Personal statement
Dr Katja Frimberger is Lecturer in Education/Cultural Studies and programme lead for the January intake of the MSc Education Studies at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.
Curious to understand the relationship between theatre, film and education (in its broad sense of ‘formation’), Katja is particularly interested in the production-oriented elements of theatre/film-making and how these are theorised as education.
She has published on German theatre maker Bertolt Brecht’s and Latvian director Asja Lācis' educational theatre philosophy; the ethics of participatory documentary/filmmaking and arts-based education/ research.
Her two main areas of interest are:
- Educational philosophy of theatre and film-making.
- Ethnographic and hermeneutic-phenomenological research into the formative/educational influence of theatre/filmmaking practice.
Katja was previously Lecturer in Theatre at Brunel University London, where she taught Applied Theatre, Performance Theory & Directing for the BA Theatre.
In her role as Research Associate at the University of Glasgow for the 3-year, Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC)-funded, £2 mill. large grant project 'Researching Multilingually at the Borders of the Body, Language, Law & the State', she theorised the role of arts-based research methods in multilingual settings.
When working as an independent researcher, she co-lead on a range of film and digital animation education projects with filmmaker Simon Bishopp, funded through Creative Scotland, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the School for Social Entrepreneurs.
Katja was awarded a fully funded PhD research scholarship (2009-2013) in the area of Theatre Education, from the School of Education at the University of Glasgow. She explored international students' lived experiences of 'interculturality' through a performance-based research pedagogy, based on German theatre maker Bertolt Brecht's theatre/actor training theory and practice.
Prior to her academic career, Katja worked as a language (English, German) and drama teacher, mainly in secondary and adult/community education, in Germany, Venezuela, Ireland and Scotland.
Expertise
Has expertise in:
- Academic reviewer: reviewer for a variety of academic journals, including the Film Education Journal; Scenario: the Journal for Performative Teaching and Learning; the Journal of Philosophy and Education; the Critical Multilingualism Journal.
- CPD Trainer: designed & delivered CPD sessions on arts-based language teaching for primary/secondary school teachers; on arts-based research for early career researchers; on participatory filmmaking for social workers/ teachers/community educators (with Simon Bishopp).
Prizes and awards
- Welcome to Scotland
- Recipient
- 2017
More prizes and awards
Qualifications
I received a full PhD scholarship from the School of Education at the University of Glasgow, which resulted in a PhD project that explored international students' lived experiences of 'interculturality' through an arts-based research pedagogy based on a Brechtian notion of Verfremdung (estrangement).
I hold an M.A. in Drama & Theatre Studies from University College Cork (UCC) in Ireland.
My M.Ed. (Education, with English & German) comes from Universität Hildesheim in Germany, where I also qualified as a secondary school teacher for German & English in the federal state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen).
Research interests
Research Interests:
- Educational philosophy of theatre and film-making (esp. in historical contexts/early 20th century/Weimar Germany).
- Ethnographic and hermeneutic-phenomenological research into the formative/educational influence of theatre/filmmaking practice (in wider cultural context).
Memberships:
- The International Network of Philosophers of Education (INPE)
- The Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain (PESGB)
- The Scottish Educational Research Association (SERA)
- Member of the EXET Research Group (Experiments in Educational Theory): https://www.exet.org
Research Projects:
- Contributor to a book project for the centennial birthday (in 2024) of the philosopher Paul Feyerabend (organised by Dr Karsten Kenklies and Dr Sebastian Engelmann) entitled "Paul Feyerabend: Education for a Free Society"
- Organiser, with Dr Karsten Kenklies, of the research workshop "The Theatricality of Pedagogy: An exploration of the open and hidden connections between theatre and pedagogy".
- Member of the international 'Performative Arts & Pedagogy Project'. PAPP is comprised of a team of creative arts practitioners, language teachers and academics from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland and the UK. The group is aiming at an increased awareness of (culture-) specific concepts and associated terminologies that are applied in Performative Arts & Pedagogy contexts. You can access the latest publication (open-access) here.
