Leeds Creative Labs in partnership with Yorkshire Sculpture Park - academics

Leeds Creative Labs is a funded opportunity for artists and creative professionals to collaborate with researchers from the University of Leeds. Find out who is eligible, what the opportunity offers, timelines for activities and making your application. 

If you would like to make an application by video or audio recording, please respond to each question in the application form. Your audio or video should be no longer than 15 minutes. 

Key details

• You must be employed by the University of Leeds until at least 31 July 2026 (this includes PhD researchers) 
• You must be available to attend the launch event on 25 March 2026 and sharing event on 2nd July sharing event 

What is Leeds Creative Labs? 

Leeds Creative Labs is a funded opportunity for artists and creative professionals to collaborate with researchers from the University of Leeds. The programme is an initiative developed and led by the Cultural Institute at the University of Leeds since 2012.  

Leeds Creative Labs provides funding, inspiration, opportunities and above all, the co-creative space to share ideas and experiences without deadlines and targets. 

In the past, we have paired hip-hop dancers with economists, ballet choreographers with biochemical engineers, and visual artists with astrophysicists.  

In this edition of Leeds Creative Labs, we’ve partnered with Yorkshire Sculpture Park and will be offering up to 6 sets of labs for this edition. 

How it works 

Academics and artists are to apply separately by 15th February 2026 through an open call. 

The match between researchers and artists will be made by a panel of academics and cultural professionals, based not only on the participants’ thematic interests, but also on their shared sense of curiosity and ambition to explore ideas without limits. 

Once pairings are made, we will host a collaborative workshop for all participants at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. 

The pairings will then have from 25 March to 2 July to work together over a span of three days.  

Pairings are not expected to respond to a specific brief. Instead, both academic and creative partners enter the experience on an equal footing and have the rare opportunity of supported but open-ended space in which to explore and create ideas together without an agenda. With no expectation of an output, the process allows partners to establish the focus of their engagement with each other from the outset.   

Each pair will work together to consider their objectives and approach. In the past artists have visited labs, and academics have visited artist studios or rehearsals, together with external discussions or workshops. 

The pairs will be invited to speak at a public event held at University of Leeds on 2nd July 2025 to share their experiences at the end of the programme. 

Why take part  

By deviating from traditional ways of working, the Creative Labs approach has allowed new partnerships to be forged, opened interdisciplinary ways of thinking and had an impact both on the creative work of the artists involved and, on the research, and the researchers conducting it.  

Since 2012, over 130 individuals from many practices and disciplines have collaborated. Outcomes reported by previous participants of Leeds Creative Labs include: 

• refreshed thinking in academic practice and peer learning
• renewed sense of joy and excitement in research and collaboration
• new academic research and impact
• academic outputs such as conference papers and journal articles 
• large research grant capture, in part as a result of embedded public engagement and well-established pathways to impact through developed partnerships 
• increased capacity and resource as a result of skills development 
• pedagogical approaches instigated and developed 
• leadership skills refined 
• increased profile for researchers, partners and organisations through awards, press and media. 

What are we looking for? 

Academics that are driven by a sense of inquiry and a willingness to work with artists on an equal footing. We look for projects that go beyond using art to display research findings to find a more equitable way of approaching collaboration. 

Eligibility  

You must be employed by the University of Leeds until at least 31 July 2026.  

Academics from all faculties can appy.  

What does participation involve? 

Participants are required to dedicate a minimum of three days between 25 March and 2 July to collaborate with an artist partner. These sessions will be scheduled at mutually convenient times to accommodate both parties.  

You must be able to participate in the launch event on Weds 25 March, 9.30am – 2pm at Yorkshire Sculpture Park and a sharing event on Thursday 2 July 2025 10am – 1pm  

You will participate in the evaluation of the programme which includes completion of evaluation questionnaire at the end of the programme and permission for photography and filming during key events. 

You give permission for any work created as part of the Leeds Creative Lab programme to be accessible in the public domain. 

Materials fund 

Up to £200, administered by the Cultural Institute, will be available for each academic and artist pair to use for travel, assets, software, materials, trips, room hire, research costs or anything else that is useful to support their collaboration.  

Programme timeline 

Applicants must commit to the above dates hefore applying. 

• Midnight, 15 February 2026 – closing date for applications 
• Monday 1 March 2026 – partners selected and collaborations announced  
• Wednesday 25 March 2026 9.30am – 2pm  – labs launch and workshop at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
• Wednesday 25 March – Tuesday 30 June 2026  – Collaboration period 
• Thursday 2 July 2026, 10am –1pm – share event at University of Leeds. 

Past projects 

Visit our Leeds Creative Labs site to read about previous projects. 

For more information or questions email the Cultural Institute at culturalinstitute@leeds.ac.uk. 

FAQs