The Art of Play.

The Power of Risk.

Framing Photographic Education

 APHE Conference 2025

Online with contributions from Falmouth

Tuesday Sept 9th - Thursday Sept 11th, 2025 

Please note: this schedule is subject to change.  A Teams link will be made available to all registered members on 9th September.

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Day 1: Tuesday 9th September

4.00-4.30 Welcome & Future of APHE presentation by APHE Chair, Becky Nunes

4.30-5.20 Keynote 1 + Q&A - Dr Shawn Sobers (for the speaker’s profile please scroll down)

5.20-6.00 Social Chatroom

Day 2: Wednesday 10th September

9.45 Virtual arrival. Welcome to the event

10.00 Chair’s Introduction to the conference proceedings

10.10 Keynote 2 + Q&A - Jo Bradford (for the speaker’s profile please scroll down)

11.00 Comfort Break

11.15-1.00 Photographic Pedagogies (APHIES nominees) presentations

A Fragile Hope: The importance of establishing non-judgmental spaces in creative education

This paper sets out a method for tutors and students to work together towards uncertain outcomes, to tentatively co-create the conditions for personal discoveries. The value is in the process of discovery, the importance of maintaining uncertainty, promoting the value and productive capacities of not knowing; a provisional space to experience the feeling without the threat of not understanding. Placing this in an educational context, requires striking a balance between structure and experience.

Dr Liam Devlin and Dr Richard Mulhearn (Univ of Huddersfield)

30 mins incl Q&A

Regenerative Ecologies in Photographic Education: A Case Study of Sustainable Change

This presentation will share a case study of the redevelopment of the Photography programme at Salford in alignment with sustainable principles. How do we channel these influences in the development of pedagogies for commercial photography in the context of a widening participation university?

Dr Caroline Edge, Co-Programme Leader BA (Hons) Photography, Univ of Salford (c.edge@salford.ac.uk)

30 mins incl Q&A

Rebooting the Art of Play

In this session, three student curators will reflect on the value of peer-led research and the practical /critical process that took them from Instagram collaboration through to a physical exhibition with professional marketing materials and a live online event with artist interviews and critical analytical debate.

@Landings Collective - Gail Ashton, Ian Blyth, Alistair Crane

Supported / Introduced by: Georgia Metaxas (Module Leader: Sustainable Strategies) & Steph Cosgrove (Module Leader: Informing Contexts)

30 mins incl Q&A

1.00-2.00 Lunch

2.00-5.00 Practice, Pedagogy and Photographic Futures

How can we support students as they respond to political, ecological, social crisis, entangled in their creative/ photographic practices?

60-minute Mapping workshop

Dr Catarina Fontoura - Institute of Photography, Falmouth University

60 mins

“I’m Ready for My Close-up”: Photography, Play, and the Feminist Fitting-room

At the heart of this project is the ‘Feminist Fitting-room’ (Orcutt 2022), a physical and metaphorical space where versions of the self are playfully “tried on” through dress and photographic exploration. The authors argue for the importance of creative visual exploration in photographic education, particularly in supporting diverse identities in the discovery of image and voice.

Dr Julie Ripley & Dr Lizzy Orcutt. Falmouth University

30 mins incl Q&A

A.I. panel discussion: Eileen Little frames some current discourses around A.I. in photography education

AI is a complex, fast-moving, and seemingly inevitable ‘progression’ of consequential technology. What are the current debates and challenges facing educators today?

Eileen Little/Graham Wilson/Nick Dunmur

60 mins including general discussion.

5.00-5.10 Wrap-up Day 2

Day 3: Thursday 11th September

10-11.00 Welcome to members and AGM

Agenda TBC

11.00-11.20 Comfort break                     

11.20-12.30 Working Groups discussion (APHE Future Focus)

12.30-1.00 Wrap-up of working groups and close of event.

ABOUT OUR KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

	Dr Shawn Sobers is Professor of Cultural Interdisciplinary Practice at the University of the West of England, Bristol, where he teaches BA and MA photography, and is the Doctorate Post-Graduate Lead for the school. He is an anthropologist, filmmaker and photographer, and his work has been published, exhibited and screened nationally and internationally, and has directed and produced documentaries for BBC1, ITV and Channel 4. He has produced many projects on a broad range of topics, including emerging heritage narratives, connections of transatlantic enslavement, youth creativity, Ethiopian historical connections with the UK, Rastafari culture, AI and Black representation, and youth homelessness. His book Black Everyday Lives, Material Culture and Narrative: Tings in de House was published by Routledge in 2023.
	Jo Bradford received her M.A in Photography: Critical Practice from Falmouth University in 2004. Bradford makes long-term photographic works in traditional documentary style and experimental photographic artworks in her colour darkroom. She is interested in exploring alternative and historical processes, loves working with textiles and often adds weaving and stitching to her photographs. Since her first exhibition in 2000, Jo’s work has been regularly exhibited and collected internationally. She is the Course Leader for the BA (Hons.) Marine and Natural History Photography at Falmouth University, and she has published 4 books about photography. Bradford is represented by Galerie Miranda (Paris), Eyestorm Gallery (International) and Gina Cross Projects (London).