Simon Miles

Simon Miles

Senior Lecturer

Journalism, Creative & Professional Writing

Department of Media, Fashion & Communications , School of Arts and Creative Industries

Simon Miles is a senior lecturer in the School of Arts and Creative Industries, teaching at undergraduate level in the programmes of Journalism, and Creative & Professional Writing. His research interests include new approaches to journalism, and digital storytelling.

Areas Of Interest

  • Journalism
  • Creative & Professional Writing
Simon Miles
S.P.Miles@uel.ac.uk 020 8223 7693 EB.2.51, Docklands
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OVERVIEW

UEL

Simon's original role at UEL is to develop and run some of the key production-based modules that operate within the School of Arts and Digital industries, but outside of the Film & Video Programme. He is now a key member of the team developing the Journalism Programme.

 

Professional

Simon worked for several years as an NCTJ-trained journalist before helping run the country's first NUJ-backed Pathways to Journalism course at Wandsworth Prison.

 

Creative

Simon's broad creative experience across different forms ranges from journalism (a night on the Bosnian front line for the Marie Claire; travel pieces for The Independent etc.); through short stories (published by Pulp Faction and Serpents Tail); poetry for performance; theatre (produced at the Blue Elephant and Brockley Jack fringe theatres); documentary (Anglia & Channel 4); and film (two Film Council shorts as writer/director). He also has a special interest in working with emergent artists, and is a trustee of a charity working in this sector.

 

Academic

Originally, Simon graduated from Kent University, before completing postgraduate study in the School of Education at the University of Greenwich. Upon joining UEL he became a Fellow of The Higher Education Authority and has recently completed MRes research into new approaches to participatory video.

CURRENT RESEARCH

Journalism

Together with Dr Andrew Calcutt of UEL's Journalism programme Simon has been working with new forms of journalism, including the news poem, also as a way of envisioning a New College of Journalism that responds to the changes taking place in this sector. They recently presented on the subject of Creative Journalism at the Association for Journalism Education' annual conference

 

KinoUk

Simon's MRes dissertation proposed a new form of participatory video incorporating use of the mobile phone; the observational long take; and online interactivity within a network of user-generated video platforms under the umbrella title of KinoUk.

 

Digital Storytelling

Simon is drawing from his work on KinoUk to research new approaches to Digital Storytelling, also through his involvement in the UnTold UnConference on Digital Storytelling.

 

Projection

 

Through collaboration with Coventry University, Simon has worked with the University of Applied Science in Berlin to explore the pedagogic potential of working with students and portable projections within field research.

 

Papers

  • Co-authorship and interactivity in multi-cam mobile filmmaking: Mobile Creativity and Mobile Innovation Symposium (2013)

  • With Palka, A. (2006) From Trash to Totem: an odyssey of steel. Conference proceedings: Waste and its refusals, 'Waste and its refusals'. Held 2006 in Warsaw, Poland

 

Scholarly Activities

  • Member of: Writers in Prison Network; The National Association of Writers in Education (NAWE); Media Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA).

  • Trustee of the following charities that work with emergent artists: Not Shut Up; Art Saves Lives.

PRACTICE-BASED RESEARCH

Accordion

Creative Journalism

Reporting Grenfell - 2017

 

This work is a development of the research into new forms of journalism being carried out by Simon Miles and Andrew Calcutt. The aim here is to experiment with a format suited to a mobile app. The film was presented as part of a paper entitled Creative Journalism to the 2017 annual conference of the Association for Journalism Education.

 

Two-Way Street: Migration & Terrorism in Tempestuous Times - 2017

This collaboration between Andrew Calcutt and Simon Miles explores creative approaches to journalism, through an assemblage of various news poems edited together with video. The piece was shown at the UEL staff show Tempest, and the Affect and Social Media Conference - 2017.

Accordion

Film

  • Doggerland - 2016
  • Doggerland is a work-in-progress through which Simon Miles and David Chapman of the University of East London, and Adrian Palka of Coventry University are exploring ways of responding creatively to the Essex coastline, and its relationship with Europe beyond. Both the film and the performance are being developed for future exhibition.

