Calling all Creativity Researchers!

The 3rd UK Creativity Researchers’ Conference will take place on the 22nd May 2019 throughout the Foster Lecture Theatres, University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), Preston, UK.

Over the past 3 years, this conference has fast become an important date for all those interested in the study of creativity (both in the UK and further afield). From the outset, our aim has been to unite, share skills and ideas, build productive collaborations, and ultimately boost both the national and international impact of creativity research.

This one-day conference will feature keynote speaker Jonathan Plucker, Professor of Talent Development at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, US). Professor Plucker’s research examines creativity and intelligence, education policy, and talent development. As an eminent figure within the field of creativity research, we are delighted to have such an esteemed guest travelling from the US to our conference in the UK. His keynote is entitled “Creativity Confuses Me: Perplexing Questions About a Complex Construct”. During this talk, he will review recent developments and identify the “major unknowns” in need of additional attention.

The conference will also feature selected podium presentations, posters, a grand finale tête-à-tête with Richard Madden (Group Strategy Director for the award-winning branding agency www.bartleboglehegarty.com) and Prof. Plucker, refreshments, networking opportunities and a working lunch. For more information, keep visiting this site as we work towards the 22nd May 2019.

The economy and culture of the 21st century has a tremendous need for creative talent. Whether one works in manufacturing, government, education, or the service industry, there is always a shortage of creatively talented people. Research on creativity, especially on how to foster and assess it, has grown tremendously over the past 30 years, especially in the areas of theory development, assessment, and interventions. Yet this work has also led to new challenges, first among them why all this work has had arguably limited impact on practice. During this talk we will review these recent developments and identify the “major unknowns” in need of additional attention.

Jonathan Plucker is the Julian C. Stanley Endowed Professor of Talent Development at Johns Hopkins University, where he works in the Center for Talented Youth and School of Education. His research examines creativity and intelligence, education policy, and talent development. Recent books include Excellence Gaps in Education with Scott Peters, From Giftedness to Gifted Education with Anne Rinn and Matt Makel, Intelligence 101 with Amber Esping, and Creativity and Innovation. Prof. Plucker is the recipient of the 2012 Arnheim Award for Outstanding Achievement from the American Psychological Association and 2013 Distinguished Scholar Award from the National Association for Gifted Children. He is president-elect of NAGC.

The study of creativity has many rich areas for exploration. Whether research is focused on the Creative Person, Process, Product or Press; Big C, Pro C, Little c, mini c or Core Creativity, and many more topics and concepts, the UK Creativity Researchers’ Conference is the place to share your insights on this important topic. We welcome all creativity researchers, from all disciplines and wherever they call their home. Come and join us!

In addition to our keynote by Prof. Jonathan Plucker at the start of the conference and our grand finale tête-à-tête, there will be eleven confirmed speakers during the day. The titles of these presentations are as follows (in alphabetical order):

An interactive exploration of everyday creativity and the results of an evaluation of an online participatory arts project for common mental disorders. Rachel H. Tribe, (University College London) and co-authors Chris Rolls (64 Million Artists), Vyv Huddy, (University of Sheffield), Katrina Scrior and Kat Alcock (University College London

Antecedents of divergent and malevolent thinking: Exploring psychopathy and openness-to-experience. Dr Mark Batey (Manchester Metropolitan University Business School) and co-authors David Hughes, Annie Moseley, Adrian Furnham, Courtney Owens

Creative parallels east and west? Cross-cultural creativity in the 21st century. Dr Natascha Radclyffe-Thomas (University of the Arts London)

Creativity by any other bame. Thomas Colin (Plymouth University)

Creativity in practice: An ecological phenomenon.Prof. Norman Jackson (from Creative Academic)

‘Dear J. P. Guilford …’: A letter of protest at the exclusion of artists in your 1950 address. Claudia Davidson (University of Surrey)

Exploring the cognitive size, structure and life of ideas using sticky notes. Prof. Bo Christensen (Copenhagen Business School) and co-author Morten Friis-Olivarius

Future work and creativity: A study of employers’ interpretation of creativity in the workplace and the implications for student learning. Elaine Clarke (Aston University) and co-author C. J. Wilson

