I have specialised in Arts Based Educational Research and in 2009, established the Arts Based Education Research (ABER) Special Interest Group (SIG) of the British Education Research Association (BERA) which I then convened until 2012.
My research profile includes:
Principle Investigator, Levelling Up, Dada Disability and d/Deaf Arts / Cultural Leadership Programme, Arts Council of England (2010 – 2011). Download the final report here: Levelling Up Final Full Report.
Researcher, Reading the Riots, The Guardian / London School of Economics (2011): a national programme into the causes behind the Summer 2011 disturbances from the perspectives of the perpetrators.
Evaluator, Operahouse, Little Missenden Arts Festival (2011)
Research tutor, Tomorrows Researchers, St. Edwards College, Liverpool (2011)
Principle Investigator and artistic director, Closing Schools for the Future, Oxford Ethnography Conference; Northern Education (NEEC) conference Wirral; International Conference on Education in Development, University of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival, Riverside Studios, London (2009 – 2011)
Evaluator, Youth Music Programme, Sense of Sound, Liverpool (2010)
Evaluator, Count Us In, Hertfordshire Music Services (2009 – 2011): a music education project for Hertfordshire Music Services who worked in partnership with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to deliver a 1 year music project in the County, as part of the DCSF’s Music Partnership Programme (MPP). The project aimed to provide an opportunity to change the way music is used to support the raising aspiration and achievement within secondary schools and their communities (October 2009 – January 2011).
Course designer and lead tutor on Time to Play, Disabled Artist Research Programme, Wallasey, Liverpool, Patras, Lisbon (2009 – 2011)
Principle Investigator, 4 Corners: Lifelines, Culture Liverpool and Liverpool PCT (2010): an arts based educational research project which asked what could be learnt from local life-map health histories which will inform the improvement of local health services in the future. We used story telling techniques to engage with local people to draw out their life maps and critical moments in their health histories. The material generated was produced into various formats: book, audio recording and exhibition which toured South Liverpool before being presented at the Bluecoat Arts Gallery, Liverpool (February – June 2010). Funded by South Liverpool PCT and Culture Liverpool. Download the final report Lifelines_report_Sept2010-1.
Principle Investigator, Listening to the Life Bank, Kensington Sure Start (2007 – 2009)
Lead Evaluator, Gun and Knife Crime project, Merseyside Youth Association (2007)
Lead Researcher, Class Writing, National Association of Writers in Education (2006 -2009): a schools based project in which nine schools across England engaged a writer in residence every term for three years. Funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the QCA, the findings of the project have been presented at BERA 2008 and the NAWE Conference 2009. Funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation (2006 – 2010). Download Class-Writing
Research Fellow, Creative School Change Project, University of Nottingham (2006 – 2008): a research project which looked into the impact of Creative Partnerships on Whole School Change in 40 schools across England, funded by Creative Partnerships (2006 – 2008). Download reports here wholeschoolchangecreative-school-change-final-report-nov-2009-184
Dr Nick Owen MBE PLUS 