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Antonia Liguori

Professor of Participatory Storytelling and Public Policy
Teesside University, UK
Language Arts And English, Civics, Cultures, Music, Performing Arts, Social Studies, Visual Arts, World History, Arts

Antonia Liguori is a Professor of Participatory Storytelling and Public Policy at Teesside University, in the UK. Her academic background is in History and Computer Science. Since 2008, she has been involved in a variety of international research projects to develop tools and methods to foster innovation in education; to explore the role of storytelling in today’s digital world; to investigate and trial ways of using digital storytelling as a participatory methodology for inter-disciplinary research.

Over the past five years her research has been focusing on three main strands: applied storytelling on environmental issues; digital storytelling in (cultural/heritage) education; storytelling and urban design. More recently, after having joined HEART – Healing Education Animation Research Therapy, she has been exploring digital storytelling as therapeutic intervention.

Antonia Liguori's collections

 

Participatory Storytelling as a Transformative Experience

<p>This "companion collection" was created to provide resources and prompts for the <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/transpath/"><strong>TransPath Project</strong></a> webinar organised by IHE Delft Water and Development Partnership Programme on Monday 15 June | 4 pm CEST. The material included here will be used to facilitate conversations as part of the webinar delivered by Professor Antonia Liguori to explore storytelling as a transformative practice capable of reshaping how individuals and communities understand each oter and respond to eco-social challenges. </p> <p>Drawing on insights from her two most recent publications - <em>Storytelling Research Methods: Meaning Making and Interdisciplinary Knowledges across Borders</em> (Wilson, Liguori & Underwood-Lee, 2026, Routledge) and <em>Story Work for a Just Future: Exploring the Plurality of Knowledge and Method within the Digital Storytelling Community</em> (Liguori, Rappoport & Gachago, Eds., 2025, Smithsonian Scholarly Press) - the session introduces storytelling as both a methodological framework and a catalyst for social change.</p> <p>Participants will engage in a collaborative activity to define what storytelling means across diverse contexts and to consider how visual and digital storytelling can drive transformation around pressing societal issues. Through case studies from participatory storytelling initiatives - including work in Kenya with UN Live – The Museum for the United Nations and HopeRaisers, the Páramos and Paraguas projects in Colombia, and A River Is a Snake, a song a co‑created with folk musician Sharron Kraus exploring local tensions around water use in East Anglia - the webinar illustrates how story work can support communities in making sense of environmental and social challenges, amplifying unheard voices, and imagining alternative futures.</p> <p><strong>Speaker’s bio</strong></p> <p>Professor Antonia Liguori is a world‑leading expert in digital and participatory storytelling, with a particular focus on environmental and social challenges, public policy, and community engagement. She joined Teesside University in 2024 as Professor of Participatory Storytelling and Public Policy and Co‑Director of the Institute for Collective Place Leadership. </p> <p>Her career spans work in the heritage and cultural sectors in Italy and extensive academic contributions in the UK, including roles at Loughborough University from 2014 to 2023. Her interdisciplinary background - rooted in History and Computer Science through her PhD from the University of Bologna, Italy - underpins her commitment to methodological innovation in education, storytelling, and digital culture. </p> <p>Professor Liguori has led and contributed to international research projects exploring the role of storytelling in today’s digital world, developing participatory methods that amplify diverse voices and support structural change. In 2018, she was awarded an AHRC Fellowship at the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access, where she advanced digital storytelling research and practice within the Smithsonian Learning Lab.</p>
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Digital Spektrum: Digital Storytelling as an Inclusive Tool for Audience Engagement

