twitter YouTube LinkedIn

Collaborate project spotlight: moving minds

Collaborate project spotlight

Find out more about the research project between Press Play Films and Sophie Forster, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of Sussex.

Moving Minds

Research partnership:
Press Play Films with Sophie Forster, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of Sussex

Research focus:
Exploring how cultural sector practitioners can design effective, engaging extra-curricular activities for autistic and neurotypical children.

This partnership was awarded a research grant in June 2023 as part of the second round of the Centre for Cultural Value’s Collaborate programme.

The fund supported innovative new partnerships between cultural sector practitioners and academics to explore under-explored questions around cultural value.

Child in blue tshirt is sat a laptop making a stop motion animation film. On the table they have models and filming equipment.
Participant at animation club. Press Play Films.

What is the project exploring?

What is the best way to engage autistic children? Having witnessed positive outcomes for autistic children participating in its stop-motion animation workshops, Press Play Films is investigating why this is and how cultural sector practitioners can design effective, engaging extra-curricular activities for autistic and neurotypical children.

Working in partnership with neuroscientist Sophie Forster, this project is taking a mixed-method approach using electroencephalography (EEG) readings of participant’s brain waves as they produce animations and analysis of the content of the animations themselves. The participant-led animation films produced may also incorporate the powerful images of EEG waves in novel, artistic ways.

The scientific data sets collated through this research will potentially serve as pilot data for the future extension of the project.

We will update you with more findings from the project over the next year.

More about collaborative research

A group of people grouped under yellow and pink ribbons
LEEDS 2023 Neighbourhood Hosts. Photo: JMA Photography

Collaborate: the projects

This photo depicts an outdoor theatre event programmed by Cauldrons and Furnaces. A crowd watches a group of people perform a fire show near castle walls.
Mabinogi at Harlech Castle. Photo: Ben Davies

Why do collaborative research?

Performance of 12 last songs. Colourful confetti in the foreground obscures the image.
Quarantine's 12 Last Songs, at HOME Manchester. Photo: Chris Payne

How to do collaborative research

A woman smiles while looking at tags that have been hung on an artificial white tree that has been made for a Fun Palaces event.
Fun Palaces 2019. Photo: Roswitha Chesher

Supporting collaborative research

Keep in touch,

Sign up to our newsletter