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Review: MPE-MeCCSA practice network symposium (2018)

The Media Practice and Education and MeCCSA Practice Network Annual Symposium was held on 15 June 2018 and hosted at the Lincoln School of Film and Media, University of Lincoln. The symposium invited papers, screenings and installations on the theme of ‘Contexts of Film Practice’. Presentations were invited to explore a range of practice-as-research interests across academic and industry contexts. Some of the key topics were the distinctions between ‘practice-led research, research-led practice and practice-based research in film’, the need to broaden ‘traditional research methodologies and approaches’ in film studies, and the subsequent influences on film pedagogy. Given the growing number of filmmakers in academia and the need to assess ongoing practice-as-research within REF guidelines, the symposium also invited reflections on the current relationship between industry and academic film – from the pressure to ‘publish or perish’ and scarcity of research funds, to the development of efficient evaluation frameworks for excellence in film practice-as-research. The one-day symposium was bookended by two keynote speeches – an opening address by Associate Professor Craig Batty (RMIT) and a closing address by Professor Brian Winston (University of Lincoln). The symposium ran parallel panels across three sessions through the day, accommodating a diverse range of paper and film presentations. In his opening keynote, Craig Batty explored the differentiation between engagement, esteem and impact in practice-as-research. These distinctions are particularly helpful to understand what can be demarcated as an impactful contribution and in what ways excellence in practice-as-research may be defined and evaluated. Dr Batty discussed ‘engagement’ as a mutually beneficial transfer of knowledge, technologies, methods or resources between researchers inside academia and end users outside of it, and ‘impact’ as the larger contribution made by a study to economy, society, environment and culture beyond academic research. In a paper he delivered during a later session, Dr Batty also shared his insights on how (and if) screenwriting PhD research can produce artefacts for change in the industry and communicate new knowledge for academia. He addressed questions on balancing industry and researcher perspectives as well as ‘industry-level quality’ of screenwriting PhD outcomes in the post-presentation discussion. Both his talks were deeply insightful and helped understand how appropriate evaluation criteria for film practice-as-research methodologies and outcomes can be conceptualised and developed. The ideas of impact and engagement in practice-as-research were echoed in several panels through the day, particularly in those that discussed documentary practice-as-