<p>This Learning Lab collection was made to complement the workshop organised by the EU Project Digital Spektrum team in Paris in January 2025. The priority of the <strong><a href="https://www.digitalspektrum.eu/">Digital-Spektrum</a></strong> project, an Erasmus+ project led by Professor Antonella Poce (University of Tor Vergata, Italy) is to promote inclusion, diversity, and accessibility in all areas of education, particularly educational experiences that take place in museums. One of the main objectives of the Digital-Spektrum project is to provide museum staff with digital skills to design inclusive museum experiences with and for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).<a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/24977"> </a></p> <p><a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/profile/24977">Antonia Liguori</a>, a Professor of Participatory Storytelling at Teesside University in UK and a former Fellow at the Smithsonian Office of Educational Technology, is sharing here an adaptation of the conventional Digital Storytelling process to experiment with a variety of techniques that will support participants to incorporate personal experiences in the exploration and use of museum resources. By going through these resources you will also see how the Smithsonian Learning Lab and Digital Storytelling (DS) can be used together to access digital resources, build learning experiences, and cultivate collaboration and community over distance.</p> <p>We will explore artwork from an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, <em><a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/IgLygJNprGf3JA%20and%20https:/npg.si.edu/exhibition/eye-i-self-portraits-1900-today">Eye to I: Self-Portraiture as an Exploration of Identity</a></em> and other digital objects from the Petit Palais in Paris, France, which compels viewers to consider the connection between the self and the artefact. </p> <p>To follow the instructions step by step, please, click on the tiles below (one at a time) and read the information next to each image (you can click on the paper click icon to find the information for each tile).</p> <p>A complementary mini-course on Digital Storytelling as inclusive approach for audeince engagement in museums has been developed by the project team. If you are interested in hearing more about the Digital Spektrum project and the Digital Storytelling approach applied within this context, please, contact the project team via the project website or directly Antonia Liguori.</p> <p><br>#DigitalStorytelling</p>
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"Pertenecer": Using Museum Objects to Prompt Stories and Explore Sense of Place and Belonging

<p><strong><em>Pertenecer</em></strong> is a digital storytelling workshop that enhances the <strong>4Cs</strong> (Creativity, Critical thinking, Collaboration, Communication) and improves digital literacy.  In this three-day workshop participants attending Fairfax County Public School Family Literacy and/or the Parent Leadership programs will use museum objects as prompts to create videos of personal stories. No technical experience is necessary, but participants of all levels will:<br></p> <ul><li>learn about the variety of resources available in the Smithsonian Learning Lab. </li><li>experiment with story-boarding techniques for creative writing. </li><li>learn how to record and edit an audio file. </li><li>be supported in the selection of images and the production of a short video. </li><li>reflect on the Digital Storytelling 5-steps process </li><li>practice oral and written English language skills </li><li>enhance identity through personal stories </li><li>strengthen intergenerational family bond </li><li>increase visual literacy through close looking at art</li></ul> <p>_______________________________________________________________</p> <p>This workshop is part of the research project "<em>Storying</em> the Cultural Heritage: Digital Storytelling as a tool to enhance the 4Cs in formal and informal learning" led by Dr Antonia Liguori, appointed as a Smithsonian Fellow with the <strong>Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access </strong>(<strong>SCLDA</strong>) from March 1 to June 30 2018, and is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council UK under the International Placement Scheme. Over the next months, Dr Antonia Liguori, in collaboration with Dr Philippa Rappoport<strong> – </strong>who has agreed to serve as principal mentor/advisor during Dr Liguori’s appointment – will work with Fairfax County Public School Family Literacy and Parent Leadership Programs to explore the use of Digital Storytelling in combination with the digital resources of the Smithsonian Learning Lab.  </p> <p>#digitalstorytelling #FamilyLit  #FamilyLiteracy  #FCPSFamilyLiteracy  #NPGTeach</p>
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DST Conference 2021: "Storytelling for a Just Future"

