LCC Staff Conference 2022: Making Connections

Wednesday 13 July

9am - 6pm

Royal Institution

21 Albemarle St, London W1S 4BS

Free for LCC staff. Registration is essential

The LCC staff conference aims to bring our community of staff back together in person for the first time after the pandemic and to inspire exploration, development and creativity through new knowledge and ideas from a broad range of speakers, presentations and interactive workshops throughout the day focusing on themes including wellbeing, social and racial justice, community, and research and Knowledge Exchange.

We would like to offer you the possibility to choose which sessions you would like to attend on the day, please see the detailed programme of the conference below.

Please book individual ticket types for as many all staff activities as your time permits. These are: keynote presentations, breakfast, lunch, afternoon coffee break and drinks reception.

For the breakout sessions, please limit your booking to one morning and one afteroon session.

Schedule

9 - 10am All Staff Session | Registration and Breakfast

10 - 11am All Staff Session | Welcome & Keynote - You Can Only Be The Revolution: Anab Jain

Co-Founder & Director, Superflux

Univ. Prof, University of Applied Arts, Vienna

A designer, filmmaker, futurist and educator, Anab Jain grew up in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, within the entangled postcolonial landscapes of a fast-growing nation. Through a series of planned and unplanned circumstances, she has made London her home. Although the idea of a ‘home’ remains as expansive as our hearts and minds.

Anab believes that a rigorous praxis of imagination and experiential storytelling can emotionally connect us with plural futures – enabling us to make better decisions today. This belief and commitment led her to establish the speculative design and experiential futures practice Superflux in partnership with Jon Ardern. Now in their 13th year, Superflux has just received the Design Studio of the Year Award in recognition of their contribution to the fields of speculative and futures design with a committed social mission. Working for a diverse set of clients and commissioners, Superflux imagines and builds future worlds we can experience in the present moment. By creating new ways of seeing, being and acting, their work inspires and challenges us to look critically at the decisions and choices we make today. Their repertoire of clients includes Google, Deepmind, IKEA, Ingka Group, UNDP, Govt. of UAE, Omidyar Network, Suncorp, Red Cross and more.

Anab has delivered plenary lectures and keynote presentations at numerous conferences such as SKOLL World Forum and TED Vancouver and exhibited Superflux’s work at MoMA New York, V&A Museum, Vitra Design Museum, Design Museum London, Venice Biennale, Museum of the Future, Dubai and the National Museum of China amongst others.

Anab serves as Professor of Design Investigations, University of Applied Arts, Vienna, a program and advocates a planetary, more-than-human approach in all aspects of her work. You can follow her on Twitter or Instagram.

11am – 12.30pm Breakout sessions:

Micro Paranormal Treasure Hunting

Workshop led by Mark Ingham

The Royal Institution is full of history. It oozes inventions, is steeped in discoveries, is the place where electromagnetism was born and, being asked by William Fox Talbot, Faraday announced the existence of photography at Discourse on 25 January 1839.

This workshop will be about hunting in the nooks and crannies of the RI for the unseen, unnoticed, undiscovered elements that are hiding for you to find. Can you find paranormal activity emanating from the heating vents, the statues’ coat tails, under the floorboards of the RI? Can you capture their fleeting existences? Can you tell us the stories of your chase and capture or about the one that got away?

Over the course of an hour, you will go on a ‘micro paranormal treasure hunt’ with your phone camera and photograph the emanations of the RI, bringing them back to the group to then give a 1-minute micro lecture on your photographs and your huntings.

A Mile in My Shoes

Workshop led by Empathy Museum

A Mile in My Shoes is a shoe shop where visitors are invited to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes – literally. Set up as a shoe-shop, this roaming exhibit holds a diverse collection of shoes and audio stories that explore our shared humanity. From a Syrian refugee to a sex worker, a war veteran to a neurosurgeon, visitors are invited to walk a mile in the shoes of a stranger while listening to their story. The stories cover different aspects of life, from loss and grief to hope and love and take the visitor on an empathetic as well as a physical journey.

