London Arts-Based Research Centre, 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London (2026)

16/04/2026

Our 4th annual “Women Who Create: The Feminine & The Arts” conference brought together a remarkable community of scholars, artists, poets, practitioners, and seekers from around the world for 3 unforgettable days of dialogue, creativity, and connection at Cambridge University and online!

We were honoured to welcome 97 participants from over 20 countries, creating a truly global space of exchange, inspiration, and solidarity. From powerful keynote talks by the extraordinary Sandra Faulkner and Patricia Leavy, to deeply moving presentations, creative explorations, and meaningful conversations, this conference was a celebration of women’s voices, imagination, and transformative knowledge-making across disciplines! 💫

Across the three days, participants shared work spanning poetry, visual art, performance, feminist scholarship, mythology, ecology, trauma studies, literature, autoethnography, and arts-based research. We explored themes of identity, healing, memory, embodiment, creative practice, and cultural change—through papers, performances, workshops, and heartfelt discussions that reminded us of the power of creative inquiry to shape both knowledge and community.

We are profoundly grateful to our inspiring keynote speakers, presenters, moderators, and participants who shared their work, their stories, and their generosity of spirit. The richness of perspectives and the warmth of our global community made this gathering truly special.
To everyone who joined us—whether in person or online—thank you for helping create a space where creativity, scholarship, and connection could flourish. 🌸❤️

We are thrilled to see the friendships that have formed through this annual event over the years, and we continue to carry forward the insights, collaborations, and friendships formed this year…our hearts are full!🥰

15/04/2026

We were deeply moved and inspired at our recent event with Jungian psychologist Dr. Laner Cassar. Dr. Cassar introduced us to the transformative practice of Dreamweaving, a group-based practice rooted in active imagination. Drawing on his work in Imaginative Movement Therapy in this powerful shared experience, participants entered guided “waking dreams,” discovering how imagination can become a bridge between inner worlds and collective meaning. Through symbolic storytelling, creative reflection, and mythic imagery, the group experienced moments of connection, insight, and genuine emotional resonance. There was a palpable sense of wonder in the room — a reminder that imagination is not solitary, but communal and healing. We left feeling renewed, connected, and reminded of the profound power of creativity to bring psyche and community together.

Recording is now available on our Psychreative YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/LUrF9dLUrq4?si=raCKi3UdN-v1Qhyt

10/03/2026

📚FREE Book Launch Event: “Strangeness & Oddities: Embracing the Extraordinary in Arts-Based Research”

📅 March 11, 2026
🕣 8:30 PM (UK Time)
📍 Online

Registration: https://labrc.co.uk/book-launch-eventstrangeness-oddities/

Join us for the online launch of the newest issue of our creative research series, Indelible Inquiry, titled Strangeness & Oddities: Embracing the Extraordinary in Arts-Based Research (edited by Arden Waterman, Greta Jonas, and ).

This evocative volume explores how strangeness, anomaly, and the uncanny can become powerful pathways of inquiry within arts-based research. Moving across psychology, surrealism, philosophy, spirituality, and creative practice, the contributors investigate the unusual as a source of knowledge — revealing how imagination, symbolism, and the extraordinary open new ways of understanding the self and the world.

Rather than dismissing the strange as marginal or irrational, this collection embraces it as a vital epistemic force, inviting readers to consider dreams, monsters, synchronicities, surreal imagery, and artistic experimentation as legitimate modes of research and discovery. The book explores how oddity itself may be central to the process of individuation and creative becoming.

🤩❤️And how gorgeous is the cover art, by the brilliant ??

Through essays and visual work that bridge disciplines, the book invites us to rethink the boundaries between art, psyche, science, and imagination, offering a compelling vision of scholarship that welcomes ambiguity, wonder, and transformation.

Contributors:

This issue brings together an international group of artists and researchers whose work engages the unusual from diverse perspectives:

- Cassie Fielding – The Surreal Self: Oddity as the Art of Selfing

- Leandré le Roux – Psychology of the Unusual: Unnameable Monsters of Bioculture Beyond the Visible

- Rosalyn Carlos-Bustamante – Exploring the Psyche and the Paranormal Using Sequential Art Structure

- Sunitha Singh Thakur Kshatriya – Science and Spirituality: A Unified Inquiry into the Physical and Metaphysical Self

- Cairi Jacks – Uses of Enchantment: The Transformational Potential of Wonder

- John Eric Hamel – GIANT

The programme includes the following:

- Introduction to the book by the editors
- Readings and reflections from contributors
- Discussion on strangeness as a mode of inquiry
- Audience Q&A and open conversation

Join us for an evening exploring how the strange, the uncanny, and the imaginative can reshape our understanding of research, creativity, and human experience.

