{"id":940,"date":"2021-11-09T14:19:41","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T14:19:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/literacy-research-centre\/?page_id=940"},"modified":"2026-03-04T09:54:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T09:54:02","slug":"phd-student-and-ecr-network","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/literacy-research-centre\/phd-student-and-ecr-network\/","title":{"rendered":"PhD student and ECR network"},"content":{"rendered":"

April \u2013 July 2026 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Theme:\u00a0<\/strong>Critical Approaches to Creativity in Literacy as Social Practice<\/strong><\/p>\n

Creativity is a vast and ideologically varied area of research. In this next series of talks, we will discuss critical approaches to creativity within Literacy Studies, especially via ethnographic and social practice perspectives. Although there are important antecedents, the first examples of New Literacy Studies (NLS) to explicitly adopt and analyze \u2018creativity\u2019 as a lens appeared at the same time as a broader turn towards creativity within UK applied and sociolinguistics from around the mid-2000s onwards. One point of departure became a critique of traditional \u2018high cultural\u2019 understandings across the arts and humanities, where exemplars of artistry used to distinguish creativity within those fields were demonstrated as prominent and playing important roles within everyday language and literacies too. Via ethnographic and social practice perspectives, the values and power relations supporting what counts as creativity in different settings, for whom, and with what effects also became increasingly considered.<\/p>\n

In the first session of this series, two introductory readings are put forward for group discussion. One summarizes this turn to creativity, provides critical definitions of the term, and recalls important cultural and literary influences which both inform and become contested by sociolinguistic and anthropological research on literacy. The other article contains early examples of NLS ethnographic research on everyday literacies which argue for the need to locate creativity more within \u2018the practices of making and engaging with texts\u2019 rather than \u2018aesthetic features of language.\u2019 The guiding questions for this session concern how creativity has and could be used in research on literacy as social practice and what does that offer?<\/p>\n

In the second session, we will be joined by Kate Pahl, Professor of Arts and Literacy at Manchester Metropolitan University. From her extensive body of ethnographic work on literacies and creativity across community and educational settings, in this talk on the \u2018literacy event as a creative act,\u2019 Professor Pahl connects the prior foundational work on creativity into more contemporary perspectives by discussing two of her recent books. These concern: i) \u2018Creating\u2019 as one of six strands of her and colleagues\u2019 new Living Literacies<\/em> framework for research, which builds upon the NLS, Multimodality, and many other approaches. ii) Social \u2018Poetics\u2019 as a newly proposed set of guiding principles for undertaking Collaborative Research in Theory and Practice<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In the third session, we welcome Julia Gillen, Professor of Literacy Studies and Co-Director of the Literacy Research Centre, Lancaster University. Professor Gillen has researched creativity across a wide range of literacies, from children\u2019s language play to historical epistolary writing and contemporary digital practices. Turning towards the latter for this talk, Professor Gillen will explain her experience and process of carrying out a \u2018Virtual Literacy Ethnography\u2019, where she analyzed literacy practices and creativity within an innovative virtual world and online learning environment named \u2018Schome Park\u2019. Approaches from the NLS, Mediated Discourse Analysis, as well as related ethnographic perspectives on digital literacies are discussed.<\/p>\n

The last session offers group discussions of recent papers by two Literacies Network members. Both concern ethnographic perspectives on poetry and art within community education and language learning settings in the Americas. The first is from Julianne Burgess, Postdoctoral Fellow at Western University in Canada. Dr Burgess\u2019 paper on \u2018Poetic Inquiry\u2026\u2019 \u00a0presents a contemporary and philosophically sophisticated account that combines theories on Translanguaging, Affect, and the Post-Structuralism of Deleuze and Guattari. The second is from Jamie Duncan, Co-Convenor of the Literacies Network. This paper on \u2018Poetic Trajectories\u2026\u2019 summarizes some basic ways NLS work can combine with creativity as a research lens, especially through diachronic or long-term ethnographic perspectives, in this case based on fieldwork in an arts-education project in the Brazilian Amazon realized over 10 years.<\/p>\n

Please feel free to come along if you have not had time to do the readings. Everyone is welcome to join in the discussion in any way they care to, and we look forward to seeing you there.<\/p>\n

All the best,<\/p>\n

Jamie and June<\/p>\n

Day and time<\/strong>: Usually Wednesday 4 pm to 5 pm UK time but check the schedule below (e.g., Thursday May 14).<\/p>\n

Meeting link<\/strong>: Join Teams Meeting<\/a><\/p>\n

Access code<\/strong>: literacies<\/p>\n

April to July 2026 Schedule<\/strong><\/p>\n

Readings: <\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/drive.google.com\/drive\/folders\/1OgR217rfzipu28h2ZiLG6B9TmjfrdOvX?usp=share_link<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Date<\/td>\nSession Format<\/td>\nTitle \/ Topic<\/td>\nSuggested Readings<\/td>\nSpeaker \/ Facilitator<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
April<\/p>\n

