The paid role is to support two artists in researching, programming and convening an interdisciplinary conference/event in June 2017 on the theme of trauma and migration and bringing together practitioners from socially engaged art , psychiatry as well as other disciplines engaging with the subject matter.

The conference/event is one strand of a wider project funded by the Wellcome Trust which includes an exhibition and publication.

The project explores the way in which threat and loss (including loss of social meaning) arising from migration and displacement can give rise to trauma and how this trauma shapes the human condition and the perception of self as well as the wider world.

What happens to this trauma? Is it present in the body? Does it become mythologised? How can it be manifested and what systems are utilised as coping strategies? What else does re-framing traumatic events as stories, objects, and processes do? Heal them? Bring them to present–day consciousness? How is experience of life changed by experience of threat?

The responsibilities of the role fall into two realms: research, and logistical planning.

In collaboration with the artists the successful candidate will identify and research potential conference contributors, speakers and panelists. Potential participants could be drawn from art, psychiatry as well as as other disciplines which have engaged with the subject matter. The Researcher will liaise with the selected contributors in the lead up to the conference/event as a first point of contact.

The logistical planning responsibilities cover researching potential venue partners which may include museums, galleries and non art spaces and overseeing with the chosen venue the technical and logistical requirements for the conference/event.  There may also be an element of supporting research for the artists field research trips.

The individual will need good organisation and communication skills, be highly self-motivated and have the ability to work with guidance but independently.