A case study submitted to the Research Excellence Framework 2014 demonstrating the impact of the University's research.
Professor Elizabeth Cowie’s research centres on how documentary films portray reality – not only in narrow factual terms, but also as art and politically engaged film practice.
Documentary film is often referred to as ‘non-fiction’ and yet it shapes our understanding of its recorded reality through specific selections and techniques of editing, camerawork and voiceover. It is a storytelling that engages viewers emotionally, producing a curiosity about the world. However, anxieties about how ‘true’ it can be result in a desire for the real that is always failed by the representation.
Insights gained from Professor Cowie’s research on documentary, aesthetics and spectatorship have been taken up by filmmakers and artists whose own work also seeks to explore complex ideas about art and society, trauma and memory. Her creative dialogues have enriched the work of artist filmmakers Clio Barnard, Milica Tomi, Adam Chodzko and Juan delGado.
Professor Elizabeth Cowie is a member of the School of Arts.
The Research Excellence Framework 2014 showed that Kent ranks 17th in the UK for research intensity, has world-leading research in all subjects and that 97% of our research is deemed to be of international quality.
Contributing to the University’s REF success were the number of our world class publications, the number of research active staff and the demonstrable impact our research has made to the sciences and to economic, social and cultural understanding.