ICY Research Seminar, Dr Samyia Ambreen

Title: Mobilising Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration with Children and Young People: Exploring Creative and Equitable Futures.

Abstract: My talk will explore the potential of interdisciplinary research collaboration while working with children and young people in both primary and secondary schools across the North-West of England.  This talk is based on my work on an interdisciplinary project called ‘Voices of the Future’ jointly funded by the National Environmental Research Council (NERC) and the UK Treescapes Programme (NERC NE/V021370/1].

In the project, I joined a team that included tree scientists, ethnographers, human geographers, and childhood studies academics, as well as tree planting practitioners and a philosopher and an artist. Employing an innovative co-production approach, the project team draws together arts, humanities, social and scientific methods, and knowledge to re-imagine future treescapes that meet the interdependent needs of humans and the environment.

In my talk, I will discuss the role and impact of combining both science and art in conversations about the future of treescapes with children and young people. I will showcase different examples of creative outputs produced in a range of educational settings. These outputs include films, drawings, creative writings, and stories. The creative outputs designed by the children and young people showcase dynamics ways of their engagement with treescapes.  They offer potentially generative as well as disruptive narratives about treescapes and how they are culturally, socially, and individually imagined by different groups of individuals.

I will also discuss the role of interdisciplinary in generating possibilities for new avenues for educational research, policy implications, and community engagement. Additionally, I will explain how lessons from this project are feeding into broader discussions on creating a hopeful and equitable future for everyone in both the educational and environmental sectors.

Bio: Samyia obtained her PhD from the School of Education at the University of Leeds, where she served as a Teaching Fellow in the Childhood and Education Studies programmes. Currently, she works as a Research Associate at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her research involves working with children and young people, exploring their educational lives through the intersection of linguistic and cultural diversity.