Co-creation and Flourishing
Co-creation enabling Flourishing Spaces
The Queen Mary University of London Mission is to...
"create a truly inclusive environment, based on our unwavering commitment to excellence, where students and staff can flourish and reach their full potential."
Local research and experience point towards co-creative working inviting flourishing for students and staff alike.
'…allowed me to flourish and grow in that it allowed me to reconnect to learners and students in a way that I didn't realise I was missing, but that I was missing' (Educator interview, 2023
Philosophically, flourishing has been approximated with Aristotle’s term ‘eudaimonia’ which is wellbeing through meaning making, finding purpose, mastery and personal growth (Kahn, 2017). Flourishing moves the conversation beyond individual ‘resilience’ (bouncing back and toughing it out alone) towards nurturing spaces between us of connection, relationship, voice, agency and growth (Younie, 2020). Flourishing is also connecting with difficult parts of our lives, ourselves, our teams, known as shadow work (Younie, 2024).
The Flourishing Spaces team is researching and developing the field of flourishing in higher education supported by The President and Principal’s Fund for Educational Excellence:
To learn more about the project:
- Flourishing Spaces website
- Team
- Vision and values and theory of change
- Blog
- Outputs
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Co-Flourishing - toolkit for educators
This tool consists of a set of reflective cards that enable exploration for educators of co-creative working and how that might lead to human flourishing.
- Exhibitions and events
- Social media
Twitter: @Flourish_Med @CreativeEnquiry
Instagram: @CreativeEnquiry
If you are interested in learning more about flourishing spaces contact Louise Younie, m.l.a.younie@qmul.ac.uk
References
Kahn, P.E. (2017), 'The flourishing and dehumanization of students in higher education', Journal of Critical Realism, 16(4), 368-382. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2017.1347444
Younie, L. (2024) How might we cultivate flourishing spaces? Journal of Holistic Healthcare, 21, 14 - 16.
Younie, L. (2020) 'When I say flourishing in medical education...' Journal of Holistic Healthcare, 17(3), 44-46.