The Memory Network
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Roehampton
Department Name: English and Creative Writing
Abstract
From Plato's wax tablet and Freud's exploration of the 'mystic writing pad' to contemporary metaphors of digital archives, our understanding of memory has often been shaped by technological models. But in recent years, this understanding has been significantly enhanced through exciting scientific breakthroughs. Writers, critics and academics working in the arts and humanities are now turning to new ways of thinking within biosciences, psychology, mathematics, and computer science to reconsider individual and collective memory in literary narratives. At the same time, many scientists acknowledge the benefits of engaging with creative ideas and the ethical and hermeneutic perspectives offered through fiction and humanities methodologies.
The Memory Network (MN) brings together researchers, authors and organisations to provoke and fuel original ways of thinking about memory. Many important contemporary writers are already in a vibrant dialogue with science and offer crucial starting points for the MN's activity: for example, Ian McEwan's and Will Self's research into neuroscience for Saturday (2005) and The Book of Dave (2006); Margaret Atwood's and Kazuo Ishiguro's thinking about the impact of 'the posthuman' upon human memory; Terry Pratchett's quest to understand the effect on his writing of progressive Alzheimer's; and Hanif Kureishi's interest in understanding how matter and mind are related.
One of the Network's ambitions is to grow and nurture a community of thinkers interested in cross-disciplinary approaches to memory studies, open to communicating with each other and with the general public. It will also stimulate new creative work and we are particularly keen to actively involve living writers in this community and its various debates. We will encourage a dialogue to develop between the academic community, creative writers and artists, and the general public. Interaction will be encouraged in a number of ways. Firstly, and following an initial symposium called 'The Future of Memory' (funded by the Wellcome Trust), the MN will run a series of free lectures, memory experiments, panel discussions and interactive workshops throughout the first year of the scheme. These events will tackle topics including science and psychogeography, memory, food and phenomenology, memory and new media, memory and prediction, human and artificial intelligence memory, and writing, aging and forgetting. A website called the 'Memory Repository' will support discussion and correspondence between Core Members and the general public in response to these events. Finally, the MN will publish two collaborative works: a 'manifesto' called The Future of Memory: Notes for the New Millennium and an edited collection of essays provisionally titled Memory, Literature and Science.
The Memory Network has literary studies at its core, and most of its initial members are based in English departments with an established or emerging research interest in memory and narrative. In addition, key researchers from other disciplines will join as active members or in an advisory capacity. At present the Network is primarily based in contributors from the UK and North America, but an additional aim for its final phase is to critically situate these interdisciplinary investigations in wider contexts with a European and global emphasis, culminating in a major international conference.
The Memory Network (MN) brings together researchers, authors and organisations to provoke and fuel original ways of thinking about memory. Many important contemporary writers are already in a vibrant dialogue with science and offer crucial starting points for the MN's activity: for example, Ian McEwan's and Will Self's research into neuroscience for Saturday (2005) and The Book of Dave (2006); Margaret Atwood's and Kazuo Ishiguro's thinking about the impact of 'the posthuman' upon human memory; Terry Pratchett's quest to understand the effect on his writing of progressive Alzheimer's; and Hanif Kureishi's interest in understanding how matter and mind are related.
One of the Network's ambitions is to grow and nurture a community of thinkers interested in cross-disciplinary approaches to memory studies, open to communicating with each other and with the general public. It will also stimulate new creative work and we are particularly keen to actively involve living writers in this community and its various debates. We will encourage a dialogue to develop between the academic community, creative writers and artists, and the general public. Interaction will be encouraged in a number of ways. Firstly, and following an initial symposium called 'The Future of Memory' (funded by the Wellcome Trust), the MN will run a series of free lectures, memory experiments, panel discussions and interactive workshops throughout the first year of the scheme. These events will tackle topics including science and psychogeography, memory, food and phenomenology, memory and new media, memory and prediction, human and artificial intelligence memory, and writing, aging and forgetting. A website called the 'Memory Repository' will support discussion and correspondence between Core Members and the general public in response to these events. Finally, the MN will publish two collaborative works: a 'manifesto' called The Future of Memory: Notes for the New Millennium and an edited collection of essays provisionally titled Memory, Literature and Science.
