The Changing Campus #1: Experiencing Being On Campus, SHU Space & Place Group online session 19-1-22
Channel: Sheffield Hallam University Space & Place Group
Date: 2022-01-19

This event was the first in the Sheffield Hallam University Space & Place Group’s 2022 series of events, running under the theme of ‘Changing Places’.

Our first two events, curated jointly with the University’s Interdisciplinary Higher Education Research Cluster, examined how university campuses are changing, due to changes in student expectations and the exigencies of Covid-19. Our second event, held on 16 February 2022, examined the role of the human/thing relations in campus making, learning and researching, details here: https://lukebennett13.wordpress.com/2022/01/04/the-changing-campus-2-learning-in-place-free-shu-space-place-group-online-event-2-4pm-16-february-2022/

In this first event we focussed upon how the experience of being on campus can be researched. 

The session recording starts with an introduction by Luke Bennett (SHU) which - using Henri Lefebvre's spatial triad - introduces the gap between the ascribed 'power of place' (and the considerable labour expected on any new University building: towards community making; towards sustainability and wellbeing; towards learning) and how that space actually comes to be perceived and used. 

This is followed by presentations from:

Harriet Shortt (UWE, Bristol) – keynote

Spaces, staff, students, and Instagram: a visually-led post-occupancy evaluation of a Business School Building

The Bristol Business School building has been occupied since April 2017. It is a flagship space that aims to attract international, EU and home students, facilitate links with businesses and foster a collaborative space for staff to work together. In February 2018 we conducted a post-occupancy evaluation (POE) of this new building. Our aim was to investigate how the ethos of the building has impacted user experiences of working, studying and visiting this space. How does a transparent, collaborative, and flexible building affect working/ studying practices? What influence does it have on users’ perceptions of the University and is the building operating as predicted? Using innovative visual methods including Instagram and participant-led photography, data was collected over 12 months with over 250 participants contributing to the study, and over 740 photographs collected.

In this presentation I will discuss the background to the research; some of the unexpected and surprising parts of the research – including the complexities of using Instagram in visual field studies; and some of our initial findings – including the paradoxical love/hate relationships staff and students have with particular spaces.

Amira Samatar (SHU)

Negotiating university spaces: an insight into female students of colour’s experiences

Amira is a postgraduate researcher whose academic interests centre around the educational experiences and journeys of racially minoritised students in British universities, with a specific focus on Black British women’s experiences beyond the postgraduate level. Amira’s presentation will draw on her master’s research which explored the lived experiences on campus of five female undergraduate students of colour. This work employed a critical race theory perspective and was inspired by CRiT walking, with walking interviews utilised to explore experiences of marginalisation.