The concept of biodiversity, which usually serves as a shorthand to refer to the diversity of life on Earth at different levels (ecosystems, species, genes), was coined in the 1980s by conservation biologists worried over the degradation of ecosystems and the loss of species, and willing to make a case for the protection of nature – while avoiding this “politically loaded” term (Takacs, 1996). Since then, the concept has been embedded in the work of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, established in 1992) and of the Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES, aka ‘the IPCC for biodiversity’, established in 2012). While the concept has gained policy traction, it is still unclear to which extent it has captured the public imagination. Biodiversity loss has not triggered the same amount of attention or controversy as climate change globally (with some exceptions). This project, titled Prompting for biodiversity, investigates how this issue is mediated by generative visual AI, directing attention to both how ‘biodiversity’ is known and imagined by AI and to how this may shape public ideas around biodiversity loss and living with other species.
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For the past decade I have, as an artist/researcher, investigated the uses of photographic pictures in East African country Uganda. The relation between photographic pictures and memory have been well researched and argued. But this is often done from a rather one sided Eurocentric perspective on photographic pictures. Over the past decades its universality has been questioned.A rather hybrid artistic practice, in which my role shifts from maker to curator to analyst and back again, provides the method to enter correspondences [Ingold, 2012] on (photographic) pictures with their Ugandan makers and users. Together we explore the continuously changing situated knowledge [harraway, 1988] embedded in photographic pictures in Uganda.One of the case studies in my PhD research is the cultural biography of one of the first photographs made in the kingdom of Buganda. Explorer Henry Morton Stanley produced it in 1875. Three vintage prints of this picture, depicting the Kabaka (King) and some of his chiefs are part of a collection of material related to the colonial past of Belgium. The photograph was hardly known in Uganda when I started showing it around. Interpretations of it were known, but not connected to their source. Together with Ugandan artists I explored and commented on the past that was, is and could remembered through the availability of the photograph and both its historical and newly made interpretations. Visuals and spoken word have equal weight and are woven into an argument in the proposed presentation.
Background: Acquiring the theoretical and practical knowhow of conducting patient and public involvement (PPI) in research is not part of the traditional curriculum of researchers. Zuyd University of Applied Sciences and Huis voor de Zorg, a regional umbrella patient organization, therefore started a 1.5-year coaching programme. Objective: To establish a community of practice by developing a PPI coaching programme for senior and junior health services researchers of Zuyd University. The context consisted of research projects conducted by the participants. Methods: A participatory action research methodology. Data were collected from reports of thematic group meetings and individual sessions with participants, field notes and regular reflection meetings with the project team. Data were analysed by reflexive deliberation. Findings: The programme comprised a kick-off meeting (52 attendees), followed by 7 group meetings with 11 junior and 9 senior researchers. The project team constructed a serious game based on the concept of the participation ladder. Questions and concerns differed for junior and senior researchers, and separate tailored meetings were organized for both groups. Between group meetings, participants received individual assignments. Group meetings were accompanied by individual coaching sessions to provide tailor-made feedback. The programme concluded with a combined meeting with all stakeholders. Conclusion: Building a community of PPI practice through action research facilitates the development of a coaching programme that fosters social learning, empowerment and the development of a shared identity concerning PPI. The role and responsibilities of senior researchers should be distinguished from those of junior researchers.
PRICCAPractice (Photographic Research in Cross-disciplinary and Cross-cultural Artistic Practices) is an online platform aimed at the artistic research practices of artists, designers and photographers into the status of photography in our society. The focus lies on newly developed methods concerning photography as part of an interdisciplinary artistic (and critical) research practice. PRICCAPractice’s objective is to examine how photography as a means of research can make reality visible again, and wants to investigate various photographic dimensions of reality in images that are not merely representations but also a commentary on photography itself and that, at the same time, explore the narrative and communicative possibilities and limitations of the photographic image. We are looking for artistic research practices in which a new, authentic relationship between the photographic image and reality will be researched. Our aim is to give photography a new position within art education and the artistic practice. Next to photography’s representational power we want to focus on its numerous research possibilities.