The Memory Network has literary studies at its core, and most of its initial members are based in English departments with an established or emerging research interest in memory and narrative. In addition, key researchers from other disciplines will join as active members or in an advisory capacity. At present the Network is primarily based in contributors from the UK and North America, but an additional aim for its final phase is to critically situate these interdisciplinary investigations in wider contexts with a European and global emphasis, culminating in a major international conference.
Planned Impact
Professionals and Practitioners
Writers and artists will benefit from the MN through being directly involved in the project and through using the various outputs as a source of research and inspiration. Collaboration with colleagues working in different fields (other artists and critics, but especially scientists) should generate a wealth of new ideas that will lead to innovative artistic and cultural activity. Previous collaborative work undertaken by creative writers such as Will Self, A. S. Byatt and Ian McEwan is to be taken as a model here: Self has used his research into work by the Wellcome Trust (Maguire et al.) as the basis for his novel The Book of Dave (2006); Byatt uses her extensive knowledge of memory as the basis of composition of her novels; and McEwan has shadowed a neurosurgeon for his novel Saturday (2005). It is this kind of cross-disciplinary activity which the MN stimulates.
Wider Public
The MN's various activities will have direct benefits for the general public, bringing a diverse set of high-profile intellectuals into the public sphere, increasing public awareness of the work of, and between, different disciplines in memory studies, and encouraging individuals to engage and interact with cutting-edge research. For example, the inaugural lecture and panel combines the attractions of a hugely popular and critically acclaimed author (A. S. Byatt), an innovative neuroscience researcher (Hugo Spiers), and two world-class literary scholars (Patricia Waugh and Claire Colebrook) who seek to explore the relationship between the arts and sciences. The event with Hugo Spiers and Will Self has already attracted the attention of Channel 4, and we expect Self to be writing about this experience in The Guardian. More intimately, the 'Food, Phenomenology and Memory' event invites members of the public to take part in a food tasting experiment and undergo a live feedback assessment. 'Rewired: Memory, New Media and the Datastate' has the potential to reach a younger audience by featuring young adult author M. T. Anderson.
The Memory Repository website is open for general discussion following on from public events and members of the public can also sign up to a quarterly newsletter detailing the academic network's progress. The whole series of events and complementary online discussion has the potential to bring science and the arts to new audiences in an accessible manner.
Public Sector
The programme of activities will also benefit the various non-profit organisations, institutions and charitable trusts with which the MN is forging relationships. For example, the Museum of London, who are hosting the Science and Psycho-geography event with Hugo Spiers and Will Self, will not only profit from the publicity of this evening but will be put into contact with the core members of the Memory Network for future advisory work. Similar consultancy opportunities will hopefully arise with the Greenwich Observatory, the British Film Institute, the British Library, and the Wellcome Trust. The Alzheimer's Society, the Society of Authors, and the University of the Third Age will also be involved in public events and will benefit in similar ways.
Commercial Private Sector and Media
Many of the public events will generate media interest, not only disseminating ideas to the general public but also stimulating quality journalism. We are expecting that the various contributors will be writing in broadsheets and mainstream opinion magazines such as Prospect and The New Statesman. Venues such as The Blueprint Café will benefit from the short and long term exposure the project generates and may be able to use academic discussion of the event in developing its own corporate identity. Palgrave Macmillan will publish The Future of Memory: Notes for the New Millennium, and the MIT Press have been approached to publish the edited collection, Memory, Literature and Science.
Writers and artists will benefit from the MN through being directly involved in the project and through using the various outputs as a source of research and inspiration. Collaboration with colleagues working in different fields (other artists and critics, but especially scientists) should generate a wealth of new ideas that will lead to innovative artistic and cultural activity. Previous collaborative work undertaken by creative writers such as Will Self, A. S. Byatt and Ian McEwan is to be taken as a model here: Self has used his research into work by the Wellcome Trust (Maguire et al.) as the basis for his novel The Book of Dave (2006); Byatt uses her extensive knowledge of memory as the basis of composition of her novels; and McEwan has shadowed a neurosurgeon for his novel Saturday (2005). It is this kind of cross-disciplinary activity which the MN stimulates.
