Title of the study: The Liminal Zone: A Metaphor for the Interface between Teaching and Creative Practice
Name of department: Centre for Remote and Sustainable Communities
Introduction and purpose
This research aims to understand how synergies can be nurtured between higher education arts teaching and teachers’ own creative practice. The research will explore participants’ lived experience of the interface between artistic and academic activity, through a survey and through interviews. The research will then take the tidal zone as a central metaphor for a poetic and artistic inquiry into this interface. This project is run by Dr Mandy Haggith, Lecturer in Literature and Creative Writing at Inverness College, University of Highlands and Islands.
Do you have to take part?
Your decision to take part in the study is entirely voluntary. If you do not wish to participate you may refuse. You may withdraw your participation at any time without explanation or penalty and/or ask for data that you have supplied to be withdrawn or destroyed.
What will you do in the project?
Your participation in the project will involve answering survey questions. The survey will take about 10 minutes to complete, or longer if in-depth answers are given.
Twelve survey participants will be sought to take part in follow-up interviews. The interviews may take place either at a coastal location or online, and during which more detailed answers to survey questions will be invited along with exploration of the seashore tidal zone as a metaphor for the interface between teaching and creative practice. You will be invited to make a creative response to this metaphor in your preferred art form and to take part in a retreat, at which all participants will share and analyse responses and curate a joint presentation of this work.
If you are not comfortable doing any part of this, please let the researcher know. You may refuse at any stage.
Why have you been invited to take part?
You are a member of staff of a university involved in creative arts teaching.
What are the potential risks to you in taking part?
If we are meeting in person, given the current situation of managing COVID-19, we will need to adhere to regulations and national guidelines on social distancing and appropriate behavior to minimize risk of spreading the virus. We will ensure that sanitizer is available, and you will be provided with face coverings if necessary. We will be meeting outside so please make sure that you are dressed for the weather.
If you are undertaking the survey or an interview online, we do not anticipate that there are any particular risks to you in taking part in this research.
After interview, we will give you an opportunity to debrief. If the experience raises any issues for you that you would like to pursue then we will direct you to Vicky Johnson, the Director of the Centre for Rural and Sustainable Communities, for guidance in dealing with those issues or towards appropriate support.
What happens to the information in the project?
The University of Highlands and Islands (UHI) is committed to ensuring that the processing of personal data is only undertaken in the legitimate operation of the University partnership business. The UHI collects and uses personal information (data) and stores it in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation and the UK Data Protection Act 2018.
Recordings of interviews and any data or creative work that you share with the project will be stored confidentially, privately, and securely up to the end of 2031. If you wish your input to be anonymous we guarantee anonymity. If you do provide any personal information (such as your name or email address) this will not be shared beyond the project without your permission.
The following are your rights in respect of this processing:
• The right to access your personal data.
• The right to rectification if the personal data we hold about you is incorrect.
• The right to restrict processing of your personal data.
• The right to request erasure (deletion) of your personal data at any point. (We will delete it in 2031).
• The right to data portability.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office about our handling of your data.
If you agree that we can store a piece of your creative work, as part of the project record, you will remain the owner of the copyright of that work and will be free to publish or distribute in written or electronic publications for as long as you wish and wherever you wish. By sharing it with the project you grant the project a license - i.e. - temporary permission to reproduce it in written or electronic publications for up to 10 years from the date of your sharing it with us. If at any time during this period we wished to reproduce a piece of your writing in full, we would confirm this with you in advance, giving you the opportunity to withdraw this specific permission.
The project here is not an external publisher and should an external publisher become involved subsequently they will negotiate with the participant as owner of the copyright. The project has been funded by The Carnegie Trust so it is likely we may share some of the project work with them.
What happens next?
At the end of the survey there is a question about whether you would be willing to be considered for a follow-up interview, and if so, you will be asked to supply, and give permission for us to store, your name and email address. This data will be held until the interview participants are confirmed and then deleted.
If you are selected for interview and are happy to be involved in the project, you will be issued with a form to confirm your preferences with regard to the processing of your personal data and the possible use of the work you produce as part of the project. You may choose whether you would like us to keep in touch with you about the project and to be informed about publication of the results. Mandy Haggith will write about this research, for example in articles, reports and/or books, including quoting from examples of creative work by participants. It will also be presented at an interactive online workshop at the end of the project. If you have shared a work with us, you are free to choose whether or not you would like it to be included in such reports and, if so, whether you would want to be anonymous or named as the author and copyright owner of your work. By default, any comments or writing will be anonymised unless you tell us you want to be named.
Your involvement in this project is voluntary and appreciated. Please feel free to ask the researcher any questions. Thank you and we hope you have some fun, learn something or, ideally, both!
Researchers contact details
Dr Mandy Haggith, Inverness College UHI, 1 Inverness Campus, Inverness, IV2 5NA
Email: Mandy.Haggith.ic@uhi.ac.uk Telephone: 01463 273000
This investigation was granted ethical approval by the University of Highlands and Islands Research Ethics Committee on 1st December 2020. If you have any questions/concerns, during or after the research project or wish to contact an independent person to whom any questions may be directed please contact:
Fiona Leiper, UHI Research Ethics Officer, 12b Ness Walk, Inverness, IV3 5SQ. Telephone: 01463-279349 or 01463-279347. Email: fiona.leiper@uhi.ac.uk or research.ethics@uhi.ac.uk