<p>Welcome to the SLL collection where we are collecting information and material on the DST Conference 2021: this onlie conference is a free event, co-hosted by a number of institutions as a <strong>24-hour ‘marathon’ on the 21st and 22nd of June 2021</strong>. The event takes place online and spans the whole 24 hours, following the sun across different time zones during the Summer solstice.</p> <p>The conference is part of a multi-institutional, multinational, three-year process and programme – organised by <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.lboro.ac.uk/?external" data-type="URL" data-id="https://www.lboro.ac.uk/?external" target="_blank">Loughborough University </a>(UK),<a href="https://www.storycenter.org/"> StoryCenter</a> (US)<a href="https://www.umbc.edu/"> UMBC – University of Maryland Baltimore County</a> (US),<a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/"> SCLDA – Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access</a> (US),<a href="https://www.montgomerycollege.edu/"> Montgomery College</a> (US),<a href="https://www.patientvoices.org.uk/"> Patient Voices</a> (UK) – that includes a face-to-face event in Loughborough in 2022 and a series of follow-on activities in the Washington, D.C. area and in Maryland, USA, in 2023.</p> <p><strong>Conference Chairs</strong>: Antonia Liguori and Michael Wilson (Loughborough University, UK)</p> <p><strong>Conference Committee Members</strong>: Lyndsey Bakewell (DeMontfort University, UK), Jessica Berman (University of Maryland, Baltimore County UMBC, US), Bev Bickel (UMBC, US), Matthew Decker (Montgomery College, US), Patrick Desloge (Hong Kong University), Lindsay DiCuirci (UMBC, US), Sara Ducey (Montgomery College, US), Daniela Gachago (Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa), Jamie Gillan (Montgomery College, US), Pip Hardy (Patient Voices, UK), Grete Jamissen (OsloMet, Norway), Charlotte Keniston (UMBC, US), Joe Lambert (StoryCenter, US), Michalis Meimaris (University of Athens, Greece), Daniel Onyango (HopeRaisers, Kenya), Philippa Rappoport (SCLDA – Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access, US), Bill Shewbridge (UMBC, US), Burcu Simsek (Hacettepe University, Turkey), Tony Sumner (Patient Voices, UK), Pam Sykes (University of the Western Cape, South Africa), Chris Thomson (Jisc, UK).</p> <p>#digitalstorytelling #storytelling #socialjustice</p>
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"Home and Away": Using museum objects to prompt stories and explore sense of place and belonging

<p>"Home and Away" is a digital storytelling workshop that enhances the <strong>4Cs</strong> (Creativity, Critical thinking, Collaboration, Communication) and improves literacy in second-language learners.  In this three-day workshop participants from Spain coming to Washington DC for an international exchange program with Oyster-Adams Bilingual School, supported by American students, will use museum objects as prompts to create videos of personal stories. No technical experience is necessary, but participants of all levels will:</p> <ul><li>learn about the variety of resources available in the Smithsonian Learning Lab.</li><li>experiment with storyboarding techniques for creative writing.</li><li>learn how to record and edit an audio file.</li><li>be supported in the selection of images and the production of a short video.</li><li>reflect on the Digital Storytelling 5-steps process</li><li>practice oral and written English language skills</li><li>enhance identity through personal stories</li><li>increase visual literacy through close looking at art</li></ul> <p>This workshop has been organised by the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access (SCLDA) in collaboration with Oyster-Adams Bilingual School.</p> <p>Workshop facilitators are Antonia Liguori (Loughborough University, UK) and Philippa Rappoport (SCLDA).</p> <p>This activity is part of <em> “Storying” the Cultural Heritage: Digital Storytelling as a tool to enhance the 4Cs in formal and informal learning</em>, a research project led by Dr Antonia Liguori, appointed as a Smithsonian Fellow with the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access (SCLDA) from March 1 to June 30 2018, and is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council UK under the International Placement Scheme.</p> <p>#digitalstorytelling</p>
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"Conversation Circles" across the Atlantic

<p>This workshop is a collaboration between the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C., the School of the Arts, English and Drama - Loughborough University (UK) and Tate Exchange in London.</p> <p>"Conversations Circles" is an ongoing free drop-in program for adults to practice their English and learn about American history and culture through the art of portraiture, that is designed and coordinated by the National Portrait Gallery and the DC Public Library.</p> <p>During this particular workshop, the group that meets weekly at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC will be virtually joined by a group in London, that is already involved in a one-day storytelling workshop facilitated by researchers from Loughborough University as part of the Tate Exchange program.</p> <p>Tate Exchange is an entirely new program for Tate Modern that explores how art makes a difference in society. Tate Exchange will occupy an entire floor of the new Switch House building of the new Tate Modern in London and also has an online platform for wider public engagement. The program runs from September to June every year and aims to open up the museum to new, more diverse audiences. </p> <p>Loughborough University is one of the Associates that support Tate Modern to deliver this program. <br>More info on the program here: <a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern/tate-exchange">http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/t...</a></p> <p>#digitalstorytelling</p> <p><br></p>
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