Emily Murphy working in the AMP Lab at UBC Okanagan.
Study in the sciences, humanities or performance each has their own way of knowing and seeing. If you take those different ways of looking at things and put them together; you can create outcomes that are more than just the sum of its parts, you see both angles and something new at the same time.
Emily Murphy, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Creative and Critical studies is being supported by Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to create the The ReMedia Infrastructure for Research and Creation is led by Dr. Emily Murphy. In this physical space, Murphy will continue her research that marries the study of cultural history and embodied methods in media. Murphy is interested in research that looks at cultural history through more than just stable media like text. She engages with ways that people have used their bodies in cultural production. Projects in ReMedia study comics, literature, performance, social media platforms, memes, and modernist robots.
“With this funding, I will be working to create a physical space that marries the study of cultural history and embodied methods in media,” she explains.
CFI gives infrastructure funding to create research centres and labs on campus, which can include renovating or building space, the purchase of equipment and software as well as operational funds to get spaces up and running.
Murphy is interested in research that looks at cultural history through more than just stable media like text. She engages with ways that people have used their bodies in cultural production. In studying the history of a dance form, for instance, she works to reproduce the choreography and reconstruct the shape.
“I am engaging with those historical records using more than just my eyes and brain. I am using my body as well.”
The The ReMedia Infrastructure for Research and Creation is housed in the Innovation Annex (IA1) at UBC Okanagan, in a dedicated research space.
“Being able to put together a successful CFI grant depends on the support of lots of different units at the university. Both exciting and a humbling vote of confidence, especially as these infrastructure grants are relatively rare in the humanities.”
Funding will be used to renovate the spaces to be used for the (Re)Media Lab, and purchase software and hardware to be used by Dr. Murphy and her collaborators on a number of projects. Some of the hardware includes micro controllers (small computers) and censors for creating wearables and embodied interfaces.
This infrastructure will allow Dr. Murphy to develop projects and win research grants, which in turn will allow her to support graduate researchers at UBCO.
Find out more about Emily Murphy and her research.
You can find out more about the projects that were supported by CFI at UBC, across both campuses.