Personal statement
I am Lecturer in Education at the University of Strathclyde's School of Education, where I lead the January intake of the MSc Education Studies programme and teach across a range of BA & MSc modules in the area of Education & Cultural Studies.
I am interested in ethnographic, hermeutic-phenomenological and hermeneutic methodologies, concerning empirical, historical and conceptual research into informal, small-scale, arts-based educational experiments (esp. involving theatre and film):
- Educational philosophy of production/skills- and reception-oriented, informal (theatre/film-based) education practices.
- Ethnographic and hermeneutic-phenomenological research into pedagogical film/theatre-based practice .
- Philosophical/political questions around theatre/film and education.
I have published on:
- Bertolt Brecht's theatre of estrangement as a form of intercultural pedagogy & philosophical ethnography.
- Film/Theatre based research as a migratory research aesthetics.
- Arts-based research & the new materialism.
- Hope & utopian desire in participatory filmmaking.
- The ethics of performative approaches in intercultural (language) education.
I was previously Lecturer in Theatre at Brunel University London, where I taught Applied Theatre, Performance Theory & Directing for the BA Theatre.
In my 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', I theorised the role of arts-based research methods in multilingual settings.
When working as an independent researcher, I 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.
I was awarded a (fully funded) PhD research scholarship from the School of Education (College of Social Sciences) at the University of Glasgow. I explored international students' lived experiences of 'interculturality' through theatre-based workshops, based on a Brechtian pedagogy of Verfremdung (estrangement).
Expertise
Has expertise in:
- Participatory Community Filmmaking: I have collaborated on a range of filmmaking projects with filmmaker Simon Bishopp:
- Our documentary 'Speaking your language', made for the £2mill-AHRC large grant project 'Researching Multilingually at Borders', explored the multi-sensory relationships people have to their spoken languages. It won the Refugee Festival Video Competition, was shown to the head of the UN Refugee Agency at the Scottish Parliament during Refugee Festival & featured in the AHRC's research impact report. You can read about my research into the making of our film here.
- The documentary 'Scotland Our New Home' was the result of a Creative Scotland-funded participatory filmmaking project with young refugees from the New Young Peers Scotland group (hosted by YPeople Charity) who wanted to make a film to support other new young arrivals in the process of making home in Scotland. You can read more about the filmmaking in our article or this blog post.
- Commissioned by the AHRC-funded research project 'Ethical interpreting in healthcare settings', filmmaker Simon and I created a series of five narrative training films, based on the project researchers' qualitative research interviews. The films were made with the participation of community volunteers. They are freely available on youtube and used by a variety of organisations as a reflexive practice tool for interpreters and health/social care practitioners working in multilingual/intercultural settings. You can read about our journey of creating the five films here.
- Language Teaching: I am an experienced language/drama teacher and have taught German, English and Drama in secondary, tertiary and adult education in Scotland, Venezuela and Germany.
- CPD Training: I have 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).
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).
Teaching
I like to teach and research on educational questions at the overlap of the arts, humanities & social sciences.
Research interests
My research interests include:
- Theatre & Education (ethnographic/hermeneutic-phenomenological; hermeneutic methodologies).
- Film & Education (ethnographic/hermeneutic-phenomenological; hermeneutic methodologies).
I am a member of:
- the Scottish Educational Research Asscociation (SERA)
- the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain (PESGB)
Research/ Projects:
I am part of the international 'Performative Arts & Pedagogy Project', comprised of a team of creative arts practitioners, language teachers and academics from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Ireland and the UK. We are aiming at an increased awareness of (culture-) specific concepts and associated terminologies that are applied in Performative Arts & Pedagogy contexts. You can access our latest publication (open-access) here.
I am on the project team of the 'Creative Multilingualism: from Practice to Research to Education' research project (Feb 2020 - Dec 2022) at the University of Thessaly in Greece, led by Prof. George Androulakis and funded through the Greek Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI - ELIDEK).
The animation education project 'Little Animation Studio' (LAS) was a collaboration with filmmaker Simon Bishopp and was funded through Creative Scotland. We partnered with care & education provider Harmeny Education Trust and the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA, Glasgow Life) - to support children with differing needs to create their own first, fully animated short film (all during lockdown!). Their film 'The Mice & The Bakers' is currently exhibited at the GOMA as their community arts exhibition from 5th October 2020-10th January 2021.
Professional activities
- Re/framing Educational Equity: An international collaboration
- Speaker
- 31/8/2021
- 'Towards a pedagogy of porosity': Equity & Asja Lācis' children's theatre
- Speaker
- 31/8/2021
- Voice, Autonomy and Utopian Desire in Participatory Filmmaking with Young Refugees.
- Speaker
- 14/4/2021
- TLC Network: Voice, Autonomy and Utopian Desire in Participatory Filmmaking with Young Refugees.
- Speaker
- 14/4/2021
- Theatre, knowledge and education in a free society à la Feyerabend, Brecht (and their secret mentor Nietzsche)
- Speaker
- 19/3/2021
- Voice, Autonomy and Utopian Desire in Participatory Filmmaking
- Speaker
- 18/6/2020
More professional activities
Projects
- Creative Multilingualism: from Practice to Research to Education
- 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: Animated Storytelling & the Question of Quality in Arts Education
- 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: Towards the development of an international glossary
- 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: Storytelling & Digital Animation pilot project
- FRIMBERGER, Katja (Principal Investigator) Bishopp, Simon (Principal Investigator)
- This was a digital animation education pilot project funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
- 21-Jan-2019 - 21-Jan-2019
- Participatory Filmmaking, Pedagogy & Utopian Desire
- 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
- Researching Multilingually at the Borders of the Body, Language, Law and the State
- FRIMBERGER, Katja (Researcher)
- I was Research Associate on the project, with a focus on the role of arts-based research methods in multilingual settings.
- 01-Jan-2014 - 01-Jan-2016
More projects
Address
Education
Lord Hope Building
Lord Hope Building
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