Colleagues from across De Montfort University came together for the inaugural Creative Knowing Symposium, an event exploring how creative practice can help us generate new ideas, tackle complex problems and work across disciplines.

Co-organised by Professor Simon Perril, Professor Tracy Harwood, Dr Mary O'Neill, Professor Justin Smith and Professor John Young, the symposium welcomed staff from arts, humanities, business, creative technologies and education for a day of presentations and discussion. 

It showcased the breadth of creative research taking place across the university, with sessions covering subjects including performance, poetry, dance, music, journalism, digital storytelling, interactive art, artificial intelligence and practice-based research.

The event highlighted the value of curiosity, experimentation, collaboration and epistemology. Speakers explored how creative practice helps researchers ask new questions, work across disciplines and discover knowledge in different ways.

Organisers hope the event will help to build new connections, including internationally and within DMU to support interdisciplinary research with the potential to influence future research and professional practice as well as education.   

Professor Tracy Harwood said: "One of the strongest messages from the symposium was the value of curiosity, experimentation and collaboration. Across every session, colleagues showed that creative practice is not just about producing outcomes – it's about asking new questions, making unexpected connections and creating the conditions for new knowledge to emerge." 

Posted on Wednesday 8 July 2026