International Summer School

Today we will focus on Britain’s engagement over the centuries with other countries. Dr. Willie will examine how UK literature has travelled back to China and been interpreted and developed.

Dr. Armstrong teaches International Relations at LJMU and so is an expert on how nations work with each other. Today, she will focus on the important organisation, the United Nations, which aims to maintain international peace and security. She will examine the background to the formation of this admirable organisation and how it acts to try to achieve its important goals.

In this workshop, Dr. Bailey will discuss the metaphysical poets of the seventeenth century, such as John Donne: an author who transformed poetry in English with a daring combination of feeling, ideas, and new perspectives from an earlier age of exploration.

Again, you will work with Dr. Armstrong, but today the focus will be on women around the world. Dr. Armstrong will discuss how the United Nations has a special agenda to protect women and will examine why and how women experience war and conflicts in different ways to men. The aims for peace and security promoted by different nations will be considered, and we will look at the varieties of methods that are explored around the world for keeping peace.

Wars have affected all countries in the world and the women who have been left behind have often been ignored. Yet, philosophies and thoughts on war have been recorded by these wives, sisters and daughters when their men went to war and these stories ideas and poems are fascinating. We will explore these poignant, touching thoughts in the first part of today’s workshop.

Media has always been a site of social and political agendas. With media’s potential for telling stories, presenting facts, or distorting them, it has always been a tool for the strong to maintain their ideology as well as for the weak to push against it. In this session we will look at historical and current examples in which media - films, photographs, web - has been used to advance social change and mobilise support for political and social causes.

Today’s session will explore some of the UK’s most influential and celebrated writers, including British Romantics, Coleridge, Byron and Shelley put in a new global setting. Romanticism is often associated with the growth of national literatures and cultures, both in Britain and elsewhere. Yet recent research has shown how the Romantic poets were also preoccupied with international cultural exchange and hybridity, in an age of ever broader travel and trade.

Dr. Benbough-Jackson is an historian who specialises in examining how people and nations develop their sense of identity. In this session, we will explore some of these methods, such as, do we gain a sense of national identity from songs, from flags, from food, or other reasons? Also, what is the relationship between our personal, national and international identities? These interesting philosophical and sociological discussions will be considered.

Today we will discover all about the appearance and values of the traditional British home with Dr. Cuming. Many writers have provided fascinating descriptions of British living spaces and how these have been used by their inhabitants. This is therefore a way for you to learn about British lifestyle and home interiors through the literature on the subject.

Again, today, women will be the focus, but Dr. Parker will specifically spend time to tell you about her innovative research with the women of Nepal. Dr. Parker travels frequently to Nepal to work with communities as part of her ‘participatory action research’. She enables local people to represent their reality, both to their regional officials and also to the wider world. She also develops projects to support the women and children of Nepal that adhere to the United Nations’ Goals for Sustainable Development. This is therefore a valuable opportunity to learn more about the goals of the United Nations. In the session Sara will draw on a number of interviews with inspirational women in Nepal, so you gain a rich insight into the work that is being done there by local people.

Dr. Walchester will explore foreign travel writing about Liverpool and the Lake District and how those places were represented to their home audiences.

Andrea Levy was a British author of Jamaican heritage, and her writings negotiate racial, cultural national identities. These topics are of great importance for us all – irrespective of our own heritage so we will have many interesting themes to consider as a result of this session.

Dr. Kandola will discuss the Victorians’ fascination with ghost stories. An era of scientific progress, the nineteenth century in the UK nonetheless saw an explosion of the ghost story with famous writers from Charles Dickens to Oscar Wilde using the form. In this session we will explore the notoriously rational and prudish Victorians’ obsession with spooks and hauntings in line with recent scholarship on spectrality and trauma.

Contemporary British fiction has an important place in the world and is often influential and adapted for television and movies. Dr. Tolan will explore some key contemporary works of literature and discuss their characteristics and importance.

The subject of Immersive Media means that you can explore and exploit a variety of current and emerging digital tools, to develop engaging audience experiences and new storyworlds. These tools and techniques include VR and projection mapping, wireless HTC Vives, Oculus Quests, Mixed Reality headsets, interactive sensors, 3D modelling tools, holographic displays, digital fabrication and 3d printing, 3D object scanners, 3D room scanners, 8K Stereoscopic 360 cameras, depth sensors. You will have the chance to learn about some of these technologies and processes. There will be opportunities to experiment and be creative with your own ideas for content.

