03 / UNIVERSITIES
SECTOR · COHORTS
5 MIN TO MULTI
2026
02
Audience
Universities
Research communication through dance, movement and scientific storytelling, for HDR cohorts, ECRs and transdisciplinary minds.
PhD ecologist · Dance Your PhD winner · Falling Walls Engage 2025 Top 30 · 
WildWooHoo studio
Who it's for
- HDR programs & graduate schools
- Early-career researcher cohorts
- Faculties, research centres, transdisciplinary labs
- Student experience & engagement teams
What researchers take away
- An artistic form for their research
- Confidence to translate complex work
- A real conversation about career direction
Formats
- 5–20 min activations
- 60–120 min workshops & labs
- Multi-session cohort programs
Quick request
Share cohort type, research areas, and what you want them to leave with. I'll come back with a tailored pathway.
Service
Formats
F.01
Activation
- Short energisers for orientation / events
- Creates safe social momentum quickly
- Strong for transitions and large cohorts
F.02
Workshop
- Communication and belonging focus
- Identity, purpose, participation
- Ideal for mixed / interdisciplinary groups
F.03
Program
- Multi-session cohort development
- HDR, transition, capability pathways
- Co-designed to campus priorities
Main
offer
T.01 / Featured
Find your form, research as artistic practice
The signature workshop. We work with the researcher to find the perfect theme inside their thesis, the one image, question, or feeling that holds the whole thing, and then we find the artistic form that wants to carry it. Dance. Songwriting. Spoken word. Short film. Comic. Performance lecture. You name it. We don't decide the form in advance; we let the research decide.
What participants do
Surface the strongest theme in their work · explore three artistic forms that could carry it · prototype one · perform / show / share. Designed as a 2-hour workshop or a 3-session lab. Closes with each researcher leaving with a piece they could actually use.
Workshop
Themes
T.02
Transforming complex themes into compelling art
Translation as craft. How to take a piece of research the world finds hard and shape it into work that lands with a specific audience, funders, policy, broadcasters, the public, without losing what made it worth doing.
T.03
Connecting science and culture in the creative space
Interconnected narratives across disciplines. A workshop in seeing your research as part of a wider cultural conversation, and finding the threads that link it to art, music, politics, public feeling.
T.04
Lyric labs, cross-disciplinary stories in song
Hands-on practice exercises in writing lyrics that carry research across fields. A working format for researchers who want to try songwriting as a translation tool, no musical background required.
T.05
Transdisciplinarity labs, paths for transdisciplinary minds
Open conversations about alternatives to the traditional academic track for researchers who don't fit a single discipline. Career options, creative-research hybrids, founder paths, studio practice, and the real costs and trade-offs of each.
T.06
Sci comm, popular culture & humor, the Kangaroo Time case
The case study session. How a PhD on kangaroo behaviour became a music video that won the AAAS Dance Your PhD and travelled to 238+ outlets. What worked, what didn't, and the principles you can borrow.
T.07
Organising your brain, lessons from neurobiology & social evolution
Borrowed from the corporate catalogue and adapted for researchers. Practical models for stress, focus, and sustainable motivation under the long-haul pressure of research, drawn from animal-behaviour research, neuroscience, and the evolutionary biology of social systems.
Outcome
focus
- Each researcher leaves with an artistic form that fits their work
- Confidence to translate complex research for audiences beyond their field
- Honest, useful conversations about career paths for transdisciplinary minds
- Stronger peer connection across disciplines and faculties
- Inclusive, high-energy cohort experiences that researchers actually remember
Proof
in action
Transmissions, student experience
// ANU commencement, large audience guidance
// Program promo, campus activation & workshop use
Researcher
FAQ
What is the "Find your form" workshop?
Researchers find the strongest theme inside their thesis and the artistic form that carries it, dance, songwriting, spoken word, short film or performance lecture, and leave with a piece they could actually use.
Is it suitable for researchers with no arts background?
Yes. No musical or performance background is needed; the workshop meets each researcher where they are.
What session lengths are available?
5 to 20 minute activations, 60 to 120 minute workshops and labs, or multi-session cohort programs co-designed to your campus priorities.
Who is it for?
HDR programs and graduate schools, early-career-researcher cohorts, faculties, research centres and transdisciplinary labs.
What makes it credible?
It is built from the practice that turned a PhD thesis into Kangaroo Time, the AAAS Dance Your PhD Global Winner 2024, and the teacher PD Transforming Science Into Compelling Art shortlisted for Falling Walls Engage 2025.
Do you run HDR professional development or research-communication training?
Yes. We run research-communication training and creative science-communication workshops for HDR students, graduate research schools and early-career researchers, from a single session to a multi-session program.
Can you present at a PhD orientation or postgraduate research showcase?
Yes. We open and energise PhD orientations and induction weeks, and can keynote or MC a postgraduate research showcase or research day.
Do you help students prepare for Three Minute Thesis (3MT) or explain research to non-experts?
Yes. The workshops build exactly that skill, distilling complex research into a clear, memorable form for a general audience, useful for 3MT, public talks and research impact.
Do you speak on alternative careers in science for researchers?
Yes. One theme is alternative and creative-research career paths for transdisciplinary minds, drawn from Dr WELI's own path from PhD to science-art practice.
Plan the cohort
Ready to plan your next student-facing moment?
Tell us audience size, timing, and delivery format for a scoped proposal.