Wider Public
The MN's various activities will have direct benefits for the general public, bringing a diverse set of high-profile intellectuals into the public sphere, increasing public awareness of the work of, and between, different disciplines in memory studies, and encouraging individuals to engage and interact with cutting-edge research. For example, the inaugural lecture and panel combines the attractions of a hugely popular and critically acclaimed author (A. S. Byatt), an innovative neuroscience researcher (Hugo Spiers), and two world-class literary scholars (Patricia Waugh and Claire Colebrook) who seek to explore the relationship between the arts and sciences. The event with Hugo Spiers and Will Self has already attracted the attention of Channel 4, and we expect Self to be writing about this experience in The Guardian. More intimately, the 'Food, Phenomenology and Memory' event invites members of the public to take part in a food tasting experiment and undergo a live feedback assessment. 'Rewired: Memory, New Media and the Datastate' has the potential to reach a younger audience by featuring young adult author M. T. Anderson.
The Memory Repository website is open for general discussion following on from public events and members of the public can also sign up to a quarterly newsletter detailing the academic network's progress. The whole series of events and complementary online discussion has the potential to bring science and the arts to new audiences in an accessible manner.
Public Sector
The programme of activities will also benefit the various non-profit organisations, institutions and charitable trusts with which the MN is forging relationships. For example, the Museum of London, who are hosting the Science and Psycho-geography event with Hugo Spiers and Will Self, will not only profit from the publicity of this evening but will be put into contact with the core members of the Memory Network for future advisory work. Similar consultancy opportunities will hopefully arise with the Greenwich Observatory, the British Film Institute, the British Library, and the Wellcome Trust. The Alzheimer's Society, the Society of Authors, and the University of the Third Age will also be involved in public events and will benefit in similar ways.
Commercial Private Sector and Media
Many of the public events will generate media interest, not only disseminating ideas to the general public but also stimulating quality journalism. We are expecting that the various contributors will be writing in broadsheets and mainstream opinion magazines such as Prospect and The New Statesman. Venues such as The Blueprint Café will benefit from the short and long term exposure the project generates and may be able to use academic discussion of the event in developing its own corporate identity. Palgrave Macmillan will publish The Future of Memory: Notes for the New Millennium, and the MIT Press have been approached to publish the edited collection, Memory, Literature and Science.
Organisations
- University of Roehampton (Lead Research Organisation)
- Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Collaboration)
- University of Maryland, College Park (Collaboration)
- University College London (Collaboration)
- Columbia University (Collaboration)
- Whitechapel Gallery (Collaboration)
- Being Human Festival (Collaboration)
- Yale University (Collaboration)
- NESTA (Collaboration)
- University of Amsterdam (Collaboration)
- Radboud University Nijmegen (Collaboration)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Collaboration)
People |
ORCID iD |
| Sebastian Groes (Principal Investigator) | |
| P Waugh (Co-Investigator) |
Publications
Bloom, P
The Problem with Stories
Colebrook, C
(2016)
Framing the End of the Species: Narrating the Anthropocene Era
Currie, M.
