Academics in Lancaster’s Psychology Department recently hosted the inaugural interdisciplinary workshop into the nature and study of curiosity, welcoming experts from across the UK to the collaborative event.

The workshop – organised by Dr Marina Bazhydai and Dr Mathilde Prenevost from the Developmental Psychology research group, in collaboration with Professor Candice Satchwell from the University of Lancashire - was funded by the Methods North West.

The idea for the event was was borne out of the Leverhulme Trust funded project The Curiosity Battery, a five-year endeavour being jointly undertaken by Lancaster University and Dr Lily FitzGibbon at the University of Stirling to better understand and measure curiosity and how it impacts our wellbeing.

The event began with an introduction by Drs Bazhydai and Prenevost on the taxonomy of curiosity, followed by a keynote by eminent psychologist Dr Susan Engel on “Missing Pieces: Gaps in Our Understanding of Curiosity”, which delved into the history of curiosity studies, when and how curiosity emerges in children, and the current areas requiring further exploration. After group discussions exploring “What” curiosity is, Dr Matthias Gruber from Cardiff University presented his keynote entitled "Curiosity in the Brain: How Curiosity Affects Exploration and Learning”, which approached curiosity from a cognitive neuroscientific standpoint.

During the course of the day, attendees were also fortunate enough to embark on a guided tour of an art installation, by artist Elizabeth Clough, hosted at LICA. “The circle, a whole a sun, a meeting” is a performance art piece utilising light, sound, and sculpture, to elicit curiosity and wonder in the audience. The subsequent interactive seminar “When” encouraged the attendees to consider the intersection of art and curiosity, whilst the final keynote of the day delivered by Professor Debbie Watson expanded on this concept, exploring the “curious practice” methodological approach when it comes to childhood interactions with art and nature. The day’s final group discussion considered “How” we can conduct research into curiosity and encouraged collaborative discussions on the best ways to approach curiosity in scientific study. The day ended with a lively poster session where participants had the opportunity to present their research and discuss their findings.

The event was hugely successful, drawing a cohort of almost 70 academics and experts from around the world to engage in thoughtful discussion on curiosity. Remarking on the day, Dr Marina Bazhydai said: “The inaugural UK Curiosity Network workshop launches a national research and knowledge exchange hub, uniting experts across disciplines to advance integrative approaches to studying curiosity. The Network aims to address knowledge gaps, disciplinary silos and foster new collaborations across UK institutions and beyond. This intellectually and artistically stimulating event provided valuable opportunities for networking and theoretical and methodological training. We were very fortunate to bring both leading and emerging curiosity scholars to Lancaster!”.

Dr Susan Engel, keynote speaker added: “If this workshop had taken place 19 years ago, when I first began to do research on curiosity, maybe three people would have attended. But the Curiosity Workshop drew a large crowd of scholars. For me, that was a profound thrill. It’s not easy to set up a workshop that makes the most of participants' shared interest, yet also gently nudges everyone towards thinking across disciplines. The organisers did a masterful job of bringing us all together, literally, and intellectually. I loved being part of it.”