15<\/p>\n

Wed.<\/p>\n

4-5pm<\/p>\n

GMT<\/td>\n

Readings and group discussion<\/td>\nCritical Approaches to Creativity in Literacy Studies and Beyond<\/td>\nTusting, K., & Papen, U. (2008). Creativity in everyday literacy practices: the contribution of an ethnographic approach. Literacy and Numeracy Studies,<\/em> (16)1, 5-24. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.5130\/lns.v16i1.1945<\/a><\/p>\n

Background:<\/p>\n

Pope, R., & Swann, J. (2011). In J. Swann, R. Pope, & R. Carter (eds.), Creativity in language and literature <\/em>(pp. 1-22). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.<\/td>\n

Facilitators:<\/p>\n

Jamie Duncan &<\/p>\n

Junaity Sine<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

(NB)<\/strong><\/p>\n

May 14<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>(NB)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thurs.<\/strong><\/p>\n

4-5pm<\/p>\n

GMT<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

Presentation\/ conversation about recent books and research frameworks<\/td>\nThe Literacy Event as a Creative Act \/ Poetics of Collaborative Research<\/td>\nPahl, K., Pool, S., & Rasool, Z. (2020). Creating: a living literacies approach. In K. Pahl, J. Rowsell, et al. (eds.), Living literacies: literacy for social change <\/em>(pp. 126-146). Cambridge: MIT Press.<\/p>\n

And\/or\u2026<\/p>\n

Pahl, K., Steadman-Jones, R., & Vasudevan, L. (2022). Poetics. In K. Pahl, R. Steadman-Jones, R., & L Vasudevan, Collaborative research in theory and practice: the poetics of letting go <\/em>(pp. 29-45). Bristol: Bristol University Press.<\/td>\n

Speaker:<\/p>\n

Prof. Kate Pahl (Manchester Metropolitan University)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

June<\/p>\n

17<\/p>\n

Wed.<\/p>\n

4-5pm<\/p>\n

GMT<\/td>\n

Presentation\/ conversation about a research project and ethnography in virtual worlds<\/td>\nCreativity in Virtual Worlds \/ Virtual Literacy Ethnography<\/td>\nGillen, J. (2014). Archaeology in a virtual world: Schome Park. In R. Jones (ed.), Discourse and creativity<\/em> (pp. 191-211). Abingdon: Routledge.<\/p>\n

Background\u2026<\/p>\n

Gillen, J. (2009), Literacy practices in Schome Park: a virtual literacy ethnography. Journal of Research in Reading<\/em>, 32, 57-74. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1467-9817.2008.01381.x<\/a><\/td>\n

Speaker:<\/p>\n

Prof. Julia Gillen (Lancaster University)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

July<\/p>\n

15<\/p>\n

Wed.<\/p>\n

4-5pm<\/p>\n

GMT<\/td>\n

Discussion of Literacies<\/p>\n

Network members\u2019 research on creativity and related topics<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

Poetic Inquiry \/ Poetic Trajectories across Communities and Education<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

Burgess, J. (2021). Translanguaging and wonder: a poetic inquiry into newcomer belonging. In F. Blaikie (ed.), Visual and cultural identity constructs of global youth and young adults: situated, embodied and performed ways of being, engaging and belonging <\/em>(pp. 246-267). Abingdon: Routledge.<\/p>\n

And\/or\u2026<\/p>\n

Duncan, J. (2026). Poetic trajectories: Ethnographic accounts of art, literacies and education from an Amazonian archipelago. Literacy<\/em>, (60)2, 1-20. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/lit.70024<\/a><\/td>\n

Facilitators:<\/p>\n

Julianne Burgess,<\/p>\n

Jamie Duncan &<\/p>\n

Junaity Sine<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

November 2025 \u2013 February 2026 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Theme:\u00a0Academic Writing as Social Practice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this upcoming series of talks, we will begin with a discussion of how Brian V. Street\u2019s foundational Anthropological work on literacy as social practice came to be further developed within the field of academic writing studies. Street\u2019s work was closely tied to partnerships at the Lancaster University Literacy Research Centre (LRC), and in the subsequent session in conversation with Karin Tusting, we will cover a recent research project realised through the LRC, The Dynamics of Knowledge Creation: Academics\u2019 Writing Practices in the Contemporary University Workplace<\/em>. As a part of that talk, autoethnographic approaches will be explained and explored. In the following session, a presentation on another recent albeit more pedagogically focussed research project will be offered by Melinda Whong, Director of the Center for Language Education at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and an assessor for BALEAP (the British Association of Lecturers in English for Academic Purposes). Based on The Good Writing Project<\/em> tracing trends in ESAP (English for Specific Academic Purposes) teaching, this talk will address the question of \u2018What is Good Academic Writing?\u2019 by drawing on disciplinary-specific insights across a broad range of fields, including, art, music, digital media, linguistics, dentistry, and more. Professor Whong will also discuss how academic writing as social practice is conceived within BALEAP frameworks used to inform and evaluate English for Academic Purposes courses. In the last session, we will turn more closely to questions of identity that have always been central to research on literacy as social practice. Junaity Sine will facilitate a presentation on a new article by Mehui Wang and Graham Parr (both Monash University, Australia), offering decolonial perspectives on \u2018Chinese international students negotiating their academic writing and identities in an Anglophone context\u2026\u2019.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Register<\/strong>:\u00a0You can sign up for our mailing list to receive announcements, including meeting links, by emailing us at:\u00a0LITERACIES-NET-REQUEST@JISCMAIL.AC.UK<\/a>\u00a0 or using the web link:\u00a0https:\/\/www.jiscmail.ac.uk\/cgi-bin\/wa-jisc.exe?A0=LITERACIES-NET<\/a>. This JISCmail list lets you easily opt in or out of announcements, so you won\u2019t receive unwanted emails!<\/p>\n