    '
  • 'It's a Bad Boy Thing' documentary. Director - Channel 4

  •  'A Clockwork God' documentary. Director - Anglia (screened at the Sheffield International Documentary Festival.)

  • 'Love Bites' short film. Director - Film Council

  • 'Missing Pens' animated film, with Stephen Mangan. Director - Film Council

  •  'To my only Son' short film (director John Dower). Writer - Film Council

  •  'The Message' - directed Georgina Dobson in an excerpt of 'Away With Words' (director Chris Doyle) 

  • 'Oceans' - short film as part of  'The Whole World' online exhibition curated by Ian White of the Whitechapel for Tank TV.

Accordion

Arts Commissions & Exhibitions

  • 'Touch' 2015; 'Dissolution' 2017: Kunst Am Spreeknie, Berlin

  •  'The Doggerland' as part of RIVER: Co-Curated by Richard Wilson RA & Pete Cobb; UWL (2016)

  •  'Sea Walk' as part of Concert to The Sea, Overstand Norfolk (2013)

  • 'Waiting for Elsie' - sound piece at Sheringham Station as part of Norwich Arts Festival. Writer (2002)

  • 'Trains of Thought', Norwich Playhouse, Norfolk and Norwich Festival. Writer/Artist. (2002)

Accordion

Live Arts Curation

  • The Cupboard Club: London "Weird at heart," The Face (1995-1997) - Facebook page

  • 'North': Benbow House, ex-MI5 Building (1997)

  • 'Waterlow Sunset': Lauderdale House, Highgate, London (1997)

  • London Arts Board: 'London Collaborations' grants to curate two combined arts projects in London: '78', HMS President (1998)

  •  'A OM', The Poster Gallery, Charing Cross Road (1996)

Accordion

Theatre

  • 'Sporadicity' by Dean Stalham. Director - The Pleasance Theatre, London.

  • 'The Sniper' Writer - The Blue Elephant Theatre, London.

  • 'Not The Hurting Kind'. Writer. Rehearsed play reading at The Brockley Jack Theatre, London

Accordion

Poetry and performance

  • Various arts clubs including the ICA; The Plunge Club; Hydra; Nux Vomica; Songbird; Klinker Club; Apples & Snakes; The Poetry Shack; Express Excess.

  • Ian Hinchliffe, the Memorial, Beaconsfield Art Gallery, London (July 11)

  • The Feast of Nympha, Blacks Club, Soho

  • The Clear Spot, Resonance FM,

  • Art Saves Lives, Hot Tap Theatre, New Cross

  • Two tracks on 'MISFITS' CD of unorthodox performance (Vital Records):

    • 12: The message (writer)

    • 14: A Bad Wolf's Sad Love Song (writer/performer)

  • 2001 in the Back of  a Hillman Avenger - Edinburgh Festival

PUBLICATIONS

  •  'The Mongoose Factor' - short story in 'The London Short Story Collection 2' anthology. Serpent's Tail

  •  'The Sniper' -  short story in Fission edition of Pulp Fiction - London Arts Board

  •  'Tommy: one-to-one - essay on prison writing in Free With Words. Bar None Books

  • 'Writing in Prison' - essay in Pretext vol. 3 Rancour. Pen&inc

TEACHING

BA (Hons) Journalism

Get a practical grounding in print, radio, photo and online journalism and learn how to produce authoritative, incisive and imaginative work.

Find out more

BA (Hons) Creative and Professional Writing

At UEL we're building a community of writers and artists with something to say about themselves and about the world. Join us on the creative and professional writing course to be part of this innovative work.

Find out more

MODULES

  • CC4502: Photo Audio & Video - Module Leader
  • CC4503: Journalism Casebook - Module Leader
  • CC4102: Media Lab - Module Leader
  • CC6502: Rising East/Editing - Module Leader
  • CC5503: Journalism Portfolio - Module Leader