A Kent professor used his success in film making to explain Humanities research in an animation that builds into a cartoon picture.
Professor Ray Laurence’s new film, What is Humanities Research? is voiced by the University Chancellor, Gavin Esler, and describes the complexities of Humanities research in three and a half minutes. In only two months on YouTube, it has been viewed more than 1,600 times.
Professor Laurence (Classical and Archaeological Studies) set up the University of Kent’s centre in Rome. His last film A Glimpse of Teenage Life in Ancient Rome was released on YouTube in 2012 and has so far had 1.3 million hits.
Both films were made by Folkestone-based film company Cognitive.
Professor Laurence is now working on his next one-minute film about the history of migration to the UK. It will focus on the Roman period and during World War 1 and is due to be released in February next year. On 7 October, he received the Humanities faculty teaching prize in the University of Kent Teaching Prize Awards 2015.