Prosser Award Program

For as long as I can remember I have been absorbed with all things visual. As a post graduate student in the 1970s I used photo/object and graphic-elicitation, visual diaries, and cultural inventories; provided participants with cameras; and coupled other evidence with the analysis of ‘found’ visual data through a socio-semiotic approach. At the time, these methods and strategies were mostly unknown in the UK. Initially, I felt isolated, but I struggled to provide a grounded rationale for combining an extensive combination of visual methods within a research process.

As a Research Fellow at Oxford in the late 1980s I conducted research projects on child abuse investigation and child protection. These studies led me to conclude that visual evidence was too often poorly collected, neglected, misinterpreted or over interpreted—with dire consequences for the lives of children. From this point on, the underlying aim of my academic endeavour was to address problems stemming from what I perceived as an overt privileging of verbal and written words and the exclusion of potentially useful visual data. I had four broad aims: to make an impact on the direction of visual research in general and visual methodology in particular; to enhance the rigour, robustness and range of visual methods; to promote wider appreciation and greater acceptance of visual methods within qualitative research; and to improve the quality of training in visual research methods. It is my hope that those applying for the Prosser Award will contribute to advancing visual methodology in some of these terms.

The IVSA, formed in the mid-1970s, is a particularly open and welcoming academic forum, and I found a ‘home’ there. The increasing range of academic disciplines represented within the IVSA family means that it is a wonderful meeting place for exchanging and examining visual methodologies in a critical but supportive atmosphere. Thanks to the IVSA, I’ve met and learnt from creative, insightful, and colourful colleagues from around the world. I’ve enjoyed intellectually challenging adventures applying visual methodology in difficult contexts. As one example, IVSA connections and colleagues have enriched my struggles to apply visual and sensory methodology to understanding the lives of the disabled community–the most vulnerable, under-represented, and least researched members of society.

The Prosser Award is for enthusiastic young scholars adopting a visual methodology. I am excited by the possibility of the Award being used by visual scholars who are passionate about a topic or field of enquiry. I urge all those interested to apply.