24/02/2026

🪄The Art of Storytelling: Archetypes in Focus: A Transdisciplinary Conference 🏰
May 30-31, 2026

Where:
Oxford University (and Online)

Proposal deadline: April 6, 2026
conference webpage: https://labrc.co.uk/storytelling-2026/

Call for Papers:

“The power of stories lies in their ability to access the deep layers of the psyche, providing a mirror to our inner world.” – Marie-Louise Von Franz

This conference aims to convene , performance storytellers, digital storytellers, , , practitioners, , , , , & other creatives to explore the diverse types, functions, and significance of storytelling. We seek to delve into why storytelling remains vital, how it continues to resonate in contemporary society, and the profound impact narratives have on shaping our perceptions and identities. With a comparative lens, we will examine various narrative forms, tracing their roots in mythology to the latest innovations in storytelling.

We invite 15-minute presentations on topics including (but not limited to):

- Common in stories
- Sandplay and its narrative implications in
- Storytelling as a therapeutic tool
- & visual storytelling
-Intersection of & technology
- Digital storytelling: Innovations & challenges
- Exploring cross-genre through the prose poem
- storytelling: The dialogue between image & text
- Performance storytelling
- Role of research in storytelling
- , , and their enduring relevance
- Contemporary renditions of
- Evolution of themes in children’s films
- Children’s pop storytelling culture
- Storytelling in
- Storytelling in
- Analysing shifts in archetypal reflections in children’s stories
- underpinning storytelling processes
- &
- to sequential art
- For creatives: Sharing and discussing your own creative storytelling work

11/02/2026

🌷🔥Proposal deadline approaching soon!
Women Who Create: the Feminine & the Arts
A Conference

March 28-30, 2026
University of Cambridge

Keynotes:
Dr. Patricia Leavy
Dr. Sandra L. Faulkner

Abstracts due Feb 22, 2026

Creatives, whether they are , , , , , or (to name a few) have constantly changed the world.

How has women’s creativity changed, shaped, & formed the world through impacting different cultures, environments & disciplines? Why do write, paint, dance, & perform? They may do so to connect, to inform, to move, and to inspire others. But what has become manifest is that women who create, for whatever purpose, from anywhere in the world, all do so with courage and strength.

This aims to bring together , , postgraduate students, & professionals to explore and discuss the relationship between the & the arts, whether it appears in history, science, pop culture, or any other discipline.

We welcome 15-min presentations (academic and/or creative) on topics including, but not limited to:

- The feminine in
- & magical realism
- Portrayal of the female experience in pop culture
- The feminine in
- The feminine in nature
- & underrepresentation of women
- The female body
- Female sexuality
- LGBTQ studies in the arts
- The feminine in production
- The maternal
- of the feminine
- , muses, & classicist influences of women in art
- Gender motifs in , ,
- The concept of displacement &
- Women in translation
- The concept of liberty
-
- History through the creative depictions of women
-
- Daughters, sisters, spouses
- Women & science fiction
- The art of writing letters
- Biography/autobiography
- Poetry & gender
- The feminine in
- Ghostwriting
- Journalism
- Cliches of sentimentality
- Struggle of female writers in a male-dominated world
- Influential female writers

For inquiries, please email [email protected]

28/12/2025

The Function of Humour: A Transdisciplinary conference (Jan 28-29, 2026) - Send us your proposals by January 5! Full info: https://labrc.co.uk/humour-2026/

24/12/2025

Merry Christmas from all of us at the LABRC!🎄❤️

Thank you for being part of our creative and scholarly community — one that celebrates curiosity, meaningful dialogue, and the transformative power of the arts. We are deeply grateful for a year filled with imaginative engagement, luminous conversations, and creative inquiry.

May this season invite you into reflection, imagination, and the quiet spaces where new ideas begin to take root!❤️

15/12/2025

We’ve got the perfect gifts…Check out unique January events, courses, and conferences to help you start the new year with purpose and creativity!

⭐️”Beyond Meaning: The Unconscious Life of a Poem”, A 6-week poetry course with Anthony Anaxagorou:

https://labrcmethods.co.uk/beyond-meaning/

Tuesdays from January 6-February 10, 2026
18:30-20:30 (London Time)
Where: Online, via Zoom

⭐️”The Mythic Imagination”, A 6-week Creative Writing Course with Adam Wyeth:

https://labrcmethods.co.uk/the-mythic-imagination/

When: 6 Mondays from January 19-February 23, 2026
18:30-20:30 (London Time)
Where: Online, via Zoom

⭐️”Merging Artistic and Academic Callings: Chat with Patricia Leavy about The Artist Academic”:

https://labrc.co.uk/the-artist-academic-indelible-evenings/

When: January 12, 2026
7:00pm (London Time)
Where: Online via Zoom

⭐️”Astrology in Focus: Navigating Art, Psyche, and Knowledge”, a transdisciplinary conference:

https://labrc.co.uk/astrology-2026/

Proposal Deadline: Apply before December 19, 2025

When: January 18-20, 2026
Where: Online (Zoom)

⭐️”The Function of Humour”, a Transdisciplinary Conference

https://labrc.co.uk/humour-2026/

Proposal Deadline: December 27, 2025

When: January 28-29, 2026
Where: Online (Zoom)