Research Bytes – Goldsmiths

This is the first of a new occasional series of ‘Research Bytes’ podcasts – looking very briefly at a cross section of research projects in an academic institution.  In this podcast we talk to six academics from Goldsmiths, University of London. Goldsmiths is, of course,  the alma mater of most of the YBAs - Young British Artists – Damien Hirst, Mark Wallinger, Gillian Wearing, Sam Taylor Wood and has a long history of cultural study, artistic expression and iconaclism. So it is not surprising to find academics in every department at Goldsmiths concerned about creativity.    And we start the podcast by looking at  Professor Joydeep Bhattacharya 's research project on the neuroscience of creativity. Next up is composer Jeremy Peyton Jones, from Goldsmith’s music department who is involved in practice research – on a project called 'Ending's, around the last pages of books including James Joyce's Ulysses and Jack Kerouac's On the Road. Computers and creativity come together in Dr Kate Devlin’s research – she is not only a computer expert but also an archaeologist, seeking to understand the past better using computer technology. A colleague of Kate Devlin’s in the Department of Computing is Dan McQuillan, lecturer in creative and social computing, and human rights activist who has been involved in establishing Crypto Parties, where people share computer skills particularly aimed at staying out of the way of the NSA, and when I spoke to him, he was getting ready for the first Crypto Festival. We’ve just learned that Goldsmiths computer whizzes has won a major government grant for PhD students to take forward the digital games industry in the UK Another important Department at Goldsmiths is the Education Department – Pod Academy has had other pieces about their groundbreaking research – this time I spoke to Clare Kelly,  who heads up the BA in Education, Culture & Society, about her work on children’s literacy My last port of call in Goldsmith’s was with Dr Jo Lloyd, lecturer in occupational psychology – who is currently working on policies and practices for transgender people in the workplace  If your college or university would like us to make a similar podcast, showcasing some of your research,  drop a line to thepod@podacademy.org