Introducing our new Knowledge Exchange Fellows

We are delighted to announce the 2021-22 TORCH Knowledge Exchange Fellows, each of whom will be working with an external partner over the course of the next year in a process of mutually beneficial knowledge exchange.

Since 2013 we have supported over 65 Knowledge Exchange Fellowships through funding from HEIF. Find out more about this year’s Fellows below:

Dr Cesar Palacios-Gonzalez (Philosophy) will be working with Mexico's National Institute of Perinatology and Dr Raymundo Canales de la Fuente on a project exploring Reproductive ethics in the Mexican context. During the Fellowship, Dr Palacios-Gonzalez will develop new relationships with researchers and physicians at the institute.

The collaboration will focus on the ethical and legal issues surrounding assisted reproductive biotechnologies, and will include academic workshops, open forums, public lectures, and outreach to non-specialist audiences to explore these issues.

Professor Patricia Kingori (Population Health) will develop a researcher/artist collaboration with Al Hopwood, focusing on bringing the general public into the academic discussion of fakes in health and medicine. The Fellowship is founded on the belief that non-academic views on fakes are important to helping us understand their impact, and will result in an online museum: The Museum of Revelatory Fakes.

Professor Patrick McGuinness’ (MML) project, Real Oxford: Valuing the Everyday, will bring together Dr McGuinness’ and JC Niala’s work on the Oxford that exists beyond its ‘dreaming spires’ with the rich collections and community knowledge of the Museum of Oxford.

Through a series of community workshops on place-writing and memoir, local people will be invited to write about their personal histories with the city, using the museum’s collections as a starting point. The resulting writings will form exhibits, community labels, and a publication, all themed around ‘Valuing the Everyday’.

Dr Priya Atwal (History) is collaborating with King’s Lynn and Thetford Museums to explore The Religious Identity of Maharajah Duleep Singh. Maharajah Duleep Singh was the last ruler of the Sikh Empire and in 1853, aged 14, became the first South Asian king to convert to Christianity. In later life, Duleep re-embraced his childhood Sikh faith, alongside rebelling against the British government to recapture his lost kingdom.

This project will enable Dr Atwal to work with Museum staff to study two bibles previously owned by the Maharajah, using their findings to create a new permanent display and to inform Dr Atwal’s second book.

TORCH looks forward to sharing the exciting range of outputs from these Fellowships over the coming year.