Day and time<\/strong>: Usually Wednesday 4 pm to 5 pm UK time, but check the schedule below<\/p>\n

Meeting link<\/strong>: Join Teams Meeting<\/a><\/p>\n

Access code<\/strong>: literacies<\/p>\n

Readings: <\/strong>https:\/\/drive.google.com\/drive\/folders\/1hdQVhbceBEaU1_yNjh5IhIz7KouyGoLW?usp=share_link<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Date<\/td>\nSession Format<\/td>\nTitle \/ Topic<\/td>\nReading \/ Abstract<\/td>\nSpeaker \/ Facilitator<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
19 November 4-5 pm, Wednesday<\/td>\nReading & group discussion<\/td>\nAcademic<\/p>\n

Writing: Theory<\/p>\n

and Practice by<\/p>\n

Brian V. Street.<\/td>\n

Street, B. V. (2015). Academic Writing: Theory and Practice. Journal of Educational Issues<\/em>, 1(2), 110-116.<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

Facilitators:<\/p>\n

Junaity\u00a0Sine\u00a0& Jamie Duncan<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

17 December<\/p>\n

4-5 pm,<\/p>\n

Wednesday<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

Conversation about recent book, research project, and autoethnography<\/td>\nAcademics Writing:<\/p>\n

The Dynamics of Knowledge<\/p>\n

Creation<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Auto-ethnography<\/td>\n

Tusting, K., McCulloch, S., Bhatt, I., Hamilton, M., & Barton, D. (2019). Academics Writing:<\/em><\/p>\n

The Dynamics of Knowledge Creation.<\/em> Abingdon: Routledge.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(Suggested reading: e.g., \u2018Introduction\u2026 Theories and Methods of Studying Academics Writing\u2019 pp 1-26, \u2018Autoethnography\u2019 p. 26)<\/td>\n

Speaker:<\/p>\n

Prof. Karin Tusting (Lancaster University)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Facilitator:<\/p>\n

Jamie Duncan<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

21 January<\/strong><\/p>\n

*10-11 am (early start due to HK time difference)<\/strong><\/td>\n

Conversation about recent book, research project, and academic writing as social practice in BALEAP<\/td>\nWhat is Good Academic Writing? Insights into Discipline-Specific Student Writing<\/td>\nWhong, M., & Godfrey, J. (2020). What is Good Academic Writing? Insights into Discipline-Specific Student Writing<\/em>. London: Bloomsbury.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(Suggested reading: e.g., \u2018Introduction:\u00a0 The Good Writing Project\u2019, pp. 1-11, and\/or \u2018A Collaborative Scholarship Model of EAP Research and Practice\u2019, pp. 9-26).<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

Speaker:<\/p>\n

Prof. Melinda Whong (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology \/ BALEAP: British Association of Lecturers in English for Academic Purposes)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Facilitator:<\/p>\n

Jamie Duncan<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

February\u00a0 25th<\/p>\n

4-5pm<\/td>\n

Presentation<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

\n

A Chinese doctoral student\u2019s experience of L2 English academic writing in Australia: Negotiating practices and identities<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

Wang, M., & Parr, G. (2025). Chinese International Students Negotiating their Academic Writing and Identities in an Anglophone Context: A Dialogic, Decolonising Case Study. International Journal of Educational Research<\/em>, 131, 102588.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.ijer.2025.102588<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n

Speakers: Dr Meihui Wang (Monash University),<\/p>\n

Prof. Graham Parr (Monash University)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Facilitator: Junaity\u00a0Sine<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Register<\/strong>:\u00a0You can sign up for our mailing list to receive announcements, including meeting links, by emailing us at:\u00a0LITERACIES-NET-REQUEST@JISCMAIL.AC.UK<\/a>\u00a0 or using the web link:\u00a0https:\/\/www.jiscmail.ac.uk\/cgi-bin\/wa-jisc.exe?A0=LITERACIES-NET<\/a>. This JISCmail list lets you easily opt in or out of announcements, so you won\u2019t receive unwanted emails!<\/p>\n

Are you interested in sharing your work in progress, or leading a text-based discussion for us in the next series?\u00a0Drop us an email at\u00a0jdiduncan@gmail.com<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0j.sine@lancaster.ac.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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