The University of Westminster hosted the Techne Summer Congress 2025, gathering doctoral researchers from the Techne Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Doctoral Consortium for two days of talks, workshops, panel discussions and a screening of Professor Shirley Thompson’s the Women of the Windrush opera at the Regent Street Cinema.
The Congress was held between 26-27 June and organised by the University’s Graduate School with the theme Challenging Pasts, Critical Futures. The two-day programme of talks, workshops and panel discussions served as a platform to interrogate the past, challenge present injustices and envision a future grounded in ethical and impactful research.
Highlights included clay-making, which encouraged informal dialogue through hands-on artistic expression, Beyond Parsons Green, a historical and contemporary exploration of LGBTQ+ experiences on London Transport, Deconstructing the Metaphors of the Mind, a workshop examining researchers’ self-perception, and Holding on to Hope, a session highlighting resilience and optimism in academic life.
Techne organises two congresses per year, which are designed and run by each member institution in turn. The consortium comprises nine universities in London and the South-East, and awards 57 AHRC studentships each year across a range of Arts and Humanities disciplines.
The evening festivities featured a screening of the Women of the Windrush opera at the Regent Street Cinema followed by a Q&A with Professor Shirley J Thompson OBE, multi-award-winning Composer and Head of the Music Research Group in the School of Arts, and Dr Margherita Sprio, Head of the University's Graduate School.
Professor Thompson’s opera innovatively weaves together work from her original and award-winning British Film Institute film, Memories in Mind: Women of the Windrush Tell Their Stories (1991), with operatic vocal music and spoken word artistry. The multi-media stage work is one from her Heroines of Opera series that features historical female heroines that discover submerged narratives and releases the female operatic characters from the convention of the femme fate.
The opera relays the narrative of a student nurse, a concert pianist, a cricketer’s wife and a new bride who all face the challenge of starting a new life and settling in Britain. Professor Thompson dedicates the film and opera production to her mother and the thousands of West Indians who responded to a plea from the UK government in the 1940s-50s to rebuild Britain after the damages of World War II. The production is a unique celebration of community and identity, representing the ingenuity of the Windrush settlers.
Dr Sylvia Shaw, Assistant Head of the Graduate School, said: “It was a pleasure for Westminster to host the AHRC Techne Congress this year and to experience the excitement and enthusiasm of gathering over 100 doctoral researchers together in one place to share their work. The programme contained a mixture of performances, practical workshops and presentations while also allowing the researchers time to connect with each other and share ideas. Thanks to all involved in organising the conference and of course to our wonderful doctoral researchers for their contributions to the event!”
The Congress directly contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 4: Quality Education, 10: Reduced Inequalities and 17: Partnerships for the Goals. Since 2019, the University of Westminster has used the SDGs holistically to frame strategic decisions to help students and colleagues fulfil their potential and contribute to a more sustainable, equitable and healthier society.
Learn more about the Graduate School at the University of Westminster.
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