Benjamin Skinner

My research investigates how people perceive the physical world around them by drawing attention to the malleability of subjective sensory awareness. Through practice research in the Arts, my objective is to engage communities in a range of creative practices that cultivate a heightened awareness of the ecology that sustains us all.

I completed my PhD in June 2023 with the School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds. My thesis titled ‘Environmental Entanglements. Cultivating sensory awareness through materials and the materiality of the physical body’ sought to address the intersection of personal, local and global perspectives on environmental thinking.    

A major component of the transdisciplinary thesis was the design and illustration of a supplementary guidebook dedicated to self-directed environmental awareness. Conceived in response to the social isolation of Covid-19, ‘This is a Guide to Noticing’ uses surreal and instructive imagery to inform, challenge and invigorate practitioner sensorium.

In tandem with academia, I work as a professional dancer having training at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance (2008-2012) and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance (2014-2016). I gained my first degree in Social and Biological Anthropology from Durham University (2005-2008).