[Commlist] CfP: Knowing Through Photography Online Workshop

Please see the call for papers below for "Knowing Through Photography: 
Rethinking Photographic Practice in Research," an online workshop taking 
place on Wednesday 28 October 2026. The workshop welcomes contributions 
from researchers, artists, curators, and practitioners across the arts, 
humanities, and social sciences, and includes opening remarks from 
Anthony Luvera, Director of Education at the Royal Photographic Society.

Abstracts (max. 300 words), along with a title, biography, and contact 
details, should be submitted by Friday 4 September 2026.

Full details, including submission instructions and potential themes, 
are below or available here: 
_https://archives.stir.ac.uk/2026/07/17/call-for-papers/_ 
<https://archives.stir.ac.uk/2026/07/17/call-for-papers/>

If you have any questions, please get in touch ((j.m.post /at/ stir.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(j.m.post /at/ stir.ac.uk)>).

++++


Call for Papers

Knowing Through Photography: Rethinking Photographic Practice in 
Research- Online Workshop, Wednesday 28 October 2026


The place of photography in research is changing. Photographic practice 
is increasingly recognised not simply as a means of documenting or 
communicating research, but as a way of undertaking it. This shift is 
reflected in the growing prominence of practice research, artistic 
research, visual methodologies, and interdisciplinary approaches that 
position image-making as a site of investigation rather than simply a 
means of representation. The workshop responds to this growing 
recognition by asking a question that has received comparatively little 
sustained interdisciplinary dialogue: what does photographic practice 
itself contribute to thinking? How does it shape what research can know? 
If making photographs is itself a form of inquiry, what kinds of 
knowledge does it make possible? What can photographic practice reveal, 
explore, or think through that may be difficult to access through 
interviews, observation, text, or other qualitative approaches? This 
workshop asks not only how photography is used in research, but what 
photography makes knowable.

Bringing together researchers, artists, curators, and creative 
practitioners from across the arts, humanities, and social sciences, the 
workshop invites contributions that critically examine photography as a 
way of knowing. We are particularly interested in papers that reflect on 
how photographic practice shapes research questions, generates 
understanding, and expands the possibilities of research across 
disciplinary boundaries.

Potential themes include, but are not limited to:

  *

    Photography as inquiry and research practice

  *

    Practice-based, practice-led, and artistic research

  *

    Materiality, making, and image-making as research

  *

    Embodied, sensory, affective, and relational inquiry

  *

    Ethics, participation, collaboration, and co-creation

  *

    Place, landscape, environment, and spatial inquiry

  *

    Urban experience and place-based research

  *

    Identity, selfhood, gender, and sexuality

  *

    Memory, archives, heritage, and historical inquiry

  *

    Digital image cultures and networked photographic practices

  *

    Emerging image-making technologies, including AI and machine vision

  *

    More-than-human and multispecies research


To present at the workshop, please submit a title, abstract (max. 300 
words), biography (max. 150 words), and contact details by Friday 4 
September 2026 to (_j.m.post /at/ stir.ac).uk_ <mailto:(j.m.post /at/ stir.ac.uk)>, 
using the subject line: “/Knowing Through Photography: Rethinking 
Photographic Practice in Research/ ”.  Presentations and papers should 
be original and not previously published, with declaration of any AI 
use. Abstracts should clearly indicate the paper’s contribution, 
methodology, and the stage of the work. Authors of selected abstracts 
will be notified shortly after the submission deadline. The workshop 
will include open remarks from Anthony Luvera, the Director of Education 
at the Royal Photographic Society and a trustee of the photography and 
film charity, Four Corners. An internationally recognised photographer, 
writer, and educator, his work explores photography as a socially 
engaged practice focussed on representation, community, and belonging.


The workshop will be held online via Microsoft Teams. It is organised by 
John Post, Neil Crawford and Emma McCombie of the University of 
Stirling, UK. John Post is a Research Associate in the Faculty of Arts, 
Humanities, and Social Sciences. He holds a PhD in Art and Design from 
the Belfast School of Art, Ulster University, specialising in 
practice-led photographic research with a focus on queer visual culture, 
empathy, and digital intimacies. Neil Crawford is a Lecturer (Assistant 
Professor) in International Politics and Public Policy in the School of 
Law, Politics and Social Sciences, specialising in climate and 
environmental justice, forced migration, and urbanism. Emma McCombie is 
the Deputy Head of University Collections, where she is in charge of the 
public programme, learning and teaching and outreach. The Art Collection 
has been named a Collection of National Significance  by Museums 
Galleries Scotland.


Participation is free and open to researchers, artists, practitioners, 
policy-makers, and postgraduate students. Following the workshop, 
presenters will be invited to contribute to a proposed edited 
collection, with the editorial team working with authors to develop 
selected papers for publication.


For further information, or to discuss a potential submission, please 
contact Dr Post at: (_j.m.post /at/ stir.ac).uk_ <mailto:(j.m.post /at/ stir.ac.uk)>

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