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We ’ ve reached a time when academia can ’ t sit on the side and just comment on things .
Rebels with a cause
Meet the researchers finding new ways to present their work .
By Emilie Lauer
A group of researchers are rebelling against traditional forms of academic output and using different art forms to present their findings to a wider audience ; and they are advocating for other researchers to follow their lead .
In their new book , Doing Rebellious Research – In and beyond the Academy , academic researchers from all over the world have ‘ risen and rebelled ’ against the traditional model of research delivery paper that they see as outdated .
According to one of the book ’ s authors and senior lecturer in creative education at RMIT , David Rousell , ‘ rebellious research ’ can be defined as research that departs from academic conventions .
That departure happens in terms of thinking , theorisation , methods and techniques , and “ importantly ” in terms of its presentation , delivery mode and format .
“ But there is still the need to preserve the integrity of research as quality , innovation , thought and practise , while also extending it to different practices that people do in their everyday lives ,” Rousell told Campus
Review .
In their book , derived from a series of online seminars hosted by Cambridge University , participants had the opportunity to exchange their ways of doing academic research through creative practice , and performed their research ‘ artistically ’.
Researchers from all around the world have shared examples of how they have used graphic design , letter writing , poetry , blogging , journaling , filmmaking and music as a medium to deliver their research .
In addition to the more ‘ classic ’ forms of art , some researchers have used magic or circus art – like Stockholm ’ s academics who used the circus medium to study different potentials of the human body and interactions with objects and physical forces .
According to Rousell , rebellious research offers the ability for academics to develop new skills , new concepts and tools for their own research practice .
“ If you want to develop some fictional or creative nonfiction writing , or experiment with the use of photography , any of those practices can be areas to develop your skill set and your ways of thinking .
“ They become your toolbox as a researcher ,” he said .
By using art forms to deliver their findings , Rousell believes academics would be able to make their research more relevant , more engaged , and less distanced from the people and places that it is working with . “ What we are seeing particularly in Australia , is a kind of defunding of basic research or research that doesn ’ t have an impact or isn ’ t able to connect with wider public concerns ,” Rousell said .
“ I think we ’ ve reached a time when academia can ’ t sit on the outside and just comment on things from its own position .
“ Engaging with people in global problems like climate change ; in the conversations and the thinking around those problems has never been more important .
“ And actually valuing that so that there ’ s less of a hierarchy , less of an idea that academics are somehow doing work that is above or outside of social life .
“ Academia actually needs to be involved and engaged with the communities and the problems in the world that it ’ s working on , working with and working for ,” he said . The authors argue that traditional academic papers are not the future of research as only academics read these journals .
In a research paper , limitations can be found around the format , Rousell said , and peer journals always have certain formatting constraints to respect , which can be complicated to work around with unconventional forms of presenting research .
“ Even for our book , we had to work with the publisher to actually reset their formatting and typeface designs to allow for different fonts and colours to be used in the text , and on the pages .”
In addition to being limited by the format , Rousell believes there are often certain conventions to respect in regards to the presentation of empirical data or material which lead to the development of cohesive arguments .
“ These are things that I would look for if I ’ m reviewing a paper as well . But I guess the question is , how do we do that in a high quality sophisticated way , but differently ?
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