Heather Barnett talks building a practice of action research

Across society, climate action sits upon a precarious and ideological, increasingly sidelined from the political and corporate agenda. Action Research groups across UAL present an important mandate for the role of creative climate education in wider systems-change.

Informed by theory and practice, Action Research is about learning by doing, testing solutions to the challenges arising in the face of climate emergency. It is an approach to research that tests ideas, proposes practice-based research methodologies that implement an explicit agenda for change and helps to mobilise the knowledge needed for just, low-carbon futures, both in the institution, and as a benchmark for creative disciplines.

Innovative pedagogical models such as Time In Nature, student partnership programmes namely Climate Advocates and emerging Communities of Practice like In My Back Yard (IMBY) situate repair and transformation as a collective creative practice, falling under the umbrella of creative Climate Action Research at the University,

Between the laboratory, the studio and the field, we spoke with some of the producers of this work to learn about the power of creative tools and critical thinking to move people to action and bring distant landscapes, communities and complex subjects into focus. This work requires resources and expertise – an investment in knowledge creation and sharing. Building the legacy of this work into the future of climate action in the institution has never been more necessary.

Between the laboratory, the studio and the field, Heather Barnett is a researcher, educator and artist working with living systems, imaging technologies and participatory practices, building a practice of action research.

Please could you introduce yourself and your role at UAL?

I have both a research and teaching role based mostly at CSM. I am Reader in Relational Ecologies and pathway lead for MA Art and Science and I also co-run the Living Systems Lab Research Group at CSM with Carole Collette and colleagues, and we have a faculty who are working with living systems, biology and ecology from art, design and architecture disciplines.

We have a growing number of PhD students in art and design practice-based research working with living systems in different ways. That might be biomaterial development or engaging with complex ecosystems to coalesce how we might reduce species hierarchies and change attitudes towards the way that we think about, and work with, other organisms on the planet.

How do you see projects such as Time In Nature and IMBY as a critical site of climate repair?

I think UAL is actually a leader in the field of innovative, nature-based learning. These projects are key text for arts education and environmental education.

Time in Nature is a ground-up, UAL-wide initiative that grew out of ADAL, which is the Academic Discourse and Action Learning Group that grew out of the Climate Emergency Action Group, that grew out of the Climate Assemblies. It's advocating for teaching and learning in, with and for nature. Across the Colleges, there's a lot of innovative teaching practices that are taking students out of classrooms, studios and workshops into green spaces.

There's two aspects to time in nature. One is a growing web resource of case studies to give people inspiration and ideas of things that they could adopt and adapt to their own teaching situation. The second part is staff development training, which we’ve co-developed with the Climate Advocates as a professional training opportunity for them. The staff development was UAL-wide, across disciplines, teaching a range of methods, asking what an art and design intervention do for nature. The feedback from these sessions has been really positive – there's a strong wellbeing aspect as well as a pedagogic and training aspect.

People bring specialist discipline knowledge; they are supported to co-develop and rehearse their sessions with us. From that original team, the participants become facilitators and so on. Cascade mentoring allows ideas, methods, confidence, and experience to propagate, build and reach other communities.

It's an action research project in the making really, rather than purely a training opportunity. There's a lot that we could build in terms of pedagogic research and evidence base as well.

The basic premise of IMBY is trying to mediate between humans, plants and technology to create a communication system. We're starting with our own backyard in Central Saint Martins and we're connecting with our neighbours who have roof gardens around the King's Cross area to build a data map to encourage knowledge sharing between pockets of urban biodiversity

The IMBY group grew out of a Community of Practice event, Technologies In Question Community of Practice. IMBY stands for In My Back Yard, which is a kick against NIMBYism, where people don't want certain types of development in their backyard. We're taking two environmental problems, intertwined urgencies, and finding ways that they can be addressed together. One is our use, and discarding of, obsolete technology. The other environmental issue is around urban roof gardens. Directives on new builds specify the need for urban greening to increase biodiversity and reduce heat stress in the city. The quick answer might be to stick a roof garden on top of a concrete building, but plants in pots are prone to disease and drought – there is little thinking about what the plant's needs.

We’re asking how do we interrupt those obsolescence cycles and extend the life of our tech? In terms of the carbon footprint that goes into a device like a phone, 80% goes into production. The longer we can make it usable, the longer we are utilising that initial Carbon investment.

In the natural environment, all the plants in the forest will be connected through a subterranean mycelial network which transmits information and resources – there's this whole support system. Plants in pots are isolated as little islands. They don't have those mycorrhizal relations. The aim is to create a technological mycelium network that extends material life cycles and meets the ecological need for adaptive urban green infrastructure. Can we have biosensors measuring moisture and chemical levels, heat stress – an environmental monitoring system to assess plant needs? It’s part environmental monitoring project and part public engagement sculpture.

How has the UAL community shaped your climate practice?

The community has greatly shaped what I do. So much energy and action came from the 2019 climate assemblies – they were really critical for bringing together students and staff from across all

job groups. That is where lots of ideas were shared, and projects birthed and seeded. I think the roof garden is a great example of things evolving from a bottom-up approach. Time in Nature wouldn't have happened without those initial assembly events, because the Climate Assemblies formed the Climate Emergency Action Group, which formed the Action Learning Group (ADAL), which formed Time In Nature. And the University declaring a climate emergency, joining the Culture Declares Emergency activity that was happening at the time. UAL stating that emergency legitimised and gave credibility and urgency to activity that was already happening in the cracks and across the networks.

What makes climate-engaged learning work for staff or students and both?

Undeniably, climate action should be a keystone foundation to all learning. We are in the business of training artists, designers and architects for the future. We are the only species that is actively destroying our habitat, and it is critical we need to change tack and protect it.

As a systems thinker, it's about understanding that the world is complex and our relationship in it, and to it, is complex. We're increasingly in a culture of convenience; we can order anything; it arrives within days. But we don't think about the materials it's made from, the labour that's gone into making it, how it's been transported, what the carbon footprint of that convenient thing is. I would like all our students to have ecological, climate and material literacy. It's about awareness, sensitivity, criticality, and creativity.

How do we address these problems with imagination? Having an understanding of that complexity is to not resort to crisis mode or build eco-anxiety, but to think about practical things that can make a difference. I'm a great believer that small acts can build momentum. It's not all about the entire solution—we need serious governmental and corporate responsibility—individuals cannot do anything without changes at a much larger scale. It takes time, but the more you can chip away in terms of public perception, things do change.

What's been the most surprising aspect of this work?

It's how needed it is in terms of our own wellbeing and connection, as well as pedagogically. Focus and attention shift when people are immersed in nature. You can feel the wind, you can hear the birds, it's much more embodied and elemental. I did a Time In Nature session with my students, and many of them said that they would never do this on their own or give themselves that time to go and sit, draw and observe.