Talks and Workshops

Writing and Researching Differently through Fictocriticism

Thursday, 4 December 12pm - 1pm (online)
Dr Mark Gatto

In this Methods North West Lunchtime Seminar, Mark Gatto (Northumbria University) will be exploring gender, work & care through dystopian fictocriticism to challenge patriarchal norms and inspire inclusive change.

In recent years, more scholarship has turned to embodied writing, embracing messiness and blurring lines between empirical and personal data. This session will provide one such personal narrative of undertaking and pursuing a form of research/writing that aspires to a critical and boundary blurring writing, grounded in masculinities theory and empirical data, while also developing a style that aligns with fictions that move and inspire us. 

Topological Data Analysis Ball Mapper for the Social Sciences Workshop

Tuesday, 18 November 2025 10am - 4pm, Alliance Manchester Business School
Dr Simon Rudkin

This workshop introduces the Topological Data Analysis Ball Mapper algorithm as a model free tool for visualising data and is led by Dr Simon Rudkin. Dr Rudkin is a member of the University of Manchester's Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research (CMI) and his work has pioneered application of Ball Mapper in the social sciences. The workshop will showcase the strengths of the algorithm and the research opportunities available for exploitation.

The workshop will be conducted using R and Python. Data and code files will be shared with participants via GitHub. For those who would like to look at their own data, support will be given during the practical elements of the workshop.

PRE-SESSION Topological Data Analysis Ball Mapper for the Social Sciences

Monday, 10 November 2025 4 - 5pm, online
Dr Simon Rudkin

Pre-cursor to full workshop

This one hour virtual pre-meeting is for participants who would like to know more about the suitability of their data for visualising with Ball Mapper, ahead of the in-person workshop on Tuesday 18 November.

The basic guide is that if you would be happy to draw a scatter plot with your variables, the construction of the point cloud makes sense. As a rule, the axis variables for the cloud should be ordinal and have sufficiently many different values. Email enquiries to Simon.Rudkin@manchester.ac.uk on suitability of data are also welcomed.

MethodsLab: Listening to the non-speaking experience

Friday, 7 November 2025 11am - 4.30pm, Alliance Manchester Business School
Speakers: Dr Holly Sutherland, Dr Verity Ward, Dr Jill Bradshaw, Freddie Jones

This MethodsLab is a full-day event focused on developing ethical and effective qualitative methods for including non-speaking neurodiverse young people in research. Bringing together academics, practitioners, parents, and autistic young adults (18+), it will feature talks, posters, and hands-on activities to explore and test different approaches. Co-created with neurodiverse participants, the event will produce inclusive research guidelines and foster a collaborative community of practice.

Ultimately, this event aims to foster methodological innovation and build a community of practice that empowers researchers to include non-speaking neurodivergent young people ethically and effectively in qualitative research.

Visualising Multivariate Data with Topological Data Analysis Ball Mapper

A Methods North West Seminar

Thursday, 9 October, 12-1pm, online, with Simon Rudkin

Data visualisation is a core component of the empirical process, from data exploration to the evaluation of models. However, visualising datasets with many continuous variables is challenging. To see the shape of data, scatter plots (and their derivatives) are the go-to graphics. Considering each variable as a dimension on the page, we are limited to two directions, with other variables needing to be captured in size or colour. Many solutions to viewing multi-dimensional data involve loss of information in dimensionality reduction, or combine many plots of subsets of variables.

Topological Data Analysis Ball Mapper is a means to create an abstract two-dimensional visualisation of multivariate data without loss of information. A motivation for the method, outline of the algorithm, and look at the research agenda developing the method are provided. This seminar explains why we all need to consider the structure of our data and place data visualisation at the core of our empirical analyses.

This is a precursor to a methods@manchester workshop on Topological Data Analysis Ball Mapper, which will run later in the Autumn.

Creative AI Methods - Staff Training

Wednesday, 17 September, 1pm - 5pm (in person); Sam Hind

Are you interested in researching artificial intelligence (AI) from a cultural, social, political, or environmental perspective? Do you want to use AI tools and techniques to study these phenomena? This session will introduce creative AI methods and walkthrough three specific creative AI methods (critical prompting, synthetic images and system anatomies). There will then be a mini group workshop on one chosen creative AI method, followed by a final discussion on creative AI methods, uses and applicability.

Stitching at the End of the World - MNW

Wednesday, 12 September, 10am - 4pm, Manchester Museum; Lydia Donohue

A one-day workshop to carry out a collaborative stitching programme. Inspired by the art project Kill Your Phone an open workshop format.

