The start of 2011 marks the beginning of Sensory Stories really coming to fruition: first with the training day and then our Sensory Opportunities will go live. So much has already been achieved, though, from hearing of our successful AHRC bid in September to team training and global interest in the project. Carolyn reviews our successful first term.
For most of the Sensory Stories team, there is a feeling that the project has somewhat dominated our lives over the past months. Right from receiving the AHRC award we have hit the ground running, with just a few months to organise the training day, establish our opportunities contacts, undergo training in project management and new technology, and develop our external communications, including this blog. Not to mention getting to know each other and learning to work together! We have had weekly meetings, set up committees for different areas of work, established responsibilities for looking after external contacts, produced publicity material and finally, at the end of term, held a well-deserved social event – a meal to celebrate our achievements so far.
Celebration time: the Sensory Stories team's Christmas meal
Here are just five of our reasons to celebrate:
- Launch of blog and website, the blog receiving over 4,000 hits in its first few months
- The project goes university-wide and then national, being tweeted on the AHRC newsfeed, posted on AlphaGalileo and featured in the local press
- Initial events held including gruel tasting, The Proposition and participation at the University of York’s Storytelling: Imagination and the Past conference
- Contacts made across a range of academic conferences nationally and local community groups, plus the formation of our mentoring group
- Training Day organised
Looking to future developments and encouraging creative thinking is a key feature of Sensory Stories and new ideas are already in the pipeline for 2011, including the concept of a ‘Humanities Café’ discussion forum in the city, as well as continuing to develop personal skills and nurture contacts. It has been an exhausting and rewarding first term, but also exciting, both in the way that we have all worked together and for what the future promises. Here’s to more of the same throughout 2011!
