Creatrium

Dr Rachel Claire Morris is an editor, writer, creativity coach, and collage artist. She was formerly an international programme manager and educator, and before that ran a Human Rights Award-nominated research unit at Cardiff Law School offering activist expertise on law and policy affecting the GRT communities. Her writing appears in Byline Times, Red, Womankind, and the Honno anthology of Welsh women writing crime, Cast a Long Shadow, among others. She was Editor-in-Chief and founding editor of Bylines Cymru and Travellers’ Times magazine.  ***For more info about Rachel, PLEASE click on this link: https://linktr.ee/rachelclairemorris

Delighted to chat about creativity and the importance of sound with award winning sound designer, Vijay Rathinam. Vijay studied at the University of Glamorgan about 20 years ago and has never looked back.  He runs the Audioville studio in Chennai, India and works with his production team on a huge range of TV and film content for India, Hollywood and the rest of the world.  It was a real joy to sit down and chat with him about his fascinating career and how creativity is central to his working and personal llfe.

Having left my university position, I'm now in the joyous situation of talking to whoever I want to, not just  'academics' at my former place of work. This is one of my favourite ever interviews and i've done loads, over the years!  I'm not even a rugby fan but I loved chatting with Leigh about what he does and why he does it. He has an extraordinary tale to tell. It's been quite a journey, to say the least...

Here's a Creatrium Special, as we welcome back Thania Acaron, to talk about a forthcoming event.Dr Thania Acarón, is a lecturer and researcher in Arts Health & Wellbeing at the University of South Wales. She is also founder and director of The Body Hotel CIC, which specialises in providing bespoke movement for wellbeing for NHS staff and for marginalised communities. Her practice is informed by dance movement psychotherapy research and she explains some of the key principles behind her work in burnout prevention and occupational health. In this podcast she talks about her latest project, Moving Self-Compassion, funded by Arts Council Wales and Health Education & Improvement Wales, and provides a sneak peek into her upcoming culmination event and short film screening, which will be held online and in person on Wed 21st February, 6:30pm at USW Cardiff Campus. The project brought movement-for-wellbeing sessions across all NHS Wales, and created videos and online content for everyone to take part in creating a better relationship with the body. More information on The Body Hotel and event details can be found via: https://linktr.ee/thebodyhotelSocial media (Instagram / Facebook / Youtube LinkedIn): @thebodyhotelWebsite: www.thebodyhotel.com  

Here's an interesting and enjoyable interview, as we head for Christmas, 2023 with Dr Aylwin Yafele Associate Dean, South Wales Business School,· Faculty of Business and Creative Industries. We discuss his career so far, his self-confessed competitive spirit and his new role, at the University of South Wales.

‘Beth Jenkins is a Lecturer in Digital Forensics and former Forensic Quality Specialist. She has worked in an operational, policing laboratory and has dedicated her career to ensuring accreditation is an achievable ‘task’ within policing. Beth has spoken at prestigious conferences such as Europol’s Forensic Experts Forum, CityForum’s Digital Forensics Summit, Forensic F3 Forum, The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences and Magnet’s Virtual Summit about ISO/IEC 17025 both in the laboratory and at-scene. She was awarded Cyber Newcomer of the Year in 2022, The Alan Turing Award in 2023, and is a finalist for the Cyber Personality of the Year Award.  Beth has since moved into lecturing and is now dedicating her energy to enthusing the next generation of Digital Forensic Examiners about accreditation and governance.’

This is a wonderful conversation with rapper, poet, songwriter, chess champion and current PhD student, Adriano. We talk a lot here about sound, music, songwriting, A.I and CREATIVITY. It was a delight to chat with Adriano for the podcast.

Here's a really insightful conversation with Dr Dean Whitcombe, Immersive Learning Lead/ Hydra Manager at USW. Dean is a Simulation Designer, Researcher, Collaborator and NTFS nominee. He has played a leading role in developing the Hydra simulation suite for the University of South Wales. It is a groundbreaking facility with enormous potential for creative, educational endeavour but what is it?

Here's a lovely interview about psychology, creativity, community engagement and collaboration with Dr Dan Bowers, Head of Psychology at the University of South Wales. It took quite a while to set this one up but was well worth the wait!

This special edition of Creatrium features an interview with Ben Calvert, Vice Chancellor of the University of South Wales.  In it, we discuss Ben's Punk roots, his love of collaborative creativity and the future, outward-facing, civic mission agenda for USW.

