These episodes of Interrogating Spaces focus on student experience. They cover themes including inclusion and belonging for international students and how decolonial practice and social justice intersects with our artistic practices. We also hear from the LCC changemakers who expand on their experience as students and student consultants.

Student Focus Podcasts: Co-creating Social Justice

Interrogating Spaces is a podcast series that examines ideas around inclusivity and attainment in Higher Education. Each episode will explore democratic and decolonised teaching practices through dialogue with practitioners as well as staff and students from University of the Arts London.
This podcast is brought to you by the Academic Enhancement team at UAL.
For more information and resources please visit:
https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/teaching-and-learning-exchange/resources/academic-enhancement-resources

Interrogating Spaces Podcast

This playlist contains the full podcast 'About Inquilab' as well as its 5 separate chapters.

Outraged by the brutal murder of George Floyd many individuals within higher education (HE) were incensed, leading to a collective realisation of the imperative for transformative action. In response, Dr. Gurnam Singh, Jheni Arboine, and a small cohort of UAL staff and students made a decisive commitment to establish a distinctive reading group—Inquilab. This group distinguishes itself by embracing an unapologetically radical approach, with its foundation rooted in the principles of decolonisation, anti-racism, and flattened hierarchies. Inquilab’s primary objective is to foster an authentic space where UAL staff and students can converge, encouraging the exploration and contemplation of radical pedagogy and practices within a supportive, open, and organic space. 

In the podcast we hear from Inquilab’s founders about the context, values and ideas that were behind its beginnings and how it has since developed into its 3rd year. Participants and contributors tell us what brings them back and how the unique qualities and approaches that Inquilab embraces makes it a very different kind of discursive space. We hear about what it means to be able to bring your true self to a studio setting and how that fundamentally reconfigures hierarchies to create a greater sense of belonging and community for both staff and students.

About Inquilab Podcast

Decolonising Acts: Practice, Research and Pedagogy is a symposium that took place on September 18th 2024 at Central St Martins. The event brought together UAL staff to present, celebrate and explore work in the area of decoloniality and was organised by the academic enhancement team.

Find out more about the academic enhancement team: https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/teaching-and-learning-exchange/academic-enhancement

Decolonising Acts: A Practice, Research and Pedagogy

In this walk, Dr. Manrutt Wongkaew leads Carole Morrison and Gemma Riggs on an autobiographical walk from the now closed LCF building at John Princes St though Saville Row to Soho and China Town. We hear about Manrutt’s experiences as a tailor in Saville Row and how he embraces colour in his own fashion styling as a rebellion against conformity. Manrutt shares his stories of community in Soho that have informed his practice as a lecturer and his approach that allows students to bring their authentic selves to the learning environment. 

This is part of a series of walking dialogues exploring pedagogy developed by Gemma Riggs in the Academic Enhancement team at the University of the Arts London. For my information and to access many more resources on pedagogy and social justice visit: https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/teaching-and-learning-exchange/resources/academic-enhancement-resources

Walking Pedagogies: Dr Manrutt Wongkaew walks through Soho with Carole Morrison

In this episode of interrogating spaces, Dr Emily Salines takes us on an exploration of feedback practice, and how we might take a more compassionate approach.

The impact of feedback on student learning is well documented in educational literature. We also know that it is a critical area of practice where the emotional impact of assessment is at play. We speak with a number of practitioners, teachers and students to set out to map a framework for compassionate feedback practice and how we might enact it 

The questions we are asking are:

How can we harness feedback to support learning in a way that does no harm and supports students?
How can we use feedback to foster belonging?
Can compassion help us? And what would compassionate feedback look like?
This work is part of the QAA collaborative enhancement project on ‘Belonging through assessment: pipelines of compassion’ with UAL, Glasgow School of Art and Leeds Arts University.

Compassionate Feedback

This panel discussion on pass/fail assessment in arts higher education took place online during the ‘Belonging through assessment: Pipelines of compassion’ symposium on 21st October 2021. The symposium forms part of the QAA Collaborative Enhancement Project 2021 and is a partnership between University of the Arts London (UAL), Glasgow School of Art and Leeds Arts University (LAU). The discussion between invited speakers: Professor Sam Broadhead (LAU), Dr Neil Currant, (UAL) and Peter Hughes, (LAU) is facilitated by Dr Kate Mori (Academic Engagement Manager, QAA).