Pen and Wash Drawing Workshop

Workshop led by Natalie Eldred

In this workshop Natalie Eldred, LCC’s live artist for the day’s events, will demonstrate her technique of pen and wash drawing, before releasing you (weather permitting) into the wilds of Green Park, armed with only your ink washes and pens, sketchbooks, sticks, to draw the local flora and fauna… there will be a challenge for best ‘found’ line-drawing implement - then we’ll return to the workshop base to look and share your work (optional). You’ll take away a sketchbook with some initial observational sketches in – who knows, maybe this will be the start of a new, beautiful thing?

SU: Big Question Discussion

Session led by Yemi Gbajobi, Chief Executive, Arts Student Union

Universities are inundated with data. NSS, USS, HESA, module evaluations, course evaluation, graduate outcome survey. There is so much data, but are we asking the right questions?

This keynote will first reflect on the conversations and feedback received through qualitative and quantitative methods that the Union has collected from UAL students over the last 18 months through its ‘Big Survey’ Initiative. The Big Survey has focused on understanding the motivation and aspirations of UAL students as well as their views on community, identity and university life to get a different perspective on who UAL students really are.

Secondly, we will discuss how the Union will respond to student feedback through the creation of a new strategic plan which is in consultation stages at the moment and will be launched in the summer.

We hope that this session will leave you with discussion points and questions to inspire your thinking through the rest of the conference.

Zine Making: "We need to talk about..." (zine making in response to Kana's manifesto about unconscious racism)

Workshop led by Adam Ramejkis, Supporter of Learning

Kana Kim, a Grad Dip Graphic Design student at Chelsea, shared with me a mini-manifesto she'd written - based on her experience of unconscious racism as a "Korean living in Japan, currently studying in London" (how Kana defines herself). We discussed the benefits of sharing this with wider audiences and using the text as a trigger for responses - and, hopefully, for reflection and action. The text was shared on Instagram, the Grad Dip cohort made zines in response to Kana's manifesto, and now it's your turn to create and share responses (through discussions and mini-zines).

After the briefest of overviews about the journey so far, your will share your thoughts, questions and suggestions in small groups - on Kana's manifesto and on the mini-zines her course-mates made in response. You will then work together to make your own mini-zines (individually and/or group-zines), exploring related themes and - crucially - as a call to action and further platforming.

As such, this workshop aims to be a springboard for taking the themes and messages in Kana's text and sharing them with students, colleagues and each other in the new academic year. The more we talk about and engage with what are often described as 'uncomfortable' topics, the more comfortable we will feel opening spaces for these absolutely necessary discussions (and actions) to happen!

Reading Café

Workshop led by Hiliary Jiminez

The Reading Café Club at LCC would like to invite staff to our Reading Cafe.

The chosen book for this session is ‘A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled’ by Ruby Wax. Staff who book onto this session will receive a complimentary paperback version of this book.

In ‘A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled’ Ruby Wax shows us how to de-frazzle for good by making simple changes that give us time to breathe, reflect and live in the moment. It's an easy-to-understand introduction to mindfulness, weaved together with Ruby's trademark wit and humour. According to Look magazine ‘this frank, hilarious guide will make you laugh AND offers useful advice for everyone.’

We welcome readers and non-readers; we will start the session with an activity/icebreaker and would then follow with some prepared discussion points to initiate the conversation. As with all our EDI Reading Café sessions this will held in a safe space for staff to feel comfortable talking about their own experiences or personal feelings on our chosen topic. We will have books that have been read and discussed at previous sessions and we will have our Reading Café bookmarks available to all attendees.

Tai Chi in the Park: An introduction to Tai Chi and Qigong Exercises

Workshop led by Faeeza Keshavjee

This session will take place in the Green Park

Meeting place: Main Foyer. The group will then move to Green Park.

This class will explore these internal healing energy arts through mindful movement, energy awareness, breathwork and Qi self-massage. These gentle yet powerful exercises are suitable for all levels of fitness and all ages. Chi or Qi is your life force energy and is vital for your health and wellbeing. Experience the benefits of inner calm, clarity, energy cultivation and self-awareness.

