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Social Sciences Innovation workshop
Dr Fabian Braesemann, (Oxford Internet Institute), led on two interactive workshops with representatives from the Social Sciences Division and different stakeholders from the University innovation ecosystem to explore and identify the broad opportunities and challenges related to innovation in the social sciences. Dr Braesmann explains, “We gathered numerous ideas, opinions, best practice examples, and success stories, which we have summarised as a report to help foster future innovation.” He added, “The fellowship was an enriching experience, which contributes to raising awareness for the value of innovation and commercialisation in the social sciences.”
The Social Datathon 2023: Finding Green Skills
Innovation Fellow, Dr Fabian Stephany, (also of the Oxford Internet Institute) hosted a one-day ‘datathon’ competition to deep dive into the challenge of identifying opportunities and competencies for new ‘green’ occupations to mitigate climate change. This event brought together colleagues, industry partners, and students to share ideas and think creatively by applying data science tools and techniques to unique datasets. Dr Stephany explained, “Part of creating innovation is trying something new without knowing its outcome. The SSD (Social Sciences Division) Fellowship gave us the freedom to do exactly that. Looking back at our social datathon on green skills and sustainable jobs, I am happy to say that the plan worked out perfectly.”
Dr Fabian Stephany with participants at the Finding Green Skills Social Datathon in March 2023.
Innovation in Archaeology
Professor Ine Jacobs, Robyn Mason, and Dr Aikaterina Vavaliou (School of Archaeology) ran a variety of fascinating events during their Fellowship to raise awareness on how innovation can be used in archaeology, with contributions from speakers in the business, policy, and third sectors. The events explored the use of archaeology as a wellbeing activity through social prescribing, innovation in environmental archaeology, and digital innovation in archaeology. Fellow, Professor Ine Jacobs, said, “Many of our activities during this Fellowship were aimed at bringing academics, practitioners, students, and wider public audiences together to discuss state-of-the-art research questions and themes in archaeology. This proved to be even more stimulating than expected and the feedback we received made it clear that we succeeded in offering fresh and exciting perspectives on our profession.”
The team also ran several installations of their ‘curiosity cabinets’ in local businesses to capture the imaginations of the local community. Designed in collaboration with archaeological scientists and artists, a particularly popular installation was ‘Pub Archaeology @ The White Rabbit,’ where visitors to the pub could scan a code to discover how the rabbit became white and how the Anglo-Saxons flavoured their ale!
Robyn Mason, Communications and Outreach Manager at the School of Archaeology, who led the installations shared, “This has proved the value of working with small, local, and independent businesses in Oxford. They are very keen to work with our researchers and are intrigued to discover the often unexpected connections between their high street businesses and our archaeological research questions. We hope to nurture these relationships with further events and ideas sharing.”
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