The Fourth International Conference on Visual Methods
was hosted by the University of Brighton in September
2015. It brought together many imaginative and
hugely productive collaborations between academics,
practitioners and community groups from various cities
and regions of the UK, Europe and beyond. Like most
conferences, our programme consisted of presentations
and keynote speeches, but we also included screenings,
exhibitions and workshops. Much of this took place in
the University but we extended our reach by opening
the doors of the University to the local community and
holding screenings and exhibitions in public spaces
across the city. This special edition of Visual Methodologies
strives to capture the richness and diversity of the
programme; it offers some detailed first hand accounts
of projects and papers presented at the conference, as
well as exploring the wider role of visual methods in
contemporary research practice. Our cover features one
of Ray Gibson’s iconic pebble faces taken on Brighton
Beach and used as part of the Great Pebble Dash, one of
the projects which took conference delegates out of the
University and into the city
