The conferences I participated in as part of this research offered valuable insights and invited me to reassess my approaches and assumptions. I have presented various aspects of my study at fourteen conferences, engaging in scholarly dialogues that have enriched my work and, in a way, made the project multi-voiced because I listened, evaluated, and put it into practice. I also attended meetings with the Co-production and Involvement Network for Wales, the Melbourne Mad Studies Network Reading Group, the Survivor Research Network, the National Centre for Research Methods, and BFI's Filmmaking for Artists workshops. Networking and feedback exchange became one of my key methods.
'Research becomes research when its written report is made public.'
Stenhouse, 1975, in A Student's Guide to Methodology, Peter Clough and Cathy Nutbrown, (London: Sage, 2012), p. 10.
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By participating in these discussions, I have had the opportunity to keep updated with the developments in Film Studies and Mad Studies and have acquired an insight that is more closely aligned with the experiences of survivors. I also listened to the perspectives of those who do not think like survivors. The progression of my ideas is reflected in the conference papers' titles listed below. Thank you for the interactions, feedback, and thought-provoking questions throughout this journey.
'From twitch to wink: The digital hub of filming madness,' Global Aesthetics, 13th Annual BAFTSS Conference, University of Warwick, UK, 26-28 March 2025.
'Playing with power: A feminist exploration of "expert by experience" narratives in mental health reform,' Hope, Humility and Playfulness in a Precarious World, 8th European Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, University of Edinburgh, UK, 7-10 January 2025.
'Film as activism: Unpacking the complexities of "expert by experience" narratives,' The European Association for Gender Research, Education, and Documentation (ATGENDER) Conference on 'Gender Studies and the Precarious Labour of Making a Difference,' Utrecht, Netherlands, 27-29 September, 2024. (My abstract was accepted, but I could not attend due to the unavailability of visa appointments.)
'Trust and transparency in research/film: Exploring the interplay between funders’ expectations and researchers’ commitments,' Wild Research Symposium, The Revelator Wall of Death in conjunction with Journal of Media Practice & Education, University of Glasgow, School of Culture and Creative Arts and Glasgow School of Art, Scotland, UK, 13-14 September 2024.
'Institutional regimes and collaborative filmmaking: Negotiating power and representation,' Emergencies: Media in an Unpredictable World, The NECS Conference, European Network for Cinema and Media Studies, İzmir University of Economics, Türkiye, 27-29 June 2024.
'Beyond the final cut: Assessing the impact of experimental versus industrial films on mental health narratives,' The Current Underground: Art and Activism in Alternative Spaces, Association for Art History, University of Nottingham, UK, 12-13 June 2024.
'Resisting damaging representations: Mental health, social advocacy, and the moving image,' Participatory Action Research, 20th International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois, [Online], USA, 29-31 May 2024.
'"Line of fault": Mental health institutions as filmmakers,' FTV Annual Departmental Research Day, University of Warwick, UK, 15 May 2024.
‘Documenting madness: Institutions, individuals, and ethical considerations,' Labour and Screen Media, 12th Annual BAFTSS Conference, University of Sussex, UK, 3-5 April 2024 (My research poster was shortlisted for display both online and in-person at this year's conference, and received an Honourable Mention.)
‘The clash of embodied knowledge with the spaces of politics: Is crying acceptable in academia?’ Feminist pedagogy of/beyond borders: Affects, emotions, moods in pedagogies and demarcation, ATGENDER Conference, Kadir Has University, İstanbul, Türkiye, 4-6 September 2023.
‘Research as film: Searching self in the ethno and re-thinking ethno in the self,’ Humanities Research Centre (HRC) Colloquium, Biographical Turns across the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, University of Warwick, UK, 17 May 2023.
‘“Can we be friends?”: The researcher and the researched, agency, authorship and ownership in co-production,’ FTV Annual Departmental Research Day, University of Warwick, UK, 10 May 2023.
‘“You can see the cracks underneath the wallpaper”: The ethical use of film within institutions and the possibility of (mis)representing people diagnosed with “mental illness,”’ Sustainable Futures: Ethics, Responsibility and Care in Film, Television, Screen Studies and Practice, 11th Annual BAFTSS Conference, University of Lincoln, UK, 3-5 April 2023.
‘Filming madness: Challenging mental health myths through first-person narratives and creating social advocacy,’ Critical Perspectives on the Lived Experience of Distress and Mental Health Services, 14th Annual Critical Perspectives in Mental Health Conference, University College Cork, Republic of Ireland, 17 November 2022.
‘Using film to effect change: Mental health, social advocacy and the moving image,’ FTV Annual Departmental Research Day, University of Warwick, UK, 18 May 2022.