Friday 07-02-2025 - 14:11

In this blog post, three of our DTA Future Societies Researchers have reflected on their experience of doing a placement at StoryLab Research Institute-ARU in November 2024. Earlier that year, the StoryLab team delivered a session at the DTA Summer School (ARU) and shed light on a variety of immersive technologies & approaches used in communicating research through storytelling. Attendees had the opportunity to undertake a 3-day mini-placement with the institute post-Summer School. 

Three of the DTA Future Societies PGRs, Dominique De-Light (Anglia Ruskin University), Claire Dawson (University of Brighton), and Ellie Pritchard (University of Hertfordshire), welcomed the opportunity. Below, they have shared their experiences of the placement and how they are planning to use the skills acquired during it. 

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Dominique De-Light, DTA Future Societies Researcher at Anglia Ruskin University  

I felt enormously lucky to be awarded a podcast training placement at StoryLab. The interdisciplinary research institute based at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, uses cutting edge technology and storytelling to explore social change, heritage, and cultural participation. Two DTA colleagues and I had two in-person training days with Jemily Ryme, a research fellow with a PhD in podcasting. Learning from an expert can be daunting, and in those two days we had a whistle stop tour of sound recording, editing, and publishing platforms. By the end, we knew how to plan, create, and publish a podcast. After a month to create content, we had a follow up meeting with Jemily to ask further questions. The placement taught me new skills, how to share my research widely, and expanded my network. I’ve created a trailer and planned the first three episodes of my ‘Writing for Wellbeing’ podcast. Through this, I’ll share my research in an accessible way, interviewing researchers and writing practitioners, conveying how writing can help your wellbeing. My podcast will be educational, fun and inspiring, encouraging people to pick up a pen and start writing. I want to show that creative writing is for everyone, that it’s a great way to express oneself, connect with others, and support your wellbeing. Finding time within my PhD workload is challenging, but I hope to have the first episodes published by the summer. Stay tuned for updates! 

 

Claire Dawson, DTA Future Societies Researcher at University of Brighton 

The StoryLab placement was a very helpful opportunity to explore the lifecycle of podcasting. We covered initial idea generation, how to produce and publish using the various platforms and apps available, and then how to market our content. We also spent a little time trialling the recording equipment available. It was another great opportunity to get to know fellow DTA researchers who were on the placement too. I plan to put the training into work in the summer when I can spend time recording a few episodes which I hope will help me to build my professional network and help me to reflect on my research area of sustainable fashion. 

 

Ellie Pritchard, DTA Future Societies Researcher at University of Hertfordshire 

My placement at the StoryLab was a great opportunity to learn about the use of audio technologies such as podcasting and how these technologies can be used in academic research. Throughout our placement, we explored various aspects of audio production, including learning how to use software for recording and editing, as well as understanding the processes behind writing, publishing, and distributing audio content. This hands-on experience enabled us to quickly pick up the core components of audio production and ask questions about any elements we were struggling with. It was also interesting to learn about how technology is being used in different research projects at StoryLab; it felt like a glimpse into a future where research is more dynamic and accessible. 

Though I had always been interested in podcasting, I hadn’t thought about some of the opportunities that it could bring about in academic spaces. We learnt about how podcasting can be a useful way to disseminate research, connect with others in the field, and share knowledge in a different format. As my research involves interviews and oral histories, I was particularly interested in the storytelling components of podcasting. This experience really deepened my understanding of how I could present narratives in a more impactful and engaging way and how podcasting technologies can help to reach wider audiences, including those who may struggle with written forms.  

Moving forward, I am keen to integrate audio technologies into future research projects. Whether through podcasts, soundscapes, or digital archives, I now see the potential of these tools in making my work more creative, engaging, and accessible to a broader audience.