- Member of the 'Creative Multilingualism: from Practice to Research to Education' research project (Feb 2020 - Dec 2022) is located at the University of Thessaly in Greece, led by Prof. George Androulakis and funded through the Greek Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI - ELIDEK).
Film Projects:
- Collaborator (as project facilitator/producer) on the animation education projects 'Little Animation Studio' (LAS) and the participatory filmmaking project 'Scotland, Our New Home',with filmmaker Simon Bishopp- funded by Creative Scotland and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
- Collaboration (as performer, poduction assistant) with filmmaker Simon Bishopp on the Science Fiction Short Film “Refuge” . The film has been selected by Alex Proyas (director of The Crow, Dark City, I-Robot, Gods of Egypt) for his new 2022 Streaming Platform Vidiverse. It has previously screened at Glasgow Short Film 2017; the London Sci-Fi Festival 2018; Inverness Film Festival 2018 and was selected for Film Hub Scotland’s/BFI’s “Shorts in Support” scheme, which aims to revive the tradition of the supporting short film by distributing eight new short films to cinemas and film societies to screen before features.
Professional activities
- International Network of Philosophy of Education
- Speaker
- 17/8/2022
- An Anarchist Aesthetics of Education in Bertolt Brecht’s Gestic Theatre
- Speaker
- 16/8/2022
- The Theatricality of Pedagogy
- Organiser
- 13/5/2022
- Enhancing Programme Leadership (AdvanceHE)
- Participant
- 28/4/2022
- The Pleasure of Philosophising in Bertolt Brecht's Pedagogical Theatre
- Speaker
- 25/3/2022
- Intercultural Education’s Fictions: pedagogical movements in intercultural encounters as art
- Speaker
- 23/3/2022
More professional activities
Projects
- Little Animation Studio Follow-On Funding (awarded £12,000 by Paul Hamlyn Foundation & School for Social Entrepreneurs )
- FRIMBERGER, Katja (Principal Investigator) Bishopp, Simon (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2020 - 01-Jan-2021
- Creative Multilingualism: from Practice to Research to Education (Project Team Member)
- FRIMBERGER, Katja (Academic)
- Member of the research team of the project Creative Multilingualism funded through the Greek Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (H.F.R.I.). The project is led by Prof George Androulakis at the University of Thessaly (Volos).
- 03-Jan-2020 - 01-Jan-2022
- Little Animation Studio: Digital Animation Education (awarded £24,970.24/ Creative Scotland)
- FRIMBERGER, Katja (Principal Investigator) Simon, Bishopp (Co-investigator)
- Little Animation Studio is a Creative Scotland-funded digital animation education project that supports children with differing needs through the whole production process of creating their first animated short film.
- 14-Jan-2019 - 14-Jan-2020
- Performative Arts & Pedagogy (Project Member)
- FRIMBERGER, Katja (Research Co-investigator)
- The Performative Arts and Pedagogy Project – Towards the Development of an International Glossary. Representatives from five different countries (Austria, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Switzerland) have contributed to the project, engaging in an interdisciplinary and intercultural exchange that aims at an increased awareness of (culture-)specific concepts and associated terminologies that are applied in Performative Arts and Pedagogy contexts.
- 01-Jan-2019
- UAnimate: Performance captured storytelling (awarded £10,800, Paul Hamlyn Foundation)
- FRIMBERGER, Katja (Principal Investigator) Bishopp, Simon (Principal Investigator)
- UAnimate: Performance-captured storytelling for care-experienced children, collaboration with Showmanmedia, Harmeny Education Trust, funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, 2019 (£10,800).
- 21-Jan-2019 - 21-Jan-2019
- Scotland Our New Home: Participatory Filmmaking (awarded £19,339 by Creative Scotland)
- FRIMBERGER, Katja (Principal Investigator) Bishopp, Simon (Principal Investigator)
- 'Scotland, Our New Home' was a Creative-Scotland funded participatory filmmaking project for young refugees who wanted to make a film to peer-support other new young arrivals in the process of making home in Scotland.
- 02-Jan-2018 - 28-Jan-2019
More projects
Address
Education
Lord Hope Building
Lord Hope Building
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