Post-Grad Community Open Call: SURGE II

Expression of Interest Deadline: Monday 1 February 2022 (12pm) 

Explore the surgical technology and techniques of the future and what this means for patients and society.

We are inviting UCL healthcare technology researchers and UAL postgraduate students of all disciplines to come together to consider the role of data in health, and the ethical and societal effects of surgical technologies.

An expression of interest is sought from UAL postgraduate students to take part in SURGE II: a funded artist and engineering partnership opportunity, offered by the Wellcome / EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences (WEISS) in collaboration with UAL’s Post-Grad Community. Those selected will be invited to a hackathon event on Thursday 24 February 2022 to meet with the WEISS researchers working on the project and potentially be matched with a researcher to work together on a comissioned project for SURGE II.

WEISS brings together engineering, computing and medical staff. This includes research into Artificial Intelligence, medical data and imaging, robotics, and much more.

Projects will bring together scientists, artists, and the public to explore the complexities and application of technology in surgery, as well as their societal and ethical implications.

We are seeking artists to create meaningful partnerships with researchers that explore these themes in ways that engage relevant public groups, such as patients, resulting in new artwork. The project’s focus on public engagement will demand a capacity for facilitation and teaching, although artists will be supported through regular workshops and project staff.

We will consider visual artists from any discipline and are especially interested in those with a socially engaged practice. Researchers will be sought across healthcare engineering disciplines, including medical physics, computer science, mechanical engineering and surgery.

Take a look at the amazing collaborative projects from last year’s SURGE I

Process

We will be recruiting UCL academic researchers concurrently with artists. While it is not yet confirmed what specific research interests they may have, medical data and AI are common themes across the centre.

Artists and researchers will be shortlisted and invited to a Hackathon/matchmaking session as a chance to meet and build relationships, followed by time to discuss and apply for a collaboration grant.

After this event, artists will put together a project proposal with their matched scientific collaborator.  We appreciate the level of work required to do this and so all submitted proposals will be granted a £50 honorarium.

The selected partnerships will have 5 months to develop a project and must involve exploring topics with the public. SURGE II aims to cultivate as socially engaged a practice as possible, and to be a supportive process of collaboration, with regular collaborative workshops between each project’s key stakeholders.

Artistic outcomes will be showcased in London over 2 weeks in July 2022 (location TBC).

Project map for commissioned partnerships:

Timeline

The above timeline and locations may be impacted by the ongoing pandemic.

Further information

Documentation of each project’s development will be required. This can include periodical articles, podcasts and video diaries which will be supported by UAL’s Post-Grad Community. It is also possible that certain projects will be documented in its entirety.

Final artistic outputs will belong to the artist. Digital resources created will have a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) licence so that they can be freely used by WEISS, all workshop attendees, and charities.

Expression of Interest

We are not asking you to spend too long on an application at this stage, the process (outlined above) is designed to select partnerships through a process of meetings, discussion, a joint written application and then funded collaborative research.

In order to be transparent and to help understand if this process is likely to suit you, we will be looking for evidence of your preparedness for becoming an involved artist through this process. It is expected that you will demonstrate one or more of the following attributes:

·       An interest in exploratory practice with healthcare technologies

·       An ability to respond to research in your thinking

·       An ability to collaborate in your art practice

·       An established approach to working with publics, patients and/or communities

·       Where possible, experience of socially engaged practice and connections

Fill out and submit this form to express your interest. This is due by 12:00pm on Tuesday 1 February 2022: Expression of interest form

Any questions or enquiries, email:

Simon Watt: simon.watt@ucl.ac.uk

Fred Kavanagh: f.kavanagh@arts.ac.uk

Post-Grad Community at UAL

UAL is home to more than 2,400 postgraduate students working across the fields of art, design, screen, communication, fashion, media and performance.  Within our six world-renowned colleges, we aim to form a creative network of artists, designers and innovators.

Post-Grad Community is an inclusive platform for UAL postgraduate students to share work, find opportunities and connect with other creatives within the University and beyond.