The discussion explores the potential of pass/fail as a compassionate approach to assessment and explores the challenges in changing practice and policies from the perspective of staff, students and the wider institution. A fascinating conversation that explores the complexities of feedback and assessment and implications for student belonging.

For more information please visit: https://belongingthroughassessment.myblog.arts.ac.uk/

Pass/ fail assessment in arts higher education

This polyvocal podcast tells the story so far of Inquilab / Ink-Lab; an alternative reading group based at University of the Arts London.
 
Outraged by the brutal murder of George Floyd many individuals within higher education (HE) were incensed, leading to a collective realisation of the imperative for transformative action. In response, Dr. Gurnam Singh, Jheni Arboine, and a small cohort of UAL staff and students made a decisive commitment to establish a distinctive reading group—Inquilab. This group distinguishes itself by embracing an unapologetically radical approach, with its foundation rooted in the principles of decolonisation, anti-racism, and flattened hierarchies. Inquilab's primary objective is to foster an authentic space where UAL staff and students can converge, encouraging the exploration and contemplation of radical pedagogy and practices within a supportive, open, and organic space.
 
In this podcast we hear from Inquilab’s founders about the context, values and ideas that were behind its beginnings and how it has since developed into its 3rd year. Participants and contributors tell us what brings them back and how the unique qualities and approaches that Inquilab embraces makes it a very different kind of discursive space. We hear about what it means to be able to bring your true self to a studio setting and how that fundamentally reconfigures hierarchies to create a greater sense of belonging and community for both staff and students.

Contributors:
Jheni Arboine
Nadia Idle 
Deshna Mehta
Dr Gurnam Singh
Dr. Manrutt Wongkaew

Music:
Thank you to Shaheed Bhai Mewa Singh for allowing us to use their music in this podcast

Sound recording credits: 
Tim Kahn for the recordings of a Black Lives Matter protest in Portland, Oregon, 7th June 2020

Production and Editing:
This podcast has been created and edited by Gemma Riggs

About Inquilab (Full podcast)

This polyvocal podcast tells the story of the LCC Changemakers at the University of the Arts London. LCC Changemakers are employed to work in partnership with course teams to codevelop decolonial and anti-racist curricula and teaching practices, and a student experience that is inclusive, equitable and compassionate. A total of nine Changemakers are recruited and trained each year, for there to be one Changemaker aligned to each of LCC’s nine academic programmes.

The podcast is introduced by Dr Amita Nijhawan.

LCC Changemakers 2023

In this podcast we hear from two international students about their experience of studying at UAL, specifically at Central St Martins. They give valuable insights as well as tips for tutors and incoming students. This podcast was made by the Student Imaginators, a cross-college group of students and alumni at UAL, who imagine, create and produce student-facing resources to do with decolonial approaches and compassionate pedagogy.

Credits/ references:

Participants: Mihika Bahety and Vicky Wong

Questions and Facilitation: Dr Amita Nijhawan

Sound Engineering and Production: Hannah Kemp-Welch

International Student Experience

In this episode of Interrogating Spaces Dr Amita Nijhawan introduces the LCC student Changemakers, a group of student consultants who work with course leaders and course teams to bring more social justice into the curriculum. They are a community of students and alumni who inform pedagogic development through a decolonial lens. 

 Here, their perspectives and experiences are brought together in a polyvocal assemblage. Amongst many topics, they talk about race, equality, the complexities and sensitivities of social justice work and most importantly what it is to be a student in the current cultural climate. 

Credits/ references:

Student Changemakers: Veronica Amon, Terena Danner and Emilio Gotterbarm

Questions and Facilitation: Dr Amita Nijhawan

Sound Engineering and Production: Emmanuel Aouad and Hannah Kemp-Welch

Assistance: Disha Deshpande
Music: Way-to-West by Ketsa

Changemakers

In this podcast, Dr Amita Nijhawan speaks with a Graphics, Media and Design (GMD) student at LCC and the GMD Course Support Assistant and former student about their experiences as international students as well as exploring approaches to decolonisation and its link to personal practice and research. 

