Boardgame workshops are back

Quite a few things happened this last months, and one of my favourites was finally doing another in-person workshop. We were just a small group made up of PhD students of a number of disciplines, and after playing some games, chatting about their design and how they tell stories, and some light refreshments, some very cool board games were prototyped during the day. Their subjects ranged from subject specific (finding a visual way to explore the PhD topics) to PhD mechanics (reflecting on methodologies, as well as mapping the individual PhD journeys).

According to feedback “it helped me to understand that your research can go “beyond” the traditional academia and reach wider publics” and overall was described as an “enjoyable day.” I can’t wait to do more!

But… no matter how nice it is to spend a day together in person, it always feels rushed. (Admittedly not as rushed as when I run a very short version in 90 minutes…) Which is why I am delighted that this year in June I am also offering an online version that is spread over a week hosted by Methods@Manchester Summer School. You might remember that I tested this with some folks some time back, and we got some excellent results. While we won’t be meeting and you’ll have to organise your own snacks, we will be meeting online twice a day – to discuss next steps and then to discuss and reflect on progress – and participants will be able to take a bit more time to reflect and work on their prototype while off-line (I’ll be on hand to support virtually, of course). I think this will be the only online version I will do in a while, so take the chance if you don’t think you can come to one of the in-person ones (or if you just appreciate being able to sleep on the next stage). For more details check https://www.methods.manchester.ac.uk/connect/events/summer-school/