group ticketing and venue-based installations. Direct action research, on the part of the leader researcher, will helps de-risk the business model of new VR LBEs by ensuring that the experience remains both accessible and scalable, thus appealing to a broader audience while preserving its artistic and cultural value.

Partner: East City Films

UCA Contact: Roderick Morgan

This project aims to translate physical art installation practice into virtual experiences, using emerging virtual to create an innovative immersive platform for sculptural and installation-based visual arts. The focus is on exploring diverse experiences and expectations of time, particularly through the lens of Crip Time—a concept highlighting how time is experienced uniquely by deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent individuals.  The project has three main objectives:

• To develop Accessible Digital Art Installations: To support the visual arts sector to increase digital capabilities in creating and sharing artwork, exploring the potential of immersive and emerging technologies. Integrating Crip Time principles, the virtual installations will be made accessible to a broad range of users.
• To experiment with Temporal Flexibility: The project will test different ways to adjust temporal flows within digital environments, allowing users to experience art at customized paces. These flexible timelines aim to align with individual sensory and cognitive rhythms, accommodating diverse "body clocks."
• To foster Inclusive Collaboration: By working closely with artists, technologists, and members of marginalized communities, the project will develop and document inclusive practices for virtual art spaces.

The virtual installations, envisioned as "time machines," will engage UCA’s students and staff to collect insights and narratives, which will shape immersive and responsive digital spaces and reflect the lived experiences of deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent individuals. The Knowledge Exchange initiative will empower researchers and students to build digital capabilities and create Proof of Concept works with artist Cathy Mager/Spectroscope, promoting innovation in accessible digital art.

Partner: Cathy Mager (Artist) and The Space

UCA Contact: Sophy Smith

This project explores situated learning as a catalyst for social innovation and local revitalization, integrating real-world socio-cultural contexts into architectural education. The study investigates how universities engagement with physical sites and communities can generate positive social impact beyond the learning environment.

The Long Hu International Art Festival (LHIAF) 2025, held in Fu Lin Village, provides a platform for this inquiry. Jointly organized by local government, village collectives, and ICI’s Digital Media Art (DMA) researchers, LHIAF aligns with successful art intervention models, such as the Koganecho Area Management Centre in Japan, which transformed its neighborhood through strategic cultural initiatives. The festival will serve as a living laboratory where students develop full-scale physical installations, contributing to both academic research and cultural rebranding efforts.

By embedding HEI-led initiatives within LHIAF, the project positions art, design, and architecture as tools for urban and community development. The research aims to demonstrate that situated learning not only enhances student experience but also fosters meaningful, lasting contributions to local cultural and economic landscapes.

Key contact: Zihong Yue

Partner: Long Hu County People’s Government