Credits/ references:

Participants: Emmanuel Aouad, Disha Deshpande and Dr Amita Nijhawan

Questions and Facilitation: Dr Amita Nijhawan

Sound Engineering and Production: Hannah Kemp-Welch and Emmanuel Aouad

Music: LA Flux Ride - Wind Talker by Flux Bikes

Disruption And Correction

This is part 4 for the About Inquilab Podcast, where contributors discuss concepts of decoloniality in relation to higher education and how it might manifest in practice and through the Inquilab reading group

About Inquilab Section 04: Decoloniality and Higher Education

What does it mean to bring your 'self' into your teaching practice and how might this create a more inclusive learning environment?

About Inquilab Section 03: Self, truth and lived experience

We hear extracts of an Inquilab session from July 2023 and hear from participants about what it felt like to be in the session. During this session participants were asked to share objects that meant something to them whilst the group painted their own watercolour

About Inquilab Section 02: What Does An Inquilab Session Feel Like?

We hear from Inquilab founders who describe how the reading group came about and what key ideas, methodologies and principles it embraces

About Inquilab Section 01: Introduction - What is Inquilab?

This three-part podcast contains deeper reflections on some of the Making The Creative Majority report’s key findings. Each episode speaks to experts with real world experience of alternative routes into creative work, widening participation into higher education, and diversifying the creative sector.

This podcast was produced by a partnership between academics and staff from UAL, KCL and University of Manchester.

3 separate podcasts:

How do we make the creative majority? 
Dr. Joanna Abeyie MBE (Founder & Chief Executive Officer BLUE MOON & Common Councilor)
Dr. Natalie Wreyford (King's College London)
Prof.  David O'Brien (The University of Manchester)

What works to widen participation and support student access to higher education?
Dr. Zoe Baker ( University of York)
Dr. Omar Khan (TASO)
Dr. Tamsyn Dent (King's College London)

Why work experience and alternative routes matter for a more diverse creative sector
Craig Pennington (Future Yard)
Siraaj Mitha (Open City)
Tessa Read (University of the Arts London)

How do we make the creative majority?

This reading was part of Inquilab reading group in April 2024. The text is from a special edition of a an editorial for ‘Decolonial Subversions’ and offers insight to Victoria’s more recent work and thinking on the coloniality of language.

Victoria Odeniyi reads 'Decolonising the university and the role of linguistic diversity'

Siobhan Clay is head of Academic Enhancement at UAL.

Decolonising Acts: A Practice, Research and Pedagogy is a symposium that took place on September 18th 2024 at Central St Martins. The event brought together UAL staff to present, celebrate and explore work in the area of decoloniality at UAL and was organised by the academic enhancement team at UAL.

For more information visit: https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/teaching-and-learning-exchange/academic-enhancement

Decolonising Acts: Introduction by Siobhan Clay

Dr Amita Nijhawan is Educational Developer in Co-Creation in the Academic Enhancement team at UAL.

Decolonising Acts: A Practice, Research and Pedagogy is a symposium that took place on September 18th 2024 at Central St Martins. The event brought together UAL staff to present, celebrate and explore work in the area of decoloniality at UAL and was organised by the academic enhancement team.

For more information visit: https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/teaching-and-learning-exchange/academic-enhancement

Decolonising Acts: Introduction by Amita Nijhawan

Victoria Odeniyi is an applied linguist. She is a UAL Decolonising Arts Institute Research Fellow and the Institute’s lead for UAL’s Decolonising Arts Education Secondment Scheme. Victoria was a researcher on the ‘Developing Educator’s project at Queen Mary. She was also a research assistant on the Andrew Mellon Foundation funded project Reading Peer Review. Victoria led UAL’s 'Reimagining Conversations' with multilingual international students project (2020-2022) which sought to raise awareness of the educational and creative potential of the use of language. Victoria is an Editorial Board Member of the ‘In Other Words Dictionary Project: A Contextualized Dictionary to Problematize Otherness.

Decolonising Acts: A Practice, Research and Pedagogy is a symposium that took place on September 18th 2024 at Central St Martins. The event brought together UAL staff to present, celebrate and explore work in the area of decoloniality at UAL and was organised by the academic enhancement team.

For more information visit: https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/teaching-and-learning-exchange/academic-enhancement

Decolonising Acts: Victoria Odeniyi

Mia Liyanage is Educational Developer Climate Racial and Social Justice at UAL.

Decolonising Acts: A Practice, Research and Pedagogy is a symposium that took place on September 18th 2024 at Central St Martins. The event brought together UAL staff to present, celebrate and explore work in the area of decoloniality at UAL and was organised by the academic enhancement team at UAL.