'Retentional Finitude and Story Form'
Groes S
(2016)
Information overload in literature
in Textual Practice
Groes S
(2021)
Proust in Transylvania: Smell and Memory in Romania
in American, British and Canadian Studies
Groes S
(2017)
'I love Alaska': posthuman subjectivity and memory on the final frontier of our ecological crisis
in Textual Practice
Hutto, D
How Narratives Shape Our Memories
| Description | We have discovered that there is a great concern for cognition and, more specifically, memory in our contemporary culture. There are multiplicity of revolutions that together are radically reshaping the context of our thinking about what it means to be a human being in the twenty-first century. Memory is key to understanding these new contexts, which simultaneously reshape our understanding of memory itself. We have explored these concerns through a number of research strands, which together form a mapping of the contemporary human condition. One key concern lies in the ways in which the digital world is reshaping our memory, and our social behaviour and relationships. We have shown that new technologies do not simply entails a loss of cognition and memory, but that it changes the mind and behaviour in complex and subtle ways. In summary, we have found that memory has and is changing, and that it displays the following characteristics: 1. There is a renewed engagement with, and fascination by, the complexities of memory in society; 2. the renewed interest in memory is the result of a new set of complex contexts (including globalisation, climate change, and ageing population) that offer new intellectual challenges; 3. Memories studies has been greatly influenced by the revolutions that neuroscience has brought since the 1960s; 4. Due to the dominance of neuroscience, there is move away from thinking of memory as a collective socio-cultural event and a shift towards the pursuit of memory as processes that take place in the brain, body and mind in individual biological units; 5. the digital revolutions are radically reshaping our memories, sparking much concern from various critics; 6. With the advances of new technologies and (social) media identified above, memory is becoming more and more a collectively shared, extended and distributed activity of archiving and interpretative process between the various users involved in the original experience, its dissemination and reproduction; 7. Due to the mass availability of technology for common users, the creation and dissemination of memory is democratized through the effects that technology has on our contemporary experience, which includes sharing our experiences through, for instance, social networking sites, apps and other programmes, but also through new techniques such as crowd-sourcing and the algorithmic patterning and analysis of Big Data, which gives the possibility of accessing, mining, analysing the 'wisdom of the crowd'; 8. Whereas in earlier times remembering was understood as the retrieval of fixed representations events taken place in the past (whereby the integral purity of the original experience is retained), we now understand that memory is our capacity to constantly reorganise information whose understanding is itself determined by contextual association; 9.Due to the ubiquity of technology, we are seeing the creation of 'transactive memory', which is dependent on group cognition; 10. There is a complexification of thinking about the temporality of memory, especially in our conception of thinking how memory related to the future; 11. There is a new emphasis on the fictional aspects of memory, which sees the return to the uses of literary studies; 12. A new phenomenon, in the light of, memory storage facilities outside the body is both an anxiety of cognitive offloading, but also a positive assessment of new extensions of the mind. What we also have seen is that the traditional divide between the arts and humanities, and the sciences is narrowing. There is a renewed appetite within the academe, and beyond, for interdisciplinary thinking and collaboration. The Memory Network has played a role in this process. |
| Exploitation Route | We already have assembled a team which is keen to investigate in more detail the effects of the digital world on our cognition, memory and behaviour. Other researcher will most certainly be picking up on our findings, and find their own research paths. |
| Sectors | Creative Economy,Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Description | Both within the academic fields we have covered, within the creative communities we've engaged and energized, and in the public sphere the Memory Network has established changing attitudes to both the role of cognition and memory in contemporary society, as well as contributed to the rethinking the relationship between the arts and the humanities, and the sciences. In society, the role of cognition and memory is on various high profile agendas, in the media as well as in public discourse, and the Memory Network's activities have had a substantial influence on these debates, reaching from the impact of the digital world on our social behaviour and on thinking about climate change to changing identities and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's. Within the academe, the Memory Network's modes of connection between disiplines has seen a new wave of interdisciplinary thinking, which are also finding their way into the class room (via new modules on literature/culture and memory, and the brain, for instance) and in a strong appetite for interdisciplinary publications. The Memory Network's influence will be consolidated with the publication of the edited collection 'Memory in the Twenty-first Century' (Palgrave 2015), and the special edition of Memory Studies (2016). Update 2018: we have been awarded a £2,000 grant for the Being Human Festival, for which we organised on the the key events for the Festival in November 2018, Snidge Scrumin': https://beinghumanfestival.org/event/snidge-scrumpin-mapping-smell-and-memory-22-november/ . The project, which maps smell and memory in the Black Country, saw two public engagement events on 21 and 22 November in Dudley (Black Country Living Museum) and in Wolverhampton (Wolverhampton Arts Gallery) where we did experiments with 70 members of the general audience. The project received much media attention, from regional coverage by the BBC Midlands as well as national coverage from BBC radio 3. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2012 |
