The Department of Philosophy has recently established a Centre for Research into Imagination, Creativity and Knowledge (CRICK). Led by Dr Mike Beaney, its aim is to stimulate innovative research in the Philosophy of Mind, Epistemology and Aesthetics by bringing together philosophers, researchers in other disciplines and members of the wider community. It will focus on understanding the nature of creativity and innovation, their relation to the imagination, and their role in developing and extending the frontiers of human knowledge in the arts and humanities, the sciences, and business.
The Centre has received funding from the WRCETLE for a project entitled ‘Promoting Innovation and Creativity Across Sectors and Organisations’ (PICASSO) to develop a portfolio of materials to support courses on creativity and innovation. The plan is to offer a core module exploring different conceptions and theories of creativity and innovation, with a further project module that can be adapted to the needs of different departments and outside users, allowing those taking the module to look at innovation and creativity in their own subject area or workplace.
Mike Beaney has had an interest in creativity for a number of years. He is the author of Imagination and Creativity, a course book he prepared for the Open University which was published in 2005. He has taught topics concerning imagination and creativity at both undergraduate and postgraduate level since he arrived at York in October 2005.
Anyone who is interested in the project is encouraged to contact Mike Beaney at mab505@york.ac.uk.
Students learned first hand about the rare book industry
How is literature marketed? Who controls its value? To what extent do authors cater for an audience? These are just some of the questions posed by ‘The Culture Business’, Prof Jane Moody’s module for second year English and Related Literature students. Providing an academic approach to the publishing, bookselling and print media industries, the module offers students a chance to gain an insight into one of the most popular yet competitive industries around. Looking at works from the Romantic period to the present day, students are invited to study the ways in which authors have interacted with the contemporary literary marketplace.
As a result of York WRCETLE sponsorship, students taking the module in the summer term had the opportunity to meet key industry players and find out how they achieved success. The literary—or culture—industry is notoriously difficult to break into and thus the chance to learn from people directly involved was invaluable. Isobel Dixon, from Blake Friedman, provided an insight into the importance of the literary agent in today’s publishing industry. Lisa Chaney, a successful biographer, inspired potential authors in the group when she talked through the research and creative processes that go into the creation of a successful biography.
The module countered the notoriously metropolitan nature of the literary industry through trips to some of York’s culture businesses. Of particular note was a visit to Spelman’s, the renowned rare and second-hand book shop on Micklegate. Students gained an insight into independent book selling and were treated to anecdotes about literary finds by the owner. A visit to the York branch of Borders provided a more modern example of bookselling. Students learnt about the marketing of books, and were given a sneak peak at the Amazon Kindle e-reader before it hit the shop floor.
The module proved a huge success.
Hear from the students and their tutor first hand:
Article written by Helen Citron, originally published in Enterprise focus.
To help English Literature students consider their future employment options, the careers service has set up an innovative new project: The E-zine. Student teams compete through two pitching sessions for £2000 of CETLE-provided funds in order to design, write, launch and distribute an electronic (online) magazine, or e-zine. The aim of the project is to create a specialist publication but also to explore the employment possibilities that an English Literature degree provides.
The Career Service’s Kate Copland is behind the project. She says that the idea for the project arose when ‘careers advisers noticed that many English students feel unsure about what career path to take’ and ‘wanted to do something especially for English students to help them engage with the idea of career planning, but also give them an opportunity of developing more employability skills through participating in the project’.
The project allows participants to develop a comprehensive array of skills. As well as journalists, each team requires project, finance, marketing, IT and events managers. This builds skills in areas such as budget management and business planning which would not normally be developed within the student’s degree course. Participants also have the opportunity to attend teaching sessions from industry professionals and are advised how best to incorporate their new-found skills into their CV.
To hear more about the project from the 2008 student team, and project developer Kate Copland, please watch our feedback video.
Painting by Richard Barnes, from exhibition entitled "Reflections on a Voyage"
Langwith Arts is the brainchild of Dr John Issitt, Provost of Langwith College. In a bid to redevelop his college as a dynamic and cultural hub, 2006 saw the first Langwith Arts Festival – a series of student-organised events over a May bank holiday weekend with a theme, ‘movement’. A varied programme incorporated Dance, Pantomime, Afro-Caribbean and Juggle Societies, a Jazz band, a Barbershop quartet and a group of break dancers. It was novel and well attended, and Issitt’s hopes seemed to be coming into fruition.
Leeds CETLE once again celebrated a successful open day on the 3rd October. The event was extremely well attended with many new faces and returning students alike. It appeared that many students had used the summer to develop their enterprising ideas and were exited by the resources that were available to help them while developing their business ideas.
This event also attracted representatives from all different branches of the University of Leeds. The careers centre came to discuss how SPARK could help our students and the Enterprise and Innovation Office informed students of the business funding opportunities available to them.
All that attended the Open Day were invited to take part in a competition which involved guessing which out of 12 unusual business case studies were actually real or fake. The winner, Junfei Hu, got to take home a huge box of chocolate fingers.
This occasion also marked the launch of our ‘Enterprise Exchange’ event which invites students to come and drop in every Friday to attend ideas and innovation discussions. In addition to this between 12pm- 2pm we offer a relaxed setting for students to network with others who have an interest in enterprise. Once a month we offer a free lunch to all that attend the networking session which has proved popular in the past and we hope that the new students will make use of this event this year.
The event proved a real success, with lots of students now aware of the facilities and services on offer as well as creating a real buzz around student enterprise in general, a great start to the year!
SimVenture, helping students to learn about enterprise. Image from www.simventure.co.uk
SimVenture is the award-winning business simulation game which allows the game player to gain valuable experience of the trials and tribulations of setting up and run a company. SimVenture offers a stimulating and risk free environment to learn about all aspects of running a business and being entrepreneurial.
The Leeds Enterprise Zone has set up a SimVenture suite, with this exciting new program running on five machines, open to all students.
As part of the new SimVenture suite, the Enterprise Zone are launching a SimVenture competition, where participants will run their company for six months and attempt to make the most profit. Every month at the Enterprise Exchange networking lunch, the student with the most profit will win £50!
Posted by yorkcetle 
Posted by yorkcetle 
Posted by yorkcetle 