For more information visit: https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/teaching-and-learning-exchange/academic-enhancement

Decolonising Acts: Mia Liyanage

Carole Morrison is the Head of Social Purpose in the Curriculum at London College of Fashion (LCF). She co-creates interventions with staff, students and neighbourhoods to explore, promote and embed issues of citizenship, social conscience and ethics into curriculum. Carole has worked in Tate Britain, Arts Council England, A New Direction and Centro Cultural Sao Paulo (Brazil). Her current area of research explores anti-colonial thinking and practice and she is a recipient of the Advance HE Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (2020) and an Associate Member of the LCF Centre for Sustainable Fashion (2024).


Decolonising Acts: A Practice, Research and Pedagogy is a symposium that took place on September 18th 2024 at Central St Martins. The event brought together UAL staff to present, celebrate and explore work in the area of decoloniality at UAL and was organised by the academic enhancement team.

For more information visit: https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/teaching-and-learning-exchange/academic-enhancementv

Decolonising Acts: Carole Morrison

Kevin J Brazant is the Progression and Attainment Project Manager and a Senior Fellow at the London College of Communication (LCC) at UAL. His work prioritises addressing the degree awarding gap at college level. He coordinates the Changemakers initiative, working with students as partners in decolonising, anti-racism and inclusive practices in teaching and learning. His practice research, ‘Disrupting the Discourse’, advocates using disruptive pedagogies for social justice in education.  Kevin uses storytelling, podcasting and digital content creation as part of his platform Lounge Akademics, and collaborates with companies and brands committed to social justice.

Decolonising Acts: A Practice, Research and Pedagogy is a symposium that took place on September 18th 2024 at Central St Martins. The event brought together UAL staff to present, celebrate and explore work in the area of decoloniality at UAL and was organised by the academic enhancement team.

For more information visit: https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/teaching-and-learning-exchange/academic-enhancement

Decolonising Acts: Kevin J Brazant

Chapter 10: Old Compton St / It takes a queer village

Chapter 07. Royal Academy

Chapter 01. London College of Fashion at John Princes St - Introduction

Chapter 11. Soho wonderland: Soho in light and shadow

Chapter 02. Dr. Manrutt Wongkaew and Carole Morrison introduce themselves

Chapter 03. Bringing 'Self' into teaching

Chapter 05. Being a tailor in Saville Row

Chapter 04. Walking to Savile Row

00. Full Conversation: Dr. Manrutt Wongkaew walks with Carole Morrison through Soho

Chapter 08. Walking To Soho: Reclaiming identity

Chapter 13: Ku Bar on Lisle St, Soho / Sharing our authentic stories

This episode of Interrogating Spaces profiles the latest Decolonising the Arts Curriculum exhibition at Central St Martins library, curated by Rahul Patel (Lecturer on MA MA Culture, Criticism and Curation at Central St Martins and Educational Developer at UAL’s Teaching and Learning exchange).

It features conversations with the five featured artists (Maria Bendixen, Dr Jo Shah, Tobi Falade, Siyan Zhang and Joanna Mamede) about their displays within the exhibition. Through the ideas at play within each of their artworks, we gain insights into diverse positions on decolonisation.

The feature is introduced by Rahul Patel.

Decolonising the Arts Curriculum: Personal Narratives

This episode of interrogating spaces features a conversation between South African filmmaker Rehad Desai and Sandra Janette Poulson who studies Fashion Print at Central St Martins. They come together after a screening of Rehad’s film ‘Everything Must Fall’ which charts the #feesmustfall movement that took South Africa’s Higher 
Education institutions by storm in 2015. They discuss the film and its implications for universities and pedagogy from a global perspective.
The film screening was programmed by Rahul Patel, Lecturer on MA MA Culture, Criticism and Curation at Central St Martins and Educational Developer at UAL’s Teaching and Learning exchange.

Everything Must Fall: A conversation between Rehad Desai and Sandra Janette Poulson

Interrogating Spaces examines ideas around inclusivity and attainment in Higher Education. In each episode we speak with staff, students and practitioners to explore democratic and decolonised teaching practices.

Interrogating Spaces is brought to you by the Academic Enhancement Team within the Teaching and Learning Exchange at the University of the Arts London.


For more information please visit 
https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/teaching-and-learning-exchange/academic-enhancement

Interrogating Spaces / Academic Enhancement at UAL

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks