Research and Publications

Whilst a practitioner across all aspects of drama, Pamela has particular expertise and interest in process drama.  She researches and writes on the subject and also produces practical drama resources for teachers.

Current Research Interests

• Deconstructing the processes of process drama
• The relationship between process drama and emergent neuroscientific research
• Drama for learning and creativity across the curriculum
• She is a member of the IDEA Research Committee

Pamela is also Co-Editor of
Drama Research: international journal of drama in education

Visit Drama Research

International Collaboration
Since their meeting when studying with the incomparable Dorothy Heathcote at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, Pamela has had a close, enduring and highly successful research and writing partnership with Brian Heap, Senior Lecturer in Drama, Philip Sherlock Centre for Creative Arts, University of the West Indies, Jamaica. They are internationally recognised for their work on process drama and regularly share their practice and research as conference workshop leaders and presenters and as writers.

They are the authors of the internationally best-selling Planning Process Drama; which is translated into Finnish and Arabic.  An updated and expanded second edition has been commissioned for publication in 2012.

New Research Project
Pamela and Brian are currently developing an international project in collaboration with colleagues in Poland and the USA to draw on neuroscientific research and processes to explore how learning takes place during participation in process drama. Project funding is currently being sought in order to support the scoping exercise that will begin with an invitation conference in 2012. She presented an initial report on the project in a recent research seminar in Lincoln.

Selected Presentations and Publications include:
2011    Presenters: AATE Conference 2011, Chicago, USA
2010    Paper/Workshop Presenters: Process Drama – a portal to inclusion at International VSA Education Conference, Kennedy Center, Washington D.C., USA
2010    Article: Drama is not a dirty word: past achievements, present concerns, alternative futures in Research in Drama Education 15 (4)
2008    Paper/Workshop Presenters: National Drama International Conference 2008 Drama – mind, body & spirit, Durham University, UK
2007    Article: Processing Post-Colonialism, in Caribbean Quarterly 53 (1&2)
2006:   Paper: Using drama to produce multifaceted art experiences from notionally mono-cultural material, at IDIERI 5, Kingston, Jamaica
2005    Article: Drama on the run – mapping the practice of process drama in Journal of Aesthetic Education 39 (4)

Click to read Drama on the Run Abstract  Click for some of Pamela’s  practical drama resources