The School of Business and Management has recently launched a new initiative, Storytelling Unboxed. This exciting project seeks to foster innovative teaching and learning pedagogies, community building and industry alliances through the ancient art of storytelling.
Storytelling Unboxed has been envisioned by Professor Yasmin Ibrahim and Dr SMA Moin, in the Department of Marketing and will leverage the notion of voice as an important aspect of identity and stories as the means to effect change. The venture re-centres the value we place on academic-student and student-student conversations, engagement and collaborations whilst building on inspirational stories from our environment and thought leaders.
With three core values - Voice, Therapy, and Recovery - ‘Storytelling Unboxed’ aims to provide a platform to engage, inspire, commemorate human values and celebrate narratives of survival, loss and recovery.
The initiative’s formal launch took place in February, at an event led by Professor Yasmin Ibrahim and Dr Moin. Both academics shared the vision of Storytelling unboxed, and the ways it will empower students. A group of students also shared stories that reflected their values and identity.
Since launching, they have hosted a second event, a Storytelling Session by Miri Rodriguez, Senior Storyteller for Future of Work at Microsoft and author of Brand Storytelling; put customers at the heart of your brand story. Miri joined Queen Mary via Zoom, from America. She discussed the future of storytelling in the context of massive technological advancements.
The Storytelling Unboxed team has ambitious plans for the project and hopes to offer three distinct storytelling services; A Storytelling Club, Storytelling for Corporate Dialogue and Storytelling for Community Engagement. The Storytelling Club will focus on storytelling as a teaching pedagogy, and will help students develop their signature stories. Storytelling for Corporate Dialogue will use storytelling as a form of dialogue between students and business organisations. Storytelling for Community Engagement will foster community engagement and belonging, launching charitable initiatives alongside Queen Mary Students’ Union.
For more information, please contact Dr Moin - s.moin@qmul.ac.uk