Creative Practice

RENEW uses creative practice in a number of ways, not least to encourage interdisciplinary practice and personal reflection.

It is integral to many of our researchers’ exploratory processes, including our poets, social scientists and PhD students. It is used to encourage biodiversity engagement, including developing inspiring resources for schools and communities. Creative practice can help shape research questions and methods, and change the way people think about nature and their role in biodiversity renewal.

A man sits on a rock by a pond, writing in a notebook

Natural England’s Wild West Country Odyssey with John Wedgwood Clarke

Journey with Professor of poetry, John Wedgwood Clarke as he visits some of the South West’s most wonderfully wild and natural places.

A cover graphic of an illustration by Jackie Wong with the words biodiversity storytelling summit revealed from the pages of an open storybook, with the sketched faces of researchers and illustrators from the event.

BookTrust

Since 2023, RENEW has been working in partnership with the brilliant BookTrust, the UK’s largest children’s reading charity. Discover more about the RENEW and BookTrust partnership here.

A photograph of sundew a red and anemone- looking plant that grows in peatland.

The BogTalk Project

BogTalk introduces the misunderstood world of UK peatlands, translated through the work and vision of creative practitioners, poets and school children.

A photograph of a pond taken from below and above the water.

Pond Beats

RENEW has been working with the Riverlands Bollin project at the National Trust’s Quarry Bank site in Cheshire to develop a series of workshops for local schools that combine exploration of the acoustic ecology of ponds with creative writing.

A macro photograph of lichen with crisscross patterns created as lichen populates surfaces.

Literature x Ecology Series & Workshops

Conversations with leading contemporary poets whose work intersects with ecological thinking.

An illustration of a poem featuring a wren spouting a complex song by Lucy Mercer and Jamie Shovlin.

Renewal Poster Poems

Eight leading contemporary poets were asked to produce a set of limited-edition poster poems on the theme of renewal, ecology and interconnectedness.

A information poster of the Red River walk

Red River: Walking and Poetry

RENEW PhD students explore how creative writing can transform our relationship with a polluted, post-industrial river.

A photograph of peatland at dusk with oranges hues and clouds relfected in water.

Fieldwork Photography

RENEW PhD student, Jo Furtado’s photography reveals the landscape and farming communities working across the beautiful Lake District.

Act Natural: More Than a Few Poems

Caleb Parkin is more than a poet, writer, DJ and RENEW Biodiversity Programme Early Career Researcher. In this offering Caleb reflects on the research and experiences gained throughout his work as a doctoral student at the University of Exeter.