Eastern Arc Conference 2022 Programme

THECOLLABORAT

PROGRAMME

Welcome

I'm delighted to welcome you to our annual conference 2022.

This year our focus is on our coast. Stretching from the Wash in the north to the Channel in the south, it offers huge opportunities ? but also significant challenges.

Today is a unique chance for researchers, businesses and regional stakeholders to come together to discuss key questions facing the coast, from addressing health inequalities to preparing for climate change, from harnessing renewable energy to supporting our creative community.

As well as listening to the plenaries and parallel sessions, there will be more informal opportunities to meet each other and talk about our work over coffee, lunch and in the wine reception at the end.

My thanks to the speakers and all those who have been involved in the organisation of the conference, as well to all of you for making the time to join us. I look forward, in the days, weeks and months that follow, to hearing about all the ideas and partnerships that were sparked today.

Phil Ward Director of Eastern Arc

Using t his program m e

For this year's conference we are using QRcodes in this programme to give you more information about each of the sessions.

To use them,

- Open up the camera app on your phone Point your phone at the QRcode (but don't take a picture); a web link should automatically appear.

- Click on this to go to the webpage for the session.

On each webpage there is a fuller abstract, together with speaker biographies and links for further information.

In addition there is a simple overview of the conference on the next two pages.

10:00 10:05

Opening rem arks

Phil Ward, Director of Eastern Arc

10:05-10:15

Welcom e

Professor AnthonyForster, ViceChancellor, Universityof Essex

10:15 11:15

A new vision for our coast

Professor JulesPrettyOBE, Professor of Environment and Society and Director of theCentre for PublicPolicyand Engagement, Universityof Essex

11:15 11:45 Coffee

11:45 13:00 A choice of four parallel sessions, as follow s:

1: Art and cult ure as a driver in place-m aking and levelling up (1): St im ulat ing engagem ent

Chair:MurraySmith (Kent)

Discussants:Sarah Dance(England?sCreativeCoast, CreativeEstuary), Emma Wilcox (CreativeEstuary), and Ruth Melville (Independent researcher)

2: Localising hum an right s

Chair:AndrewFagan (Human RightsCentre, Universityof Essex)

Discussants:Koldo Casla and LyleBarker (Human RightsCentre, Universityof Essex)

- Case st udy: How t o approach t o best pract ice in addressing em ergency hom elessness assist ance

LucyDavies(EssexLawClinic, Universityof Essex, and Suffolk LawCentre), Benjamin O?Connell (Student Director at Universityof EssexLawClinic),and MichelleWilkinson (Beacon HouseClinic)

3: Place based approaches t o healt h and w ellbeing

Chair:David Watson (UEA)

Discussant:Pinar Guven Uslu (UEAand theEastern Health ServicesNetwork), Jennie Robinson (UEA) and EsmeWilcox(SociallyAdept)

4: Sust ainable coast al ecosyst em s and opport unit ies for regional developm ent

Chair:Prof ShengQi (UEA) and Dr Christa Brunnschweiler (UEA).

Discussants:KatyOwen (NorfolkCountyCouncil), Saffron Myhill (UEA), Nigel Hargreaves(Synfo), RikkeNagell-Kleven (Hethel Innovation), Gill Malin (UEA), Willie Athill (NorfolkSeaweed), Schalkde Beer (Central Pharma)

13:00 14:00 Lunch

14:00 15:15 A choice of four parallel sessions, as follow s:

5: Art and cult ure as a driver in place m aking and levelling up (2): a pract it ioners?roundt able

Chair:Michael Tymkiw (Essex)

AR ?scapes: Voices from t he Concret e Barges

KateMcLean and Richard Perks(Kent), and Rosa Woolf Ainley(RCA)

Unfilt ered Coast ; Queering t he Est uary

Lavinia Brydon, Declan Wiffen, Rob Barker, and Kit Moon (Kent)

Finding Em erson Open

Julia Devonshire(originalprojects) and Marián Arribas-Tome(UEA)

6: The revival of t he seaside resort ? Host s, guest s, com m unit ies and opport unit ies

Chair:JulianeThieme(Kent)

Discussant:Graham Galpin (Placechangers)

7: Kent and Medw ay list ens: Im proving m ent al healt h and w ellbeing in seldom heard com m unit ies

Chair:TraceyLoughran (Essex)

Discussant:Farah Virani (Kent CountyCouncil)

8: Winds of change: Governing offshore w ind developm ent s in t he East of England

Chair:JennyFairbrass(UEA)

Discussant:TBC

15:15 15:30 Coffee

15:30-16:30 The coast al healt h deficit : Building on t he Whit t y Report

Chair:Chiara Di Cesare(Essex)

Video presentation:Prof ChrisWhitty

Discussants:LucyWightman (EssexCountyCouncil), Ed Garratt (Suffolkand NEEssexICB) and Abraham George(Kent County Council)

16:30-18:00 Wine recept ion and net w orking event

A new vision for t he coast

Much of the narrative around the regeneration of coastal towns is based on a historic view of their prosperity, focusing on the economic high water mark of the late nineteenth century.

