About the centre
With researchers and our partners, the centre is shaping discussion around these key areas:
1.Creativity and AI: creative and human-centred approaches to the opportunities and impacts of AI. The Centre thinks critically about the potential social harms and imagines alternative futures for creativity and GenAI. For instance, we host the Queering AI network (led by Francesco Bentivegna), and, with Meaning Machine, our Digital Game Lab has explored conversational AI in games and applications in heritage interpretation.
2. Creative Community Technologies: the Centre continues to develop creative approaches to community-led technology initiatives, building on workshops and public talks co-hosted with Centre for Sociodigital Futures, civic partners Knowle West Media Centre, and international partners, including in the Global South. E.g. the AHRC-funded project ‘Challenging Algorithmic Racism Through Digital Cultures in Brazil,’ which co-produced a video game that raises young people’s critical awareness of algorithmic biases.
3. Alternative Technologies: the Centre aspires to more sustainable and accessible creative technologies. We also use creative technologies to imagine better, inclusive, socially and environmentally just futures. We intend to be a focal point for arts-led, responsible creative tech innovation, critical and speculative research on media cultures, aesthetics and practices. We prompt questions on this theme through Alternative Technologies workshops and talks with the Pervasive Media Studio, and through the PGR and ECR ‘Future Speculations for Creative Technologies’ reading group.
4. XR and Games for Social Good: the Centre is recognised for cross-disciplinary research that uses immersive technologies, Extended Reality (XR) and games to tackle social challenges. We build on existing collaborations with Engineering, strong partnerships with creative industries and community organisations to rapidly prototype, play test and showcase purposeful XR projects. For instance, the Game Lab has run Games Jams in response to complex societal problems, from algorithmic bias and living in post-conflict societies, to managing protected site strategies and digital accessibility.
The Centre is also a partner on the UK-wide AHRC and Arts Councils-funded Immersive Arts project and collaborates with MyWorld.
Postgraduate Study
There are 4 MA programmes associated with the Centre, MA Immersive Arts (Virtual and Augmented Reality), MA Games Design (Narrative), MA in Film and Television, and MA in Composition of Music for Film and Television.
We welcome interdisciplinary PhD applications in the above areas and related to the focus of our labs. To discuss, please get in touch via artf-cct@bristol.ac.uk
Partnering
We are keen to make links with related national and international centres and to explore potential research or impact partnerships, so do get in touch if you are interested in connecting or collaborating with the Centre. We are also open to exploring potential International Fellowships and hosting visiting Professors in this field.