Dr Ali Ramsey
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Overview
Overview
Biography
In addition to teaching the Working with Found Footage module, I'm a documentary filmmaker, researcher and creative producer specialising in archive and found footage filmmaking, oral history, and creative approaches to documentary practice. I have experience in research impact and knowledge exchange from my work as Research Impact Assistant on Professor Joanna Callaghan’s AHRC Impact Accelerator Account-funded 'Goodbye Breasts!' creative health documentary project at the University of Sussex, supporting audience engagement, partnerships and impact activities around the documentary film and installation.
With a background in documentary making at the BBC, I co-founded Digital Drama, an award-winning multimedia production company creating films, audio and live experiences for broadcasters, museums, heritage organisations and the public sector. We have been commissioned by organisations including The National Archives, English Heritage, the Royal Albert Hall, The British Red Cross and the Museum of London, and have secured funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England for community heritage and arts projects that combine research with creative public engagement.
My PhD in Creative and Critical Practice from the University of Sussex included making the documentary 'Menopause: The Movie', which has received awards and international festival nominations. The project explored media representations of menopause using creative reuse techniques to examine the creative and critical potential of archives, oral history, montage and filmmaking. My academic writing has been published in The Sociological Review.
Prior to my work at Birkbeck, I taught at The Open University where I was also Senior Faculty Manager and Broadcast Project Manager, developing educational media in partnership with the BBC.
Honours and awards
- Adam Weiler Impact Award University of Sussex, July 2023
ORCID
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Research
Research
Research interests
- Found footage and archival filmmaking
- Archives, memory and cultural representation
- Documentary filmmaking and creative practice
- Feminist media studies
- Menopause, ageing and screen representation
- Oral history, testimony and lived experience
- Digital storytelling and public engagement
Research overview
My research explores how documentary film and creative practice can generate new understandings of lived experience, memory and social change. My work is particularly concerned with the representation of marginalised or under-represented experiences, and with the ways in which archival materials, oral testimony and creative methods can challenge dominant narratives.
My doctoral research examined found footage and archival filmmaking as approaches to reimagining screen representations of menopause in the UK. Through a practice-led methodology combining documentary filmmaking, creative reuse and interview testimony, the project explored how film can create new forms of cultural representation and contribute to conversations around ageing, gender, health and identity.
Current research interests include documentary practice, archival reuse, oral history, feminist media studies, memory and representation. I am interested in collaborative research with academics, filmmakers, cultural organisations and community partners, particularly projects exploring creative health, social change, and creative approaches to public engagement.
I welcome opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration nationally and internationally, particularly in relation to creative practice research, documentary and archival filmmaking, and the use of film as a means of knowledge exchange.
Research Centres and Institutes
Research projects
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Supervision and teaching
Supervision and teaching
Teaching
Teaching modules
- Working with Found Footage