In his keynote, Jules Pretty OBEwill suggest that future prosperity will not come from this model, which sees the sea as a barrier and a problem for movement and growth. Rather, we need to face out, seeing the sea as a unifier, bringing together communities with similar locations around the southern North Sea and beyond.

Art and cult ure as a driver in place-m aking and levelling up:

St im ulat ing engagem ent

This session will examine two parallel but separate programmes that supported creative engagement with the coast.

England?s Creative Coast was an ambitious project that aimed to shift the approach to cultural tourism in the South East of England. Creative Estuary is an ambitious programme to develop the creative industries spanning both sides of the Thames Estuary from Southend to Margate.

This session will explore the opportunity and value of such initiatives, and the part they have to play in place-making, identity and levelling-up.

Localising hum an right s

Launched in 2020, Human Rights Local is a project of the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex that aims to make human rights locally relevant. It challenges the notion that international human rights laws and principles are somehow alien to people?s daily lives.

The session will present the ongoing work of the project in and near Colchester, but will also look at a specific case study that focuses on one essential human right: the right to housing and shelter.

Place-based approaches t o healt h and w ellbeing

The delivery of healthcare and support for wellbeing on a local level has long been a challenge. Working with limited resources and within structures that have exacerbated competition rather than collaboration, trusts and charities have not always been able to provide a service that meets the needs of patients and the broader public.

This session brings together colleagues looking at three elements of the current system to explore the barriers and opportunities to change.

Sust ainable coast al ecosyst em s and opport unit ies for regional

developm ent

Climate change is forcing coastal communities to rethink the way they manage coastal environments.

This can bring challenges but also potential opportunities, for example for capturing green (or blue) finance, opening up ecotourism, and protecting inland areas.

This session will start by looking at one such opportunitya circular economy based on seaweed in the East of England, before opening up the discussion in the second half to a wider set of opportunities with a panel discussion involving a wide range of stakeholders.

Art and cult ure as a driver in place-m aking and levelling up: A

pract it ioners' roundt able

Following on from the morning?s session on art as a driver for place-making and levelling-up, we will hear from a range of projects that engaged with local communities to develop a sense of identity, understanding and pride. The projects featured are:

The revival of t he seaside resort ?

Host s, guest s, com m unit ies and opport unit ies

The aspiration to revive seaside resorts comes with many opportunities but also significant challenges.

This session will examine these, from new businesses and entrepreneurs, employment opportunities in tourism and hospitality (but also staff shortages), gentrification, community involvement (e.g. in planning) and community reliance (e.g. services the councils do not/cannot provide such as beach clean-ups), guest responsibilities and how to address them.

Kent and Medw ay List ens: Im proving m ent al healt h in seldom -heard com m unit ies

Kent and Medway Listens was the largest and deepest county-wide engagement exercise ever undertaken focussing on the mental wellbeing of the population.

It was a partnership between various community partners and took the form of interactive, online workshops, which gave stakeholders and residents of Kent and Medway the opportunity to come together to hear what is impacting the population.

Farah Virani was involved in running the project. She will discuss the outcome of the project, lessons learnt from it and what the next steps are.

Winds of change: Governing offshore w ind developm ent s in t he East of England

The rapid, large scale development of offshore wind in the southern North Sea (SNS) presents opportunities in terms of energy security, industrial development, job creation and coastal regeneration for the whole region.

At the same time, offshore wind projects have also attracted controversies and been challenged by local communities, triggering local opposition focussed on disruption, wildlife destruction and landscape impacts. This session aims to explore the challenges and opportunities of offshore wind development across the Eastern Arc from a multidisciplinary perspective.

The coast al healt h deficit : Building on t he Whit t y Report

In 2021 the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, looked at health in coastal communities, and suggested that the available data on health and wellbeing were poor. He recommended that this should be addressed.

Eastern Arc has taken the first steps towards doing this with two workshops in July exploring the challenges of coastal health data, but what else could or should be done?

The session will start with a recorded address from Prof Chris Whitty, followed by a panel discussion with those involved with public health across our region.

About East ern Arc

Eastern Arc is the regional research consortium that brings together the universities of East Anglia, Essex and Kent.

All three universities were established in the 1960s to be a different type of institution, aiming to work across disciplinary boundaries, and to offer alternative ways of thinking.

In addition, they are all situated on the eastern seaboard of England, in regions shaped by agriculture, but also by transport, trade, and migration

As a result they are both outward looking and believe in the value of 'doing different'. Eastern Arc was established to support and develop this, to encourage and support collaboration, and to work together for the benefit of our universities, the people who work within them, and the regions of which we're part.

About t he venue

Wivenhoe House Hotel is the first of its kind in the UK. It is staffed by students who are studying at the Edge Hotel School, giving them practical experience and connecting them with the hospitality industry from the beginning of their studies.

Alongside this practical experience, students are taught by an academic team with decades of hospitality and events experience, in the UK and around the world.

This unique approach has resulted in Edge Hotel School being rated 1st in the UK for student satisfaction in its subject area in the National Student Survey 2020..