| Sector | Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Environment,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Description | Santander Travel Award (Roehampton) |
| Amount | £5,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Santander Bank |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | United States |
| Start | 05/2013 |
| Description | Small Award |
| Amount | £2,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Being Human Festival |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Start | 11/2018 |
| End | 11/2018 |
| Description | The Black Country Unscene: 6 events celebrating University of Wolverhampton Research |
| Amount | £2,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Being Human Festival |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Start | 11/2019 |
| End | 11/2019 |
| Description | Wellcome Trust Small Grants Award |
| Amount | £6,003 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2014 |
| End | 10/2014 |
| Description | Wellcome Trust Small Grants Award |
| Amount | £4,566 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2011 |
| End | 05/2011 |
| Description | Wellcome Trust Small Grants Scheme |
| Amount | £3,500 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2013 |
| End | 06/2013 |
| Description | Being Human Festival |
| Organisation | Being Human Festival |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | The Being Human Festival is a keen collaborator of The Memory Network and has always funded out impact events and has asked for their Showcase Events in London. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Funds. Social media promotion. Free venues. Staff time. |
| Impact | Public engagement and impact. Stepping stone to further research projects. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | MIT |
| Organisation | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I was invited to speak to various colleagues across departments at MIT (especially English, Philosophy and Neuroscience) about the Memory Network's research, with a view to establishing a team for a funding bid. |
| Collaborator Contribution | MIT was part of and supported an AHRC Innovation Grant bid (unsuccessful), and provided one contributor to the Story of Memory Literary Festival (Suzanne Corkin). We've established an ongoing working relationship and will submit a collaborative funding bid in the future. |
| Impact | Funding bid, and contribution to a public engagement event. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Nesta |
| Organisation | Nesta |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | We collaborated with Nesta's Jessica Bland on various occasions, staging one event at Nesta in London. Bland participated in three events, and has written a piece for the book, Memory in the Twenty-first Century (Palgrave, 2015). |
| Collaborator Contribution | Nesta provided rooms, personnel and equipment for the experiment and panel debate for the Forget-Me-Not event. |
| Impact | Ongoing partnership with events, publications and public engagement events. |
| Start Year | 2012 |
| Description | Radboud University, Netherlands |
| Organisation | Radboud University Nijmegen |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I have been working with various colleagues across departments at Radboud about the Memory Network's research on cognition, with a view to establishing a team for a funding bid. I have established close workign relations with Professor Asifa Majid, who was a keynote speaker at our Malaysia conference, and a contributor to the Proust Phenomenon experment in Cheltenham. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Radboud was part of and supported an AHRC Innovation Grant bid (unsuccessful). Majid was co-organiser of The Story of Memory conference. We've established an ongoing working relationship and will submit a collaborative funding bid in the future on the relationship beteen literature and smell. |
| Impact | Funding bid. Keynote speech. Multidisciplinary research, involving psycholinguistics, literature and neuroscience. |
| Start Year | 2012 |
| Description | The Politics of Memory in Global Context (Columbia) |
| Organisation | Columbia University |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I started a dialogue between Columbia's memory network, and was able to start a dialogue with core members about cognition and memory in the digital age. |
| Collaborator Contribution | American member attended our conference, The Story of Memory, and events. They are also keen on becoming involved in funding bids in the future. |
| Impact | Future funding bid. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | UCL |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Department | Institute of Neurology |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | The Memory Networkarranged for Will Self to be scanned for his ability to memorise space for ongoing research into taxi drivers' brain at UCL. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The UCL department of Neuroscience offered its scanner for the fMRI-imaging of Will Self during his experiment. |
| Impact | Hugo Spiers, 'Will Self and his inner seahorse', in Memory in the Twenty-first Century, ed. Sebastian Groes, Palgrave, 2015. Forthcoming. Will Self, 'What's in a brain', Esquire, Film and Book Special, October 2012, pp. 184-89. |
