Research carried out at the University will feature in the British Academy’s annual Summer Showcase in June.
Now in its second year, the Summer Showcase aims to brings the best in new humanities and social sciences research to a public audience.
In one of Kent’s two featured projects, Dr Alastair Key of the University’s School of Anthropology and Conservation will seek to answer the questions: what prompted humans to start developing the first stone tools and how these did these evolve over time?
His interactive exhibit, presented in collaboration with Ian Farr of the University’s School of Sport and Exercise Sciences will allow visitors to handle Palaeolithic artefacts and test their muscle activity using different prehistoric stone tools. These exhibits will demonstrate how and why early human technology evolved over time.
The second Kent project involves Dr Stella Bolaki, of the School of English. Her exhibit will examine whether artists’ books can transform the way we think about health and medicine. Specifically, it charts the rise, since the 1980s, of artists who use their craft to share stories about illness and wellbeing through the book format.
Visitors to Dr Bolaki’s exhibit will be able to handle artists’ books, learn about the lives of the makers and craft their own book to take home.
In addition to the interactive exhibits designed by academics, the Summer Showcase, which runs from 21-22 June, will also feature pop-up talks and performances.