Keynotes 2020
Friday: Nicola Abraham
Dr Nicola Abraham is a Lecturer in Applied Theatre Practices at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London. She has most recently been working on a range applied theatre, film and VR projects in NHS hospitals to develop new participant-centred approaches to creating bespoke artefacts include VR 360 videos, intergenerational augmented reality based process dramas with primary school children and older adult patients living with dementia, and films to improve subjective wellbeing of patients in acute dialysis wards. She is currently researching the potential of VR 360 video to create moments of wonder for older adult patients living with dementia.
She has published in Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance (RiDE), Applied Theatre Research, international arts and English Education journals including: TVOŘIVÁ DRAMATIKA: Časopis o dramatické výchově, literatuře a divadle pro děti amládež (Creative Drama: Journal on theatre education, literature and theatre for children and youth), English Teachers Association Switzerland(ETAS), and co-editor of the 2nd Edition of The Applied Theatre Reader (forthcoming, 2020), and Applied Theatre with Urban Youth: Witnessing Change (forthcoming, 2020/2021).
Saturday: Manfred Schewe
Manfred Schewe is Professor Emeritus at University College Cork (UCC). He served as Head of UCC’s Department of German and as Head of UCC’s Department of Theatre and holds the title UCC Teaching Fellow in recognition of his significant contribution to the scholarship of teaching and learning. His book Fremdsprache inszenieren: Zur Fundierung einer dramapädagogischen Lehr- und Lernpraxis (1993) has become a standard reference work in the modern languages. His interdisciplinary teaching and research activities are closely linked to the SCENARIO PROJECT and aim at paving the way towards a new, performative teaching and learning culture. For further details: http://research.ucc.ie/profiles/A016/mschewe
Sunday: Erika Piazzoli
Erika Piazzoli is a university lecturer at Trinity College Dublin, School of Education. She gained her Ph.D. in Drama Education, at Griffith University (Brisbane) where she worked as a research assistant, tutor and lecturer from 2008 to 2015. Currently she teaches Language Education and Drama in Education within the Master in Education (M.Ed.) programme at TCD. Her M.Ed. (Language) module, Embodying Language, looks at emotions, embodiment and learning in Language Education. Her latest book, Embodying Language in Action, explores embodiment in performative language teaching, learning and research.