Wrapping Up

The Speculation and Innovation conference is now coming to a close with a final plenary session. Brad haseman discuses what events might be possible in the future. For example, there might be further seminars, such as a one-day seminar on categories and research points to supervisors of practice-led research, or seminars aimed at how we can construct programmes to induct research students into research practices relevant to practice-led research. Other suggestions for future action would be to rework expectations of the exegesis in creative practice as research higher degree projects (to find a better word), or a project to build structures across institutions in the creative arts, media, and design sector to advocate quality at a national level.

Richard Vella now suggests that it might be necessary to investigate the connections between experience and explanation (to contextualise), and to add to questions of quality and impact also a question of significance. Another audience member follows on from this by asking how experience and explanation shape the design of the problem formulation or intent. There is also a suggestion that art does research that is not instrumentalist; this might then also form a basis for research training and for a kind of meta-research and dissemination.

The discussion returns now to the question of the Research Quality Framework and the CHASS response, which needs to be further addressed. There is a suggestion to set up a new HASS research fund, but even more so it is important to further illuminate methodological problems and issues for research and researchers in the field. Perhaps there is a need for more flexible and intense work projects here which deal with specific problems identified here so far. People also mention that Laura Brearley at RMIT has set up a project exploring creative approaches to research, and that the role of creative partnerships in research need to be further investigated - creative partners may not call themselves researchers, but their work nonetheless have impact and significance in society.

Well, that's it!