The day will involve the hands-on sewing of phone pouches using EMS fabric (a Faraday material) that shields devices from electromagnetic signals. During the workshop, participants will engage with notions of cybersecurity, personal privacy, the future of digital technology, and the application of ‘smart textiles’.

The workshop will open dialogues about the implications of future fabrics, the possibilities they offer and possible other applications in our digital world. This event will promote the application of craft-making as a methodological device for participants to engage with contemporary and pressing discourses within academia and current affairs.

Materialising the interdisciplinary collaboration between material sciences, craft and anthropology, it will explore how seemingly intangible topics such as radio signals, technological and cellular eavesdropping, voice recognition, and GPS tracking can be engaged with creatively through making practices.

Affect Theatre: Creative methods for enlivening ethnographic research

Thursday, 19 June, 12pm - 1pm; With Meghan Rose Donnelly and Pete Carruthers

Affect theatre draws together insights from anthropology and the performing arts to offer a new method for engaging with empirical research material. In this Methods North West seminar, we introduce the method, reflecting on a recent workshop held at the University of Manchester. Attendees will have the opportunity to experiment with the method themselves, ask questions, and participate in a broader discussion about using creative methods to engage the affective force of our research material.

Read more about this event.

An Introduction to Pre-registration

Thursday, 26 June, 12pm - 1pm; With Professor Linden Ball and Dr Beth Richardson

Join Professor Linden Ball and Dr Beth Richardson for a deeper understanding of the practice of “pre-registration”, which is gaining considerable momentum in scientific research. This practice entails publicly recording a study’s hypotheses, design (including sample size), and analysis plans before any data collection and/or data analysis begins.

Agent-based modelling of transmissible behaviours

Thursday, 12 June, 12pm - 1pm; With Mark Pogson and Hannah Little

Trends in behaviours that can be communicated, such as political attitudes and ways of speaking, are often difficult to anticipate. As a taster for a day-long workshop to run later in the year, we present an overview of how experiment and theory can be combined to provide a framework for making such predictions. Main topics include: agent-based modelling, behavioural experiments and social norms. The session and forthcoming workshop are relevant to a range of applications, but social and behaviour change relating to environmental sustainability is a primary motivation.

Finding and analysing secondary data

Thursday, 5 June, 12pm - 1pm; With Dr Les Humphreys

A wealth of quantitative and qualitative secondary data is available - that is, data that has already been collected and made available for research purposes.  This can mean that data good quality data and/or large amounts of data can be collected relatively quickly and cheaply.  There are of course pitfalls to relying on secondary data but this should be balanced against the benefits.  This session will discuss the advantages and pitfalls of using secondary data and introduce the data and facilities that are available via the UK Data Service.

Using NVivo for Qualitative and Mixed-Methods Analysis - A Summer School Taster

Tuesday, 13 May, 12.30pm - 1pm

Are you considering joining the Using NVivo for Qualitative and Mixed-Methods summer school at The University of Manchester between 30 June and 4 July? If so, join this free 30 minute taster session with Dr Haleema Sadia & Dr Pauline Prevett to learn more about their course, who is it for, and what it offers you.

AI-Driven Analytics - A Summer School Taster

Tuesday, 27 May, 12pm - 1pm

Are you considering joining the AI-Driven Analytics summer school at The University of Manchester between 30 June and 4 July? Join this free 45-minute online taster session with Dr. Ali Hassanzadeh to learn more about what the course offers, who it’s for, and how it can benefit your research or professional development.

R Markdown for the Humanities - A Practical Intro to Reproducible Writing

Wednesday, 28 May

This hands-on staff training workshop introduces R Markdown, a powerful tool for academics that enables seamless integration of text, code, and citations into dynamic, reproducible documents.

Working with Qualitative Interview Data: Themes and Beyond

Thursday, 29 May, 2pm - 5pm

Join Dr. Andrew Balmer from the University of Manchester's Morgan Centre for Research into Everyday Lives to explore how to work with qualitative data in an ‘everyday’ fashion.

Qualitative Interviewing - A Summer School Taster Session

This session will give you a taster of the four-day summer school on qualitative interviewing.

Dr. Gail Hebson will give you a flavour of some of the topics covered in the summer school before an opportunity to ask any questions. This is a perfect opportunity to get a sense of whether this summer school course is right for you.

