Organised by DECOLAB (Decolonial Collaboratorium), Bartlett School of Architecture, in collaboration with Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy (STEaPP), UCL.
Supported by the UCL Grassroots Research Culture Seed Fund 2026
Event Details
Date: Thursday, 02 July 2026
Time: 10:00 am – 3:30 pm
Venue: First Floor Seminar Room (SR7), Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, UCL
About the Event
At a time when research practices are increasingly shaped by standardisation, metrics, procedural frameworks, and extractive modes of knowledge production, this forum seeks to create space for alternative, situated, and plural approaches to research.
The Pluriversal Methods Forum is a hands-on, participatory workshop series exploring inclusive, ethical, creative, and decolonial approaches to research practice. Organised by DECOLAB at the Bartlett School of Architecture in collaboration with STEaPP, UCL, the forum brings together interdisciplinary researchers, practitioners, and students to collectively engage with methods that challenge one-size-fits-all approaches to knowledge production.
The event is grounded in the idea that methods are not neutral tools, but are deeply entangled with questions of power, positionality, ethics, representation, and lived experience. Through interactive workshops and discussions, participants will engage with approaches that foreground collaboration, reflexivity, storytelling, participation, care, justice, and situated ways of knowing within research practice.
The forum is designed as a space for dialogue, experimentation, and learning-by-doing. Participants will take part in four interactive methods sessions led by contributors from across disciplines, with opportunities for discussion, reflection, and exchange throughout the day.
The event also forms part of the wider Pluriversal Methods initiative, which includes the development of a forthcoming booklet series documenting diverse, situated, and practice-based methodological approaches from researchers and practitioners across multiple fields.
The forum is convened by Dr Lakshmi Priya Rajendran (Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL / DECOLAB) in collaboration with Dr Bipashyee Ghosh (STEaPP, UCL).
Event Format
The workshop will include:
This is an in-person participatory workshop and attendees are encouraged to actively engage in the sessions.
Schedule
10:00 AM – 10:15 AM Welcome and Introduction by Lakshmi Priya Rajendran and Bipashyee Ghosh
10:15 AM – 11:15 AM Methods Session 1– The Ethnographic Sketchbook: Drawing as a method for Creative and Critical Practice by Raina Ghosh, Urban Studies Foundation(USF), International Fellow, Department of Human Geography, Planning and International Development, University of Amsterdam
11:15 AM – 12:15 PM Methods Session 2- Knowledge co-creation in a multiversity: How diverse epistemes and imagination can shape plural futures by Elisa Randazzo, Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy (STEaPP) UCL
12:15 PM – 13:15 PM Lunch Break and Informal Networking
13:15 PM – 14:15 PM Methods Session 3- Mapathon as a counternarrative – Radical pedagogy of a City Studio in Johannesburg by Richard Muller and Pushpa Arabindoo, Department of Geography, UCL
14:15 PM – 15:15 PM Methods Session 4- Creative Co-Design as Policy Practice: Exploring Narrative Plurality Across London Boroughs by Nidhi Chaudhary, Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy (STEaPP) UCL
15:15 PM – 15:30 PM Closing Reflections and Feedback
Registration Information
Places are limited to 20 participants (UCL staffs and students only) in order to maintain an interactive and discussion-based environment.
Registration is compulsory.
Participants are required to register here and obtain a ticket in advance in order to attend the workshop.
Lunch and light refreshments will be provided.
If you have any dietary requirements or accessibility needs, please indicate these during registration or contact the organisers in advance.
Who Should Attend?
The forum is open to:
No prior methodological expertise is required.