FaceLab is a unique laboratory at LJMU. Here you will see the cross-over of forensic anthropology, archaeology, psychology and art. Face Lab researchers are experts with human anatomy and they specialise in working with human skulls and specialist software to ‘build’ the features of the face! You will be able to find out more about how a reconstruction is made and the choices they make to depict a face from the skull. Face Lab researchers work with police to discover the true identity of discovered bodies, and also with museums where they can construct the appearance of historical figures.

In this workshop you will learn how to form your own MA Fashion Innovation & Realisation proposal. You will also understand how the programme and LJMU’s state of the art facilities can frame and develop your own design thinking and ethos, to create projects which have real-world impact and continue beyond the programme. Current students will share their MA experience and projects and you will be invited to creatively respond to the information, ask questions, strike up discussion and share your personal fashion perspectives.

Carlos is a musician, DJ, academic researcher and artist. In this session he will be working with you to explore the overlap between these visual and musical disciplines, and their importance in contemporary European culture.

For this session, you will need access to Adobe Illustrator or procreate software.

With Camilla you will consider what makes a good documentary story and the stages of producing documentary content. You will storyboard a documentary sequence and plan how you would research and create content.

This session will explore how the city of Liverpool acts as a muse for Filmmakers. Liverpool is the 2nd most filmed in city in the UK (following London). This talk will use clips to demonstrate the wealth of diverse locations and consider how the image of the city on screen has changed over time.

The world is changing rapidly and full of exciting stories. Journalists and international journalists are always needed to report global news that affects people in various countries. In this session, you will find out more about how international stories are reported in the news via multimedia platforms such as print, online, television and radio. There will also be a virtual studio tour and an overview of broadcast journalism.

Art-Science collaborations aim to capture, visualise and enhance our understanding of the world around us, through first-hand interactions with ideas and innovations that would not have happened if scientists and artists had been left to their own devices.

In this workshop you will discuss what Art in Science means to you and think about how art-science researchers craft ‘scientific sight’. We will also think about the challenges that we face when communicating complex scientific information to the public.

Fine Art in the UK is all about ideas and criticism, rather than emphasising skill. In this workshop you will learn how to narrow down your ideas for exhibition.

Liverpool appears in the movies frequently and is one of the most filmed locations in the UK. In this session, Ruth Doughty will show some clips of Liverpool in the movies- for example, The Batman (2022) with Robert Pattinson- and will discuss why Liverpool has such enduring appeal on screen.

Tom Strodtbeck at LJMU works to enable students to become entrepreneurs. In the arts and humanities, sometimes creative people do not consider themselves as businesspeople or entrepreneurs and yet these skills are vital in working as a self-employed creative person. In this session, Tom explores and develops strategies for enabling creative people to succeed financially and strategically in the real world.

Charles Dickens is one of the UK’s most famous and important writers. He also documented how London was experienced in the nineteenth century. Today we learn about how his literary descriptions of London preserved our understanding of this city as it went through a period of huge change. Some of his perceptions of London still influence how citizens and visitors think about the city today. Therefore, in this session you will learn much about Dickens and his entertaining stories, but also about London as a city.

Tate Liverpool is the premier gallery of contemporary art in the north of the UK. Sarah James, Senior Curator of Exhibitions from the gallery will present an overview of this important gallery and its significance to international visitors and to students in Liverpool. In particular, Sarah will discuss the fact that Tate Liverpool will host the Turner Prize event and exhibition in 2022. This is the most important annual prize awarded in the UK to a contemporary artist.

Liverpool was once one of the world’s most important cities. Millions of emigrants left from Liverpool to begin a new life in the USA, Canada or Australia. In the twentieth century, Liverpool’s role altered, and the important port fell quiet. However, Liverpool was one of the first cities in the UK to realise that its historic post-industrial buildings are perfect for regeneration into art galleries, cinemas, and other cultural venues. This talk by Dr. Jones will examine the fascinating changes in Liverpool when historic buildings with industrial uses were converted for cultural purposes.

In this second session with Tom Strodtbeck, you will develop the skills learned during the previous day but will also today examine the link between enterprise, marketing and clear use of language. This will support your plans to live and work as creative people.

Liverpool is known for its flamboyant adoption of popular culture and fashion. In particular, Liverpool people have enjoyed wearing and collecting trainers (sneakers). Paul Owen has collected and researched trainers for many years and will present his detailed knowledge on their importance to Liverpool and UK society.

Jacqui McAssey has researched the huge football culture in Liverpool, and in the UK in general. Of course, Liverpool is home to Liverpool Football Club and Everton Football Clubs, which have international significance. In particular, she examines the role that women play as football fans, and the importance of the clothes and accessories that are part of women’s appreciation of football.