Research Group Culture & Environment

Dr Anastasia Karandinou and Associate Professor Roland Karthaus

With the exceptional support of Dr Julie Wall and numerous colleagues, the new research groups of the School have rapidly developed a clear identity and several initiatives, which promote and support the research culture of the university.

Regarding our group, ‘Culture & Environment’, social and environmental resilience have been key issues driving the research projects. This research group looks into how political and social phenomena are depicted in visual arts and into how design responds to – and also leads – social, cultural, political change. Creative and transformative analysis and mapping of spaces and phenomena is key to our processes. Mapping and critically transcribing observations and information from one medium to another allows our analyses to be transformative and productive. Architecture, interior and spatial design, photography and visual arts address how we live, and apart from producing spaces and artefacts, they also challenge and propose new paradigms; they constitute a device to think and debate with.

Indicative projects of the group are being presented on our webpage-in-progress - https:// uelcultureandenvironment.tumblr.com/ - which also functions as a platform for exchange and an opportunity for conversation amongst the researchers of the group. Short workshops throughout the year supported early career researchers develop links between their teaching and research or practice and research, as well as write a conference abstract, which led to papers being submitted to international conferences. An international conference and network is currently being organised on the theme of ‘Repurposing Places’.