RKE Festival Day 4 - Culture and Creativity

Discover the creative engine of the University of Lancashire.

Join our exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of cutting-edge production spaces.

You'll get the chance to explore our facilities and find out more about:

• Printmaking
• Ceramics
• Photography
• Podcasts
• TV and film production
• Music production
• Virtual production
• Galleries
• Theatre

Meet the experts, see professional projects in action, and explore how our equipment, talent, and collaborative spaces can boost your creative, media, or digital ventures. There will be opportunities for modelmaking in our fabrication workshops.

Discover the beauty and creativity of world cultures through a range of interactive activities led by the Worldwise Centre and Confucius Institute.

The Day 4 event is Ideal for freelancers, designers, and creative industry professionals eager to unlock new opportunities.

About the RKE Festival

The RKE Festival runs across 5 days: Monday 18th to Friday 22nd May 2026. There are over 65 events taking place and all are free of charge.

Our programme includes:

• Themed events for a particular industrial sector

• General events on research and knowledge exchange

• Exhibitions – drop in at a time that suits you

• Media – podcasts and short online films

The festival is open to the general public, businesses, and university staff and students.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Info: FOR ALL:

Posters, Experiments, Art & Ideas Come Alive
Dive into a whirlwind of creativity at this year’s Research Showcase. Explore everything from eye catching posters and short research films to sculpture, fashion, digital art, and science experiments. This interactive event invites colleagues from across the university to discover research in surprising formats, spark new ideas, and connect with the inspiring researchers behind the work.
Drop in anytime 09:00 - 17:00

Info: FOR ALL:

This photo exhibition highlights the amazing research going on across the University, with colleagues and students showcasing the essence, complexity, impact, and excitement of their research and knowledge exchange activity through compelling images. Attendees will have the opportunity to vote on their favourite images, with the winners being awarded at 17:00 tonight! The categories being awarded are:
• Colleagues
• Post-graduate Research Students
• Research Groups
• People’s Choice Award. Awarded to the image receiving the most votes from colleagues and students

Drop in any time between 09:00 and 17:00 to see the fantastic images and learn a little more about the work we do at the University of Lancashire!

Info: FOR ALL: Our Postgraduate Research Students will be showcasing their research through stimulating presentations and a poster exhibition, highlighting and celebrating the breadth, depth, and impact of their work. As well as being a valuable opportunity to explore the wide range of research activities being undertaken, it is also an excellent space in which to network and gain new insights.

Info: FOR UNIVERSITY STAFF:

This event will review the journey that you would take in order to get from having an idea through to the creation of a spin out company based on the research.
We will discuss the types of research, the protection of the concepts in the form of IP, the validation of the research, the establishment of the market, the production of a business case and the actual spin out process.
This session is directed for any academics who are doing research with potential commercial value and want to see their research come to fruition.

Info: FOR ALL:
Join us to celebrate our colleague, Noemi Procopio, as she achieves the recognition of Professor. Noemi is the principal investigator of our "Forens-OMICS" team. Her main research involves the application of proteomics, metabolomics and DNA methylomics strategies to forensic science, particularly to skeletal remains, for post-mortem interval (PMI) and age-at-death estimation. Noemi will speak about her career to date and showcase the outstanding work which has led to her achieving the recognition of Professor.
Lecture title: "Decoding Life and Death: A Multi-Omics Revolution in Forensic Science"

Info: FOR ALL:

This is an interactive, practice-based session exploring how communities working with designers, academics and technicians based in a Higher Education Institution can work together to shape more inclusive public spaces and civic infrastructure through co-production. Drawing on real community projects, the session demonstrates how co design, model making and fabrication processes can translate social and cultural needs into tangible spatial outcomes.

Attendees will experience:
• A project presentation introducing community-led design methods and showcasing award recognised work from “Other People’s Dreams”
• A guided tour and demonstration of the Wharf Building’s fabrication facilities, highlighting digital to physical workflows such as waterjet cutting
• A hands-on workshop and discussion, where participants will explore how co-design and fabrication-led approaches can be adapted to their own disciplines, communities or research interests

Info: FOR ALL:

Discover the beauty and creativity of world cultures through a range of interactive activities led by the Worldwise Centre and Confucius Institute at the University of Lancashire. Try traditional Chinese brush painting and calligraphy, play Japanese games such as Shogi, explore Korean crafts and games, and even dress in traditional costumes. You can also take part in fun language activities and quizzes in Spanish, French, Russian, Japanese and Korean. This free event is open to everyone—students, staff and members of the public—so come along, get involved and celebrate culture, creativity and languages.

Info: FOR ALL:

Discover where ideas become reality: explore print, ceramics, photography, film, TV, podcast and virtual production studios.

Attendees will be guided through a range of specialist studios and production environments, including printmaking, ceramics, and photography studios in the Victoria Building, as well as podcast suites, cinema, music studios, TV studios, virtual production facilities, gallery spaces, and theatre environments in the Media Factory. Staff will provide insight into how these facilities support professional production, collaboration, and industry-led projects.

This event is aimed at business professionals, freelancers, creative agencies, and industry partners working within the creative, media, and digital sectors. The tour provides an opportunity to discover how university facilities, expertise, and talent can support and boost existing business activities while raising awareness of the resources, opportunities, and equipment available at the University.

Info: FOR ALL:
Join us to celebrate our colleague, Nick Palfreyman, as he achieves the recognition of Professor. Nick is a deaf academic working in the fields of linguistics, sociolinguistics and international development. He is a reader in Sign Languages and Deaf Studies. Nick has worked with the Indonesian deaf community since 2007, and is particularly interested in Labovian and third-wave sociolinguistics, sign language typology, applied linguistics, and corpus-informed sign language teaching. As Co-Director of the iSLanDS Institute at the University of Lancashire, Nick has a strong record of using research to transform the lives of deaf people in the global South. Nick will share about his career to date and showcase the outstanding work which has led to him achieving the recognition of Professor.

Info: FOR ALL:

The event will mark the culmination of the University’s Lancashire Lens Research and Knowledge Exchange Image Competition, which has invited colleagues and students to showcase the essence, complexity, impact and excitement of their research and knowledge exchange activity through compelling images. The evening will celebrate this work through the presentation of awards for the winning images, alongside a short address.

Categories being awarded are:
• Colleagues
• Post-graduate Research Students
• Research Groups
• People’s Choice Award. Awarded to the image receiving the most votes from colleagues and students.

The event will be held at the Student Centre Social Space East (above the Café), where all images submitted to the competition will be displayed as part of the festival programme. It will provide an opportunity to engage with and reflect on the breadth and impact of RKE activity across the University in an informal and celebratory setting.

Info: FOR UNIVERSITY STAFF AND STUDENTS:

Hear from Dr Alexis Holden, Director of the Research and Knowledge Exchange Service. This session will outline the different functions of the service and how you can get support for your research and knowledge exchange activity.

Info: FOR ALL:

Hosted at Newtown Mill, Burnley.

Join businesses and researchers for a morning of networking, insight and discussion exploring innovation, collaboration and growth.

As industries continue to navigate rapid technological change, workforce pressures and increasing demands for innovation, collaboration between businesses, researchers and educators is becoming increasingly important. Creating space for open discussion and shared learning allows organisations to explore new ideas, exchange insights and identify opportunities for future collaboration.

The session will encourage conversation around the challenges businesses are facing today and the role collaboration can play in supporting innovation, workforce development and regional growth.

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Host or Publisher University of Central Lancashire