| Start Year | 2011 |
| Description | Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Organisation | Federal University of Rio de Janeiro |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I was invited to speak to various colleagues across departments at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro about the Memory Network's research, with a view to establishing an international team for an AHRC funding bid. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro was part of and supported an AHRC Innovation Grant bid (unsuccessful). We've established an ongoing working relationship and will submit a collaborative funding bid in the future. |
| Impact | Funding bid. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | University of Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Organisation | University of Amsterdam |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I was invited to speak with various colleagues across departments at the University of Amsterdam about the Memory Network's research, with a view to establishing a team for a funding bid. I also taught various session on Memory at the Science Park. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The University of Amsterdam was part of and supported an AHRC Innovation Grant bid (unsuccessful), and provided a speaker to the Story of Memory conference (Stephan Besser). We've established an ongoing working relationship and will submit a collaborative funding bid in the future, with Besser as CI. |
| Impact | A funding bid. Learning and teaching activities. |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | University of Maryland |
| Organisation | University of Maryland |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I was invited to speak to various colleagues across departments at the University of Maryland about the Memory Network's research, with a view to establishing a team for a funding bid. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The University of Maryland was part of and supported a AHRC Innovation Grant bid (unsuccessful) for the memory Network, and provided oen contributor to the Story of Memory Literary Festiavl (Maud Casey). We've established an ongoing working relationship and will submit a collaborative funding bid in the future. |
| Impact | A funding bid of £80K |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Whitechapel Gallary |
| Organisation | Whitechapel Gallery |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | The Memory Network and Whitechapel Gallery explored the workings of memory in the work of the British filmmaker Chris Marker during two symposia held at WG in May and Juli 2014. |
| Collaborator Contribution | They provided the venue and offered help in selecting speakers. |
| Impact | All talks are avilable as podcasts on The Memory Network website |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Yale University |
| Organisation | Yale University |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I was invited to speak at a conference at Yale, as well as to various colleagues across departments at the Yale University about the Memory Network's research, with a view to establishing a team for a funding bid. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Yale University was part of and supported an AHRC Innovation Grant bid (unsuccessful), and provided one contributor to the Story of memory Literary Festival (Paul Bloom). We've established an ongoing working relationship and will submit a collaborative funding bid in the future. |
| Impact | A funding bid; talk at The Story of memory literary festival. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | 'Voices, Memory, Forgetting: The Memory Network at Durham Book Festival' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | It sparked excellent debate amongst the audience and has subsequently gained more attention in the national media. Participants changed their thinking about 'the voice inside our head', often associated wth madness. This stereotype was reconceived. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://thememorynetwork.net/events/event/voices-memory-forgetting-the-memory-network-at-durham-book-... |
| Description | Art, Memory and the Anthropocene |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | About 80 people from various sections in the country attended the 'Culture, Memory and Extinction' symposium organised by the Forum for European Philosophy held at the National History Museum, London, 4 December, 2015. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | https://networks.h-net.org/node/8054/discussions/93436/culture-memory-and-extinction-natural-history... |
| Description | Chris Marker, in Memory (1) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This event saw talks and discussion by Chris Marker specialists, who, collaboratively, reinterpreted the role of memory in Marker's work after his death in 2012. There was a visible impact on the audience, as well as a shift of perception of the work of Chris Marker after the two symposia. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/shop/product/category_id/46/product_id/1927?session_id=14157797296... |
| Description | Chris Marker, in Memory (2) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This event saw talks and discussions by Chris Marker specialists, who, collaboratively, reinterpreted the role of memory in Marker's work after his death in 2012. There was a visible impact on the audience, as well as a shift of perception of the work of Chris Marker after the two symposia. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/shop/product/category_id/46/product_id/1928 |