Finding and Analysing Secondary Data with Dr. Les Humphreys, University of Central Lancashire

Thursday, 10 April

A wealth of quantitative and qualitative secondary data is available - that is, data that has already been collected and made available for research purposes. This can mean that data good quality data and/or large amounts of data can be collected relatively quickly and cheaply. This session will discuss the advantages and pitfalls of using secondary data and introduce the data and facilities that are available via the UK Data Service.

Casting a Spell on Null Rituals with Dr. Jess Hampton, University of Liverpool

Thursday, 24 April

Do you ever find yourself running statistical tests without fully understanding why or what you’re doing—just following the steps because that’s what others seem to do? You’re not alone. In this interactive lunchtime session, we’ll open a judgment-free conversation about the ‘null ritual’—the routine application of statistical methods without questioning their necessity or underlying logic.

How to Approach the Study of Violence with Prof Deana Heath & Dr Anna Shadrina, University of Liverpool

Thursday, 1 May

With a focus on post-structuralist, post-/de-colonial, interpretive/interactional and phenomenological approaches to the study of violence, this Methods Session is an invitation to discuss the issues with the study of violence.

Affect Theatre – A Workshop at the Boundaries of Theatre and Anthropology

Thursday 27 March – Saturday 29 March

This three-day workshop was open to both faculty (including GTAs) and students (UG, PGT, PGR) across the Methods North West Partnership. The workshop explored the cross-pollination between research and narrative practice in theatre and anthropology, offering the opportunity to transform methodological practice in both.

Methods and Methodologies for Policy Impact

With Dr Helen Wells, University of Keele
Thursday, 6 March

Dr Helen Wells reflected on the challenges and opportunities of being an academic working in a policy setting. She shared her recipe for translating academic research into digestible, palatable and edible insights for those working in policy-making, as well as the best ways to present ideas to best effect in this context.

A Roadmap to Systematic and Scoping Literature Reviews

With Dr Mathilde H. Prenevost, Dr Charlotte Rothwell, and Dr Rebecca Hall, (University of Lancaster)
Thursday, 27 February, 12-1pm (Online)

In this seminar, we explored various approaches to literature reviews, including scoping reviews, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses. The discussion helped navigate the diverse guidelines and checklists, offering an overview of key steps—from choosing a review method and designing studies to conducting literature searches, screening, and data extraction. 

Qualitatively eliciting the ‘voice’ of non-speaking neurodiverse people

With Frederick Jones (University of Manchester), Holly Sutherland (University of Edinburgh), and Dr Armand Léon Van Ommen (University of Aberdeen)

In this session, each panel member gave a lightning talk about the method they typically use when working with non-speaking neurodiverse participants. This was followed by a Q&A with the audience.

Attention Please! Using Eye-Tracking for Research

With Lee Francis (Lancaster University)
Thursday, 16 January, 12-1pm (Online)

In a world where attention is now premium, eye tracking is one of the few objective measures that shows where people are really looking. Join us to learn the very basics of measuring attention as a research method, how to design experiments and analyse data with live examples, and more.

The ATTUNE Project: Adverse Child Experiences in Adolescent Mental Health Email Campaign

With Dr Isabelle Butcher and Harsimran Sansoy (University of Oxford)
Thursday, 21 November 2024

ATTUNE is a UKRI funded and NIHR supported project exploring the lived experiences of young people (aged 10-24 years) in England who may have experience adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Within this project, we aim to answer two overarching questions:

1. How do ACEs impact young people's mental health and lives, considering psychological, geographical, social, and economic factors?
2. Can creative and participatory arts methods help us gather new insights to better understand ACEs and develop prevention and care strategies?

Our innovative approach uses various creative methods, such as art, storytelling, and digital games, to engage young people.

Reimagining meanings: co-curatorship and decolonizing methods

With Njabulo Chipangura, Manchester Museum’s Curator of Living Cultures
Thursday, 7 November 2024

This workshop was ran in collaboration with the Manchester Museum, as part of the 2024 Being Human Festival. This closed session was open to local African diaspora community groups. 

You can read more about this session on our News page, and listen to our Methods Talk episode with Njabu on Spotify.

What's In Your Wardrobe? Telling & Sharing Clothing Stories

With Jolene Sheehan (Joy Ethic), Sophie Woodward (University of Manchester), and Benjamin Wild (Manchester Metropolitan University)

Saturday, 16 November 2024

This workshop was ran in collaboration with Joy Ethic, as part of the 2024 Being Human Festival. This session asked attendees to bring along items of clothing and share their stories.

You can read more about this session on our News page.