How do creative individuals experience and cope with the process of being creative within an organisation? Diane Herbert (Buckinghamshire New University)

Profiles of originality: A uniqueness index built for divergent exploration of any given prompt. Dr Garrett J Jaeger (LEGO Foundation) and co-author Zachary C. Burns

The discomfort zone: Reporting on an artistic collaboration. Dr Ian Hocking (Canterbury Christ Church University)

We also have an excellent selection of poster presentations for viewing and discussion. Confirmed titles are as follows (in alphabetical order), with a potential further six titles to be added to this list soon:

• (Rigorous) Imagination: Applying contemporary metaphor theory to the production of creative texts
• A randomised controlled experimental study to explore whether and to what extent positive emotions (PE) cause novel or creative thoughts (creativity) via broadened awareness in student nurses: pilot study
• Assessing creativity skills in young children
• Building and defending islands in the sea: Creativity in higher education
• Creative arts and young people at risk
• Creative insight in simulated animals
• Creativity and emotion: An investigation into the effects of affect on divergent-thinking performance
• Creativity manifestations in early childhood: Explorative and innovative actions during social learning
• Dazzle chess – Modelmaking skills as interdisciplinary practice.
• Doing creativity: Learnings from the dark arts
• Fostering university students’ creative problem-solving skills with a domain-specific training intervention: Effects on idea generation and idea evaluation
• Intrinsic motivation mediates the relationship between creativity at age 9 and educational achievement at age 16
• Optimising the Unusual Uses Test
• The relationship between creativity and wellbeing in young people
• The requisite climate for group creativity training and how it is developed
• The underlying cognitive mechanisms of the rater effect in creativity assessment: The role of perceived semantic distance and similarity mapping.
• Ways of unlearning creativity in art and design pedagogy

Tête-à-tête

Our grand finale for the conference is something we like to call a tête-à-tête – two experts from different sides of the world of creativity in an improvisational discussion:

• Creativity Academia/Researcher tête-à-tête with Creativity Industry/Practitioner
  • Dichotomies?
  • Polarities?
  • Synergies?

…you get the idea!

Our illustrious guests for the tête-à-tête will include a return to the stage for Prof. Jonathan Plucker. As mentioned in the keynote details, Prof. Plucker is the Julian C. Stanley Endowed Professor of Talent Development at Johns Hopkins University, where he works in the Center for Talented Youth and School of Education. His research examines creativity and intelligence, education policy, and talent development. Recent books include Excellence Gaps in Education with Scott Peters, From Giftedness to Gifted Education with Anne Rinn and Matt Makel, Intelligence 101 with Amber Esping, and Creativity and Innovation. Prof. Plucker is the recipient of the 2012 Arnheim Award for Outstanding Achievement from the American Psychological Association and 2013 Distinguished Scholar Award from the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC). He is president-elect of NAGC.

We will also introduce to the stage Mr Richard Madden, Group Strategy Director for the award-winning branding agency www.bartleboglehegarty.com (with clients such as Nike, Google, Ikea, and Audi … to name a few).

In his own words, “Richard always wanted to be an academic until he fell into the clutches of the creative industries in the late 1980s. Leaving Oxford with a totally unsuitable degree in history, his first job was as a copywriter crafting colour supplement ads for collectable china figurines. Having graduated to running the creative department of a large London advertising agency, Richard decided to turn his hand to another facet of the creative craft. Since the mid-nineties he has been a strategist, using attitudinal research and behavioural data to help creators come up with ideas that will have a measurable effect on consumer behaviour. Richard is now part of the strategy team at Bartle Bogle Hegarty, an agency famous for both the creativity and the effectiveness of its ideas. His clients include Audi, Tesco and Barclays Bank. In his spare time, he writes and speaks on the link between creativity and commercial growth, a subject about which he is especially passionate. He is also trying in vain to restore a 1996 TVR Griffith back to health.”

 

As each of our previous UK Creativity Researchers’ conferences has achieved a full capacity of delegates, it is advisable to register early to secure your place.

The conference fee is £60 for the day and includes a working lunch and refreshments, in addition to plenty of novel and meaningful discussions throughout the day.

To secure your place register via the link below:

https://www.uclan.ac.uk/venue-hire/creativity-researchers-conference-2019.php