Story-making workshop
Start date: 8 September 2025
End date: 3 November 2025
Time: Mondays, 11:30–14:30 (UK time)
Number of sessions: 8
Format: Online, via Microsoft Teams
Open to researchers and practitioners in the arts, sciences, and humanities
Bursary: Up to £150 available for each maker
Application deadline: 15 August 2025. Places are limited and will be allocated based on interest, fit, and openness to collaborative and experimental methods.
What is story-making?
Story-making is a form of collaborative artistic research in which artistic practice is both the method and the outcome of the inquiry. In story-making we experiment with a range of creative techniques designed to generate story ideas, refine them, and develop them into finished creative artefacts.
A story might have a familiar narrative structure and elements, or it might aim to challenge convention. It might take the form of a written script, short digital film or animation, visual sequence, soundscape, or something that combines these.
What will the workshop involve?
During the workshop, you will be invited to take part in various creative activities designed to help you devise, refine, and craft a story about a more-than-human aspect of Antarctica. These activities might be individual or collaborative, and could include drawing, painting, collage, writing, movement, making objects, taking photos, making audio recordings and digital animations. There are many possibilities, and we are looking for makers who are open to experimentation and critical reflection.
I found the story makers workshop wonderfully immersive, and it has stayed with me as a very meaningful experience. There was room for all voices and it was a creative and freeing time. Each activity was a doorway to find meaning and tap into what was important for each of us. I also learnt animation skills which has been helpful for the future.
Annie Rapstoff, artist.
What are the benefits of taking part?
- Take part in an interdisciplinary process that aims to bring art and science together.
- Contribute to a research project exploring how story-making can engage with more-than-human aspects of Antarctica, with implications for thinking about climate change and extractivism.
- Reflect on your own research or field experience through alternative, creative methods.
- Meet researchers and creatives from other disciplines and possibly develop new directions for your own work.
- If you choose, share your story with professional or public networks to stimulate discussion on issues that matter to you.
- Receive a bursary of up to £150 for your participation.
What are the goals of the research?
Until now, storytelling and story-making research has concentrated on human stories. However, in this workshop, we want to explore how the methodology can be adapted to tell stories of non-human entities and objects. By this, we mean a story that draws on your experiences and knowledge but also uses your creativity and imagination to represent nonhuman elements as integral to the overall story. We hope to demonstrate the potential of more-than-human story-making in answering wider research questions on extractivism in Antarctica and through Antarctica.
Who is funding the research?
This workshop is funded by a grant from Oxford's John Fell Fund. It has been approved by the Social Sciences and Humanities Interdivisional Research Ethics Committee at the University of Oxford, reference: 1905980.
Who is leading the workshop?
The workshop will be co-produced and facilitated by Dr Katherine Collins and Dr Joanna Wheeler.
Logistics
Location: online via Teams
Dates and times of workshop sessions (11:30 - 14:30, UK time)
- 8 September 2025
- 15 September 2025
- 22 September 2025
- 29 September 2025
- 6 October 2025
- 13 October 2025
- 20 October 2025
- 3 November 2025
How to apply
Register your interest by 15th August 2025 using our online form.
Places are limited and will be allocated based on interest, fit, and openness to collaborative and experimental methods.
We will be in touch by the end of August.
