Latest Engagement, News & Projects
Find out about recent news and projects being worked on in our Research & Knowledge Exchange department.
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RCS aims to support students and staff to develop projects, ideas, and professional goals.
Our connections and relationships with the world are rooted locally and extend internationally, with artists and arts organisations, creative companies, local and national government, national and international agencies, businesses, institutions and networks.
These connections help us promote and disseminate important research.
Find out more about our current projects and recent publications on this page.
Latest RKE News
Publications
Our staff awards scheme is one of our principal tools in growing our distinctive environment for research and knowledge exchange. These awards are named the Athenaeum Awards in recognition of the Conservatoire’s earliest incarnation as the Glasgow Athenaeum in 1847, and reflecting the contemporary relevance of its founding aims, which included the pursuit and sharing of insights in science and art, by the agency of which a nation is enriched and ennobled.
In the past 9 years, the Athenaeum Awards have opened up numerous new directions for innovative work, supported dissemination and partnership building across Scotland and beyond, and assisted our artists in generating and sharing new insights across the full range of their expertise. This short document gives just a brief introduction to what’s going on in The New Athenaeum.
What’s Going On Now? (WGON) is a major examination of music education and youth music-making in Scotland. The research was commissioned by Creative Scotland and conducted by The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, across twelve months from early 2018 to early 2019.
During the research, The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland reported to the Music Education Partnership Group, which includes representation across a wide and diverse range of partners, fully outlined in the report. What’s Going On Now? builds on research published in 2003, and explores the formal, informal and non-formal sectors of music education in Scotland.
For all findings and recommendations, read What’s Going On Now?
Pioneering Royal Conservatoire of Scotland graduates, from choreographers and costume designers to performance makers and producers, are profiled in this publication in which they share their advice, experience and what it means to carve a unique path in the global arts and creative industries landscape.
The 12 Royal Conservatoire of Scotland graduates who are featured in Movers and Shakers Developing Enterprising Artists, Makers and Technicians, tell their stories of ploughing their own path, the challenges and obstacles they have faced, moments of growth and success and, crucially, how they sustain their careers as artists and creative entrepreneurs.
Read Movers and Shakers.
Current Projects
Methods in Movement: Dance for Health Scotland Research Network
Methods in Movement (MiM): Dance for Health (DfH) Scotland Research Network, funded by a Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) Research Collaborations Grant, has two key aims: to develop dance-centred methods, and to establish a national network. The project is being undertaken by Dr Bethany Whiteside at the RCS together with Professor Sara Houston (Roehampton University), Dr Morven Shearer (University of St Andrews), Emma Smith (Dance Base) and Tiffany Stott (Scottish Ballet). Current PhD student, Emily Davis, is the Research Assistant.
Over 18 months (to autumn 2025) a Scotland-wide mapping exercise, wider online consultation, and literature review, will be followed by in-person consultations and workshops working with dancers with Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis, and practitioners, to collaboratively develop new methods. We are particularly interested in methods that may help us better understand a) lived experience of particular conditions and b) artistry and kinaesthetic empathy.
To support these aims, we have designed a survey (available until 5 November 2024) for organisations and individuals who facilitate DfH activity in Scotland, which can be accessed at: https://forms.office.com/e/trGRgPTzd5
We would be grateful if you would consider completing the survey and forward on to any practitioners that you might know, dance or music, who may be interested in contributing.
We would also like to invite colleagues engaged in DfH to join an online consultation taking place, 10am-12pm on 29 October. The consultation has been divided into three parts, each of which begins with a short presentation from the project team: 1. Development of dance methods; 2. Dance for Health (its role and remit); 3. Development of a Network. Please contact Dr Bethany Whiteside (B.Whiteside@rcs.ac.uk) to receive a Teams invite.
Dance for Health (DfH) is characterised as ‘holistic, evidence-based activities… [with] trained teaching artists engag[ing] people as dancers, rather than patients, in joyful, interactive, artistic practice’ (International Association of Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS), 2021). However, the majority of DfH studies draw on quantitative methods to understand the impact of dance on symptoms, an approach somewhat at odds with the above ethos. This project responds to an increasing call to draw on more dance and dancer-centred methods that focus on embodied data and experience.
