PhD Study : Art Engaging the Geographical Context, Evidence and Impacts of Climate Change: The role of experimental art in engaging with and communicating these urgent issues to the wider public

Summary

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states that climate change will have far reaching impacts across society and is clearly being driven by greenhouse gas emissions.  Despite this, there is a large disconnect between society and climate science that must be bridged if we are to engage citizens with the realities of climate change and have societal buy-in to the systemic carbon reductions required to mitigate against this climate crisis. There are nuanced reasons why society is not engaging with climate change, but a lack of access to science and a poor understanding of the processes and impacts are problematic.

Consequently, scientists need to go beyond the normal scientific discourse and create imaginative ways to communicate their science to the public. Critically exciting approaches should include collaborations with artists who are experts at communicating abstract concepts to society, where their applied and participatory research methods enable thought provoking open engagement and can lead to cultural change. Currently, the clearest indicator of climate change is the ice loss from glaciers and ice sheets.

Given the potential sea level rise, which will displace coastal communities across the globe, it is important to work out their future trajectory in a warming world.  An established way of doing this is to investigate the geological imprint of the last Ice Age, which shows how ice sheets grow and decay as a result of climate change. The Irish landscape and its surrounding continental shelf, contains one of the best preserved geological records of former ice sheet behaviour and Investigations here have recently established the growth and decay patterns of the last ice sheet as a result of climate change (Dunlop et al., 2010, Benetti et al., 2010, O’Cofaigh et al., 2019). This location will be the focus for this interdisciplinary project, which will bridge the societal knowledge gap by taking scientific knowledge of climate change obtained from this region and communicate this through art processes. Artists are increasingly responding to the wider context of climate change e.g. Vatnajökull (Patterson, 2007) communicated the live sound of glacial melt to people’s mobile phones, and Ice Watch (Oliasson, 2018) situated large melting glacial ice-blocks in city environments.

Artists have been instrumental in contributing not only to the widening and deepening of public engagement and public activism (Burning Ice: Art and Climate Change, McEwan, 2017) but also in fostering new thinking and establishing protean practices which engage the dramatic current conditions of uncertainty and act towards systemic cultural change (Springer, 2012).

Such creative research-practices can stimulate deeper engagement with the specific geographical study of ‘tell-tale’ geological environments that this project will research. This research context provides rich possibilities for experimental art practices to directly access the fieldwork sites (via land and sea), the scientific data and the key findings of this area of climate change research. Our interdisciplinary approach facilitates innovative and experimental art-based research, exploring these critically timely issues from new perspectives using unorthodox creative methods that are open-ended yet vitally public engaging towards cultural and systemic change.

This PhD is funded by DfE and is one of twelve Interdisciplinary awards from across the University, following an internal competition for proposals between two distinct research units and with impact potential.

Essential criteria

Applicants should hold, or expect to obtain, a First or Upper Second Class Honours Degree in a subject relevant to the proposed area of study.

We may also consider applications from those who hold equivalent qualifications, for example, a Lower Second Class Honours Degree plus a Master’s Degree with Distinction.

In exceptional circumstances, the University may consider a portfolio of evidence from applicants who have appropriate professional experience which is equivalent to the learning outcomes of an Honours degree in lieu of academic qualifications.

• Sound understanding of subject area as evidenced by a comprehensive research proposal
• A comprehensive and articulate personal statement
• Research proposal of 2000 words detailing aims, objectives, milestones and methodology of the project

Desirable Criteria

If the University receives a large number of applicants for the project, the following desirable criteria may be applied to shortlist applicants for interview.

• Completion of Masters at a level equivalent to commendation or distinction at Ulster
• Practice-based research experience and/or dissemination
• Experience using research methods or other approaches relevant to the subject domain
• Work experience relevant to the proposed project

Funding and eligibility

The University offers the following levels of support:

Department for the Economy (DFE)

The scholarship will cover tuition fees at the Home rate and a maintenance allowance of £19,000 (tbc) per annum for three years (subject to satisfactory academic performance).

This scholarship also comes with £900 per annum for three years as a research training support grant (RTSG) allocation to help support the PhD researcher.

• Candidates with pre-settled or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, who also satisfy a three year residency requirement in the UK prior to the start of the course for which a Studentship is held MAY receive a Studentship covering fees and maintenance.
• Republic of Ireland (ROI) nationals who satisfy three years’ residency in the UK prior to the start of the course MAY receive a Studentship covering fees and maintenance (ROI nationals don’t need to have pre-settled or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme to qualify).
• Other non-ROI EU applicants are ‘International’ are not eligible for this source of funding.
• Applicants who already hold a doctoral degree or who have been registered on a programme of research leading to the award of a doctoral degree on a full-time basis for more than one year (or part-time equivalent) are NOT eligible to apply for an award.

Due consideration should be given to financing your studies. Further information on cost of living