Programme

Monday 27th July, 2015 BP Lecture Theatre, British Museum

10.00- 10.30  Registration

10.30- 10.40 ●      Welcome and Introduction

10.40- 12.30 ●    Session 1: CDA origins: questioning concepts and resources

What is the ‘value’ of CDA partnerships in their formative and developmental stages? Seeking to better understand the specific nature and rationale of collaborative research projects, panellists from diverse policy, heritage and academic contexts explore the scope, criteria and funding of CDA doctorates as well as their own involvement as stakeholders in the process. Following short introductions, we invite panellists to engage in a roundtable discussion and respond to questions both from the audience and live tweets. Panel:

• Ian Lyne, Associate Director of Programmes, AHRC
• Margot Finn, Chair in Modern British History, UCL and Trustee of the V&A
• Jade French, CDA Student at University of Leeds, Halton Speak Out and The Bluecoat
• Alastair Owens, Reader in Geography, Queen Mary University of London

Lunch 12.30- 13.30 Delegates to provide own lunch

13.30-15.00 ●      Session 2: CDA innovation showcase

How might students add value to the CDA? Does innovation constitute improved value? In this session, we will showcase specialised methodologies and techniques from CDA students, past and present, that have been uniquely developed as part of their collaborative PhD projects. Panel:

• Dr Leah Armstrong, University of Brighton Design Archives and the Chartered Society of Designers (CSD)
• Joseph Attard, Royal Opera House and King’s College London
• Julia Binter, National Maritime Museum and University of Oxford
• Jane McArthur, Imperial War Museum, London, and the University of Edinburgh
• Amelia Smith, National Gallery and Birkbeck, University of London
• Dr Helen L. Wilson, University of Manchester and the British Museum

15.00- 15.30  Tea and Coffee

15.30- 17.00 ●      Session 3: CDA legacies roundtable

The changing political and cultural climates in which universities and cultural institutions operate have made legacy and impact a fundamental part of determining value. From the outset, the CDA funding application often assumes and intends that a project will have a demonstrable legacy. In this roundtable discussion, we invite you to scrutinise the relationship between legacy and value, within the collaborative doctoral award. Panel:

• Eithne Nightingale, CDA student, Queen Mary University of London and Museum of Childhood, V&A, and Head of Diversity and Equality at V&A.
• Alexandra Goddard, British Library.
• Bill Sherman, Head of Research, V&A, on secondment from the University of York, where he was Director of the Centre for Renaissance & Early Modern Studies.
• Kevin Moore, Director, National Football Museum
• Farah Karim-Cooper, Head of Higher Education and Research, The Globe

17.00-17.30 ●      Reflections and final remarks

If you would like to come along to what is going to be an interesting day of lively discussion, register here, or to get involved in other ways, leave a comment on this blog, or tweet us @cdavalue with questions, comments and your thoughts.

Questions and Thoughts

The aim is to make What’s It Worth? The Value and Potential of the CDA as interactive an event as possible, with both attendees and those who can’t make it helping to shape the debate and discussion on the day.

In light of this, we are asking people to submit questions or comments, broadly on the subject of Collaborative Doctoral Awards, that we can put to our panellists and to our audience on the day.

We are also hoping to collect some of these questions, discussions and comments, both before and after the conference, on to this blog, so we can have a more lasting record of some of the issues raised, so let us know if you’d like to contribute something to the blog.

Some of the ways to submit questions and comments are:

• Twitter, @cdavalue or using #cdavalue
• Email at cdavalue@gmail.com
• Through the Eventbrite link, where you can also register to attend
• In the comments section of this blog

We will be live-tweeting throughout the day, so even if you can’t attend, please get involved!

What’s it Worth? The Value and Potential of the CDA Conference – 27th July 2015

As the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s (AHRC) programme reaches its tenth anniversary we would like to invite you to examine and critique the value of collaborative doctoral awards (CDAs) at the conference ‘What’s it Worth? The Value and Potential of the CDA’.

What’s it Worth? The Value and Potential of the CDA is a free one-day conference, taking place on Monday 27th July 2015, starting at 10am, in the BP Lecture Theatre, at the British Museum in London.

We hope this conference will create a space where we can explore the origins, innovations and values of the CDA, encouraging lively, interactive debate questioning how these projects are developed, and how and why they might be valuable to all people and institutions involved.

The conference will bring together stakeholders of the programme in the widest sense, from past and present CDA students, policy-makers, museum professionals and university-based academics, to consider question such as:

• Why is collaboration valuable?
• Has collaboration proved is worth?
• What is value in academia and in heritage institutions?
• How have students contributed to innovative practice?
• Are impact and legacy essential in judging success?

Even if you are unable to attend on the day, you can join the conversation on Twitter, by following and tweeting @cdavalue, where we will be live-tweeting the event and passing your questions on to panellists. You can also leave comments, thoughts and feedback here and we will try to incorporate these into the debate.]

To register and for more details including the programme, click here

For any questions, contact us at cdavalue@gmail.com, through the Eventbrite link above, or in the comments below.

We hope to see you on the 27th!