| Description | Forget-Me-Not, Experiment, Nesta, 7 June, 2013 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Excellent debates, and strong follow-up communication with participants. This event led to a spin-off event at Cheltenham Literature Festival, with a bigger audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://thememorynetwork.net/events/event/forget-me-not-memory-and-forgetting-in-the-digital-age-a-me... |
| Description | Hari Kunzru, Memory Palaces, Birkbeck, 20 June, 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The talk sparked a strong debate about the uses of traditional metaphors of memory in the twenty-first century. The debate led to a change in opinion about the uses of conventional metaphors of memory for our age; this debate is published in the book Memory in the Twenty-first Century (Palgrave, 2015). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://thememorynetwork.net/events/event/transmission-an-international-hari-kunzru-conference/ |
| Description | Making Sense of the Black Country |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | To follow up our successful Snidge Scrumpin smell-memory event and research Dr RM Francis and I organised a multi-sensory tour of the Black Country that took an audience of 48 people from Wolverhampton to Wednesbury and Dudley, for presentations in local libraries, schools and walks along the local canals. We did a canal boat tour from the Dudley and Canal & Tunnel Trust that ended up in the Black Country Living Museum. We changed people's views about the importance of sensory awareness and we inspired to take a new look at the overlooked Black Country region and inspire a sense of pride in place. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://transculturewolves.wordpress.com/2019/11/18/being-human-festival-wolverhampton-unscene/amp/ |
| Description | Memory and Spatial Navigation with Will Self expert debate at the Museum of London, 23 march, 2013 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | It sparked a major debate about the brain and GPS, new research and more talks at, for instance, a literary festival at UCL and a talk at The Unconscious Memory Network in Oxford, December 2014. More research and public engagement activities are planned. After this experiment with Will Self the BBC national radio, local radio and BBC London News devoted attention to this experiment. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://thememorynetwork.net/the-ways-of-london-navigating-london-with-will-self/ |
| Description | Novel Memories event with Will Self |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | As part of the promotion of Dr Tom Mercer's and my Novel Memories research for the BBC's Novels That Shaped Our World and the AHCR-funded Novel Perceptions research project, Mercer and I invited Will Self to respond to our research findings and to engage in a debate about his own experience of remembering fiction and re-reading novels. The event draw about 175 people and the YouTube recording (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-TMjFKq5YU&t=906s) has since been viewed 218 times. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-TMjFKq5YU&t=906s |
| Description | Proust in Transylvania - mapping smell and memory in Romania |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | As part of the Craving Planet Earth: Food in Culture - Past, Present and Future conference organised by colleagues at Lucian Blaga University, Tom Mercer and I took our Snidge Scrumpin' research to Romania and did an experiment with smells and childhood memory in Sibiu, Romania. We compared the responses to 10 different smell between locals and outsiders in roder to understand how certain smells belong to Transylvania. The event had about 65 participants and was accompanied by presentation by writers Niall Griffiths and Kerry Hadley-Pryce. The event was part of the being Human Festival 2019 - and funded b y the AHRC. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://issuu.com/schoolofadvancedstudy/docs/being_human_programme_2019_web |
| Description | Remembering Stories, Oxford, 15 may, 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Excellent discussion that fed into the Memory Network's final conference, The Story of Memory. Video of the event has harvested a good online audience as well. This talk led to debates amongst the local community of Oxford, where the event was staged. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://thememorynetwork.net/events/event/remembering-stories-2/ |
| Description | Research talk entitled 'Smell and Memory in the Black Country' with Dr Tom Mercer at the International Fragrance Forum 2021 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Dr Tom Mercer and I were invited by Professor Barry C. Smith to outline our research into the relationship between smells that belong to a specific region and the (childhood) memories associated with these smells. I connected our psychological and cultural-sociological research with literature. After the talk we were invited to join a panel debate with other researchers. The event drew about 100 people working in the olfactory/perfume industry. The recording of the event was circulated amongst the membership. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.ifrauk.org |
