Biography
Helen Johnson is a Principal Lecturer in Psychology, Co-Director of the Centre for Arts and Wellbeing at the University of Brighton and Principal Investigator for the AHRC Everyday Creativity Research Network. She is a significant contributor to critical social science, creative research methods and spoken word scholarship. Her work focuses on participatory and arts-based research innovations, applications of the arts in enhancing health and wellbeing, and exploring spoken word communities and practices.
With over 20 years’ experience as a spoken word artist, Helen has a unique perspective in her field. Her work extends beyond research, with active contributions to academic citizenship, community-university partnerships, public engagement, and consultancy. Her 'collaborative poetics' method and network offer a transformative approach to underpin this wide-ranging practice, using spoken word and creative writing to enhance individual and community wellbeing, build critical resilience, and reshape academic research to better serve communities, especially marginalised ones.
Her partnerships with scholars and artists span globally, including significant collaboration in Canada and the U.S.. Current research projects include enriching understandings and applications of everyday creativity, decolonisation in the context of everyday creativity and creative research methods, and community-university partnership work exploring collaborative processes and resource development.
Plenary Presentation (2023) | Democratising Research at the Intersection of Creative Methods and Everyday Creativity