In October 2020 the 3rd Year Performing Arts Students at the University of South Wales undertook a journey into the unknown. We were going to produce a Space Disco musical extravaganza but, in the shadow of COVID lockdowns, would it be a live show, a streamed show, a film…?In the end it was a radio musical: 'Spacetouring'. Songs are by The Naked Citizens, script by Jenny Allan … and all performed by the BA Performing Arts 3rd Years. As the students move towards graduation, here's a chance to get an insight into the creative process, in this conversation with Dr Rob Smith and the just about to graduate, Lizzie Herbert.NB: COMING SOON: Creatrium will shortly be presenting a world premiere of 'Spacetouring', please don't miss this unique opportunity...Here is the promo video: https://youtu.be/BJHuutBsE9s

This special edition features the return of Dr Thania Acarón, USW lecturer, performer, choreographer. dance movement therapist and founder of The Body Hotel, as we head for the 19th June Launch!After years of taking The Body Hotel workshops across the world, founder Dr Thania Acarón took the step last November to incorporate The Body Hotel as a Wales-based and international social enterprise which provides training, professional development programmes & dance movement psychotherapy services to the health, wellbeing, education & arts sectors and underrepresented communities.The launch event take place on Saturday 19th June from 1pm-4pm (UK Time), and will be a celebration of course through movement, providing a taster of The Body Hotel sessions and introducing our new services and team!Discounts are available for previous The Body Hotel ParticipantsFreelancers who are earning a low wage can book through our Concession RateConscious Payment Scheme for our Dance Movement Psychotherapy Services Booking details are available via our website.

This was a fascinating interview! Please see details of Palash's amazing work (below): Dr Palash Kamruzzaman is a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the South Wales Business School. He combines degrees in Sociology and Social Policy (PhD), and Anthropology (MA, BA (Hon.)). Before joining the USW, he taught international development, sociology and social policy at the University of Bath, University of Leicester, University of Nottingham, and University of Liverpool. He has over seventeen years of research experience on various aspects of global development that is demonstrated through his wide-ranging publications (e.g. Poverty Reduction Strategy in Bangladesh rethinking participation in policymaking (Policy Press), Dollarisation of Poverty: Re-thinking Poverty Beyond 2015 (Palgrave Macmillan) and Civil Society in the Global South (Routledge)).

I was joined for this one by Dr Mike Chick. Mike has worked in language teaching for over twenty-five years. At the University of South Wales, he is a language teacher, education lecturer and USW Refugee Champion. His research interests issues surround the organisation and provision of language education for people forced to seek safety in Wales. In this episode we discuss the plans for Refugee Week, 2021. See this link for more: https://refugeeweek.org.uk/

The guest for this edition is Professor Howard Williamson. Howard works across the spectrum on youth issues, from the global to the local. His study of the Milltown Boys is the culmination of almost 50 years of knowing them - a unique study in the annals of social science!Here is the link to the latest book, available on pre-order, published on May 10th, 2021:https://www.routledge.com/The-Milltown-Boys-at-Sixty-The-Origins-and-Destinations-of-Young-Men-from/Williamson/p/book/9780367725228

For this edition, I was delighted to be joined by Miguel Sousa, USW Media Team Manager and a man of varied passions, including Photography, Events Management, Audio-Visual: Video Editing, Sound, Music, AV Equipment and Music: Guitar, Bass Guitar, Music Production. Miguel came to Wales from Portugal, to study, liked it here and thankfully for us, has made it his home.

For this edition, I am joined by Matthew Evans, Course Leader: MA Songwriting and Production and the frontman with the band, 'Keys', twice nominated for the Welsh Music Prize 'Album of the year'.

I'm delighted to be joined by Dr Clare Kell, to continue our exploration into the notion of creativity. Clare has spent her career committed to enabling colleagues to think critically about our individual and collective impact on our students’ learning experiences. A former Physiotherapist, Clare now leads the Centre for the Enhancement of Learning and teaching at USW. She has been a UKPSF accreditor for many years and reviews extensively for a range of health and education-based journals.

For this edition, I'm joined by Dr Rob Campbell and James Stewart, to discuss their recent book 'The Newspaper that Scooped the World'. It tells the story of how the Cologne Post exclusively revealed the contents of the Treaty of Versailles.

For this a special edition of Creatrium, I'm joined by Barrie Llewelyn, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at USW to discuss her fascinating 'Sound, Speak to Me', series of creative writing workshops with refugees. Her work will be showcased during Refugee Week,2020:https://refugeeweek.org.uk/events/speak-barrie-llewelyn-conversation-steve-johnson/