DfH activity within Scotland is fast developing, with organisations often expected to undertake internal evaluations and/or to engage with external researchers. Through our focus on methods, we will instigate a Network which brings together stakeholders with a vested interest, and a need, to develop and engage with research and evaluation.
If you you would like to get in touch for more information, please contact Bethany Whiteside at B.Whiteside@rcs.ac.uk @bethjwhiteside
Recent Projects
Art-Making in the Anthropocene
Art-Making in the Anthropocene is a series of 8 free online discussions and a concert bringing together Scottish and international artists, activists, and academics from across disciplines to explore what art-making can be in this time of ecological emergency.
The series is funded by a Royal Society of Edinburgh Research Workshop grant, and co-organized by Dr Emily Doolittle, Dr Sarah Hopfinger, and Dr Stuart MacRae at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Relive the concert with us which originally premiered on Tuesday 27 April 2021 at 17:00 BST, performed by Katherine Wren and Nordic Viola.
Music for the Anthropocene
- Ailie Robertson – *sky dance
- Aileen Sweeney – *siku
- Antonia Kattou – *it’s a sad child that destroys its own weather
- Martin Suckling – *Her lullaby
- Emily Doolittle – Gardenscape
- Lisa Robertson – Machair
- Anna Appleby – Hrakningar
* pieces selected from our Scotland-wide call for scores
Performed by Nordic Violia
- Helen Brew (flute)
- Anne Bunnemann (violin)
- David Hubbard (bassoon)
- Janet Larsson (flute)
- Emily Nenniger (violin)
- Ruth Rowlands (cello)
- Katherine Wren (viola)
Please contact artmaking@rcs.ac.uk if you would like to receive a link to watch past events.
Scotland’s Singing for Health Network
This network, which is led by Dr Brianna Robertson-Kirkland from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Clinical Fellow, Liesbeth Tip from the University of Edinburgh, will provide a space for a diverse community of singing practitioners and researchers working on singing and health, to come together to share knowledge, ideas and practice and to open up avenues for communication between individuals and organisations. The Research Assistant on the project is Sophie Boyd, who is both an active researcher and a Singing for Health practitioner.
This project will bring together Singing for Health practitioners, researchers, and health professionals from across Scotland to form a network which supports practitioners and facilitates collaboration and knowledge exchange. Singing for Health groups support the management of a range of conditions such as respiratory conditions, dementia, Parkinson’s Disease, and mental health concerns. As of yet, there is no Scotland-wide network that unites practitioners, researchers and health professionals working in these health-related fields.
The first stage of the network is to digitally map the locations of Singing for Health groups, as well as detailing the evidence-based practice in order for health practitioners to be well informed of the local Singing for Health activities and the potential impacts they might have on individuals, patients, service users, and singers. The digital map will be hosted on the network’s open-access website (coming soon) and will provide the first comprehensive list of Singing for Health services in Scotland, which will be useful for individuals with a range of conditions and health professionals such as nurses, GPs and link workers who will be able see if there are Singing for Health groups in their area. The network will also host a range of workshops to support Singing for Health groups allowing them to showcase their work as well as providing a space to consider larger issues including how to engage and work alongside medical professionals. Finally, the network will produce a podcast series that showcases different approaches and issues related to Singing for Health.
These pages will be updated as the project progresses. If you would like to get in touch with us about the project, please email singing-for-health@rcs.ac.uk.
More Projects
Innovation Studio
RCS Innovation Studio is a two-year pilot project which will facilitate new opportunities for knowledge exchange (KE) at the RCS. Through a series of workshops, panels, online discussions, and interdisciplinary collaborations and seed funds, Innovation Studio will support creative experimentation, skills development and collaboration.
SHARE
Science, Humanities, and Arts Research Exchange (SHARE) is an initiative to facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations between academic staff at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the University of St Andrews.
We seek to identify staff at each institution who are interested in interdisciplinary collaborations, to make introductions between RCS and St Andrews staff with overlapping interests, to support the development of any collaborative interdisciplinary projects that should arise, and to act as a hub for sharing the development and outcomes of these projects.