12.30 - 1.30pm All Staff Session | Lunch

1.30 - 3.15pm All Staff Session | Martin Percy: Climate Emergency Interactive . Co-host: Lily Stevens, CSM graduate

Climate Emergency Interactive is an interactive film for people to experience together. It creates collective conversations about the climate emergency. And what we can do about it, politically and creatively. It was written and is presented by a collaborative group of students and staff from across UAL. It recently won a Webby Award for best Virtual Activism, coming ahead of Lady Gaga amongst other nominees.

Here’s a trailer: www.tinyurl.com/climate-trailer

3.15 - 3.30pm All Staff Session | Coffee break

3.30 - 5pm Breakout sessions:

A Mile in My Shoes

Workshop led by Empathy Museum

Polyvocal Dialogical Discourses

Workshop led by Mark Ingham

Taking the lead from the famous Royal Institution’s ‘Discourses’, which formally started in 1825, this breakout session will take a polyvocal dialogic approach to understanding the key topics of this conference. Topics for discussion could include: How do we build communities? What are sustainability and ethical practices? Why social purpose? What is happing with the new building at its proposed learning environments? How is our health and mental wellbeing? How can we challenge accepted ways of thinking?

According to Paulo Freire in his book Pedagogy of the Oppressed, ...’dialogue is a claim in favour of the democratic choice of educators. Educators, in order to promote free and critical learning should create the conditions for dialogue that encourages the ... curiosity of the learner.’

This 90minute polyvocal event will be an open forum where these issues can be discussed in safe and daring spaces. (Polyvocality is the power of many voices to shift and sustain change.)

Zero-Waste Sketchbook Making

Workshop led by Rahel Zoller and Tilly de Verteuil

In this workshop you will learn how to fold and manipulate paper using specialist bookbinding tools and create sketchbooks made from workshop off-cuts.

Social Purpose through a relational culture of storytelling

Led by Citizens UK

Community Organising prioritises capacity building through the sharing of stories and building relationships to affect social change. Join us for a workshop focused on developing our narratives, sharing them so that we can build power and develop campaigns/programmes that change the world.

This workshop will be delivered by Citizens UK community organiser, Froi Legaspi. Froi currently works on national campaigns to win justice for migrants without immigration status and has previously won local campaigns to for paid work opportunities and to improve NHS Mental Health services for both young people and migrants.

Steps to Wellbeing, Calm Heart, Clear Mind, Balanced Life

Workshop led by Faeeza Keshavjee

Create a clear vision of wellbeing for yourself as we explore wellbeing and how we can develop a daily routine with simple practices drawn from the wisdom of the ancient self-healing energy art of Qigong.

These holistic exercises and skills can empower you to release stress from your mind and body, remove dis-ease and assist you to create a clearer, more peaceful mind with balance and harmony within.

Greenwalkers – A Sound Walk

Walk led by Jose Rivas

Meeting place: The Foyer then the group walks to Green Park

A Sound Walk is a listening exercise that helps us become aware of our immediate acoustic environment. It is also about the aesthetic pleasures of listening. Listening to sounds we might otherwise have missed; listening to the rhythm of sounds; listening for the unique 'voice' of a city.

It's about enjoying the sensual beauty and sheer surprise of sound...

A soundwalk is a form of active participation in the soundscape. Though the variations are many, the essential purpose of a soundwalk is to encourage the participant to listen discriminately and moreover, to make a critical judgement about the sounds heard and their contribution to the balance or imbalance of the sonic environment.

5 - 6pm All Staff Session | Drinks Reception

Accessibility information/How to get to the Royal Institution of Great Britain

For any accessibility information and/or how to get to the venue, please visit the Royal Institution website: www.rigb.org/visit

Important filming and photography notice: Please note that filming and photography will be taking place throughout the conference. Both bigger crowds, smaller groups and individuals may be captured on camera. All imagery and footage may at some point be published on Canvas, social media channels, and in print.