IPM Research Seminar - Methods

Come along to our upcoming seminar, where we’ll be hearing from speakers who are using creative and insightful methods to understand place in all its complexity. Join us afterwards to continue the conversation

Thursday 26th March 2026 
15:30 - 17:00 | G.35, Manchester Met Business School (Research Seminar)
17:15 onwards | The Alchemist, New York Street, Manchester M1 4HD (Social)


The theme for this research seminar is innovative methods for researching places.

Speakers Confirmed

15.30-16.00: Dr Amy Barron, University of Manchester |  LinkedIn
Photo go-alongs for researching the relations between people and place
This paper demonstrates the value of photo go-alongs as a qualitative method for researching the complex relationships between people and place. By integrating two traditional research methods, photo elicitation and go-alongs, the paper considers the utility of photo go-alongs in providing rich insights into how participants make sense of themselves and the world in the present moment. Photo go-alongs were used as part of a research study in Prestwich, Greater Manchester, UK, which worked with older people to better understand places of significance across the life-course. The presentation reveals the value of this method for accessing the relations between people and place.

16.00-16.30: Dr Martha Lineham, Manchester Metropolitan University
Clay impressions in mixed methods fieldwork and place experience inquiry
This presentation introduces artist‑ethnography as a multisensory and materially engaged approach to place experience. It focuses on air‑dry clay impressing as a tactile, textural method within mixed methods fieldwork, used to unsettle assumptions about place through direct contact with surfaces and materials in situ. Drawing on recent practice, clay impressing is proposed as a creative and critical technique adaptable across artistic, ethnographic, academic and placemaking contexts.

16.30-17.00: Emma James, Places Made Limited and The Great Northern | LinkedIn

If women could build this city: Using creative consultation methods

If Women Could Build This City… is the theme of this presentation. As part of ongoing consultation for a mixed-use development in Manchester city centre, it explores how The Great Northern Warehouse tested a new method of consultation to better understand what matters to female users of city centre space. Working with a local CIC and linking into the energy of International Women’s Day, we used workshops, collaging and embroidery as creative ways to engage with different women and open up conversations with developers about what needs to be considered.