| Description | Sensing Memory: experiment and exhibition at eBay pop-up store, Wolverhampton |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | My smell-memory project Snidge Scrumpin' was invited to organise an experiment in the eBay pop-up store in Wolverhampton, an initiative to stimulate business in Wolverhampton. We did an event with 18 PG students and members of the public to test smell capacity and associated memory and debated how specific smell define the identity of areas. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Snidge Scrumpin': Mapping Smell and Memory in the Black Country |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 'Snidge Scrumpin' is Black Country dialect for 'nose foraging'. Sebastian Groes, Professor of English Literature at the University of Wolverhampton, explores the research behind his 2018 event, considering the memories that are inspired by the nose, and how they can encourage a deeper relationship to one's local area and culture. Today we live in a culture subjected to a regime of hygiene resulting in increased sanitisation, the masking of smells and the artificial scenting of spaces and bodies. The resulting loss of smell awareness was criticised by Italo Calvino in his story 'The Name, The Nose' : 'the noseless man of the future' will lose emotions and the ability to make sense of life altogether. In an age when visual stimulation is dominant, the 'silent' sense - odours are hard to name and describe - is in danger of being forgotten. The sense of smell, though, is important, and 'Snidge Scrumpin'' aims to engage Black Country locals in gaining a deeper understanding of the role this sense plays in their culture, exploring the changing role of olfaction in the post-war period by mapping smell and memory in the West Midlands. Snidge Scrumpin' is Black Country dialect for 'nose foraging'. In a region (once) home to heavy industry, we expect locals to identify factory suds (a mix of oils for lubricating drills); hot iron used by foundries (such as Kirkpatrick in Walsall), but also the pungent smell of bone in Tipton, once home to Mullins' Hide and Skin Works. Since 1856, the Albright & Wilson chemical works in Oldbury have produced phosphorus-derived chemicals used for the match industry. New arrivals could include jerk seasoning: allspice, cinnamon, scotch bonnet pepper, lemon juice. And the fragrant wafting of turmeric, garlic, and cumin from the Black Country's numerous gurdwaras (the place of worship for Sikhs) and langars (community kitchens). Let's not forget the hoppy smell surrounding the Banks's brewery in Wolverhampton. And, since 2007, the bouquet of stale beer and body odour in pubs that smell perhaps too honestly since the smoking ban. There will be other, more idiosyncratic smells - those which have, perhaps, remained hidden. 'Snidge Scrumpin' then, aims to give voice to memory evoked by the nose, and to celebrate the culture that makes up the heart of the Black Country. 'Snidge Scumpin'' was picked up in the regional and national media, including BBC West Midlands and BBC Radio 3 interview 'Arts & Ideas', interview with Matthew Sweet, https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p06sbngh |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://beinghumanfestival.org/snidge-scrumpin-mapping-smell-and-memory-in-the-black-country/ |
| Description | The Memory Network at Cheltenham Literature Festival: 'The Proust Phenomenon' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | There was an experiment with the general audience, after which a debate with contributors took place, including Professor Asifa Majid (Radboud, Nijmegen), Professor Barry Smith (SAS) and Leigh Gibson (Roehampton). Audience participation; generating new data on smell; contributions to edited collection on memory. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K01fVvXdRc |
| Description | The Memory Network at Cheltenham Literature Festival: 'Memory, Prediction and the Invisible Future' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Strong response by the public, as well as to the video shot at the festival and online at the Memory Network website. The contributors wrote entries for the book Memory in the Twenty-first Century. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://thememorynetwork.net/memory-prediction-and-the-invisible-future-video/ |
| Description | The Memory Network at Cheltenham Literature Festival: 'Re-wired? Memory in the Digital Age' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Strong debates after the event, and a very strong response to the video shot at the festival. The contributors to this event wrote essays for the publication Memory in the Twenty-first Century. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://thememorynetwork.net/re-wired-memory-in-the-digital-age-video/ |
| Description | The Memory Network at Cheltenham Literature Festival: Climate Change and the Art of Memory |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Vey strong audience response and excellent number of viewers of the video we shot at the festival with the contributors. Blog post generated a strong response, with a follow up in the edited collection, Memory in the Twenty-first Century. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-BDRA0XBhQ |
| Description | The Nature of Memory: an interdisciplinary debate |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | 29 September, 2015: 'The Nature of Memory', Forum for European Philosophy, London School of Economics, London. Debate with philosopher Barry Smith, Technology Futures specialist Jessica Bland and science fiction writer Adam Robert, and Sebastian Groes. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/theforum/the-nature-of-memory-perspectives-from-art-history-and-neuroscience/ |
| Description | The Proust Phenomenon, Experiment, 15 November, 2012 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | It spared a debate about the nature of smell and memories. We had a piece in the Guardian advertising the experiment, which was sold out, and a video which has been watched by thousands of people. It led to follow-up research during an experiment at Cheltenham Literature Festival, and a further research funding proposal involving research into the relationship between literature and smell in 2015. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://thememorynetwork.net/the-proust-phenomenon/ |
| Description | The Story of Memory Literary Festival with Ian McEwan |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Illuminating debates. Strong audience response. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://thememorynetwork.net/memory-in-the-twenty-first-century/ |