Jonathan Wyatt

My research examines the entanglement of self and other within and beyond the therapeutic encounter; and it troubles what we mean by ‘self’ and ‘other’. I undertake this research through autoethnography (or, better, 'assemblage/ethnography'), collaborative writing as inquiry and, latterly, through bringing these together with dance/movement, performance and film. My work connects the dots between collaborative inquiry in the context of research and collaborative inquiry in the context of therapy, searching for – and doubting – the transformative resources in each.

I grapple with the ethics of what is mine to tell: how to write stories of the counsellor – and the son, husband, father, brother, friend – ‘becoming’ in and with relationships and spaces. I'm working at an approach to theorizing experiential accounts without depersonalizing them.

My newest research interest concerns the links between counselling, stand-up, and writing. I recently made my stand-up debut at The Stand in Edinburgh, as part of 'Bright Club' - an occasional evening of academics doing stand-up about their research.

I am involved in a number of research collaborations: with Ken Gale (Plymouth) in a continuation of their work on Deleuzian collaborative inquiry, including a special issue of the journal, Cultural Studies <=> Critical Methodologies; with Ken Gale, Susanne Gannon and Bronwyn Davies on a chapter on collaborative writing for the next Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research; and, with Beatrice Allegranti (Roehampton) on a practice-based interdisciplinary research project, Moving Voices, which explores the boundaries between the art form, therapy and performance. Our 2014 paper in the journal Qualitative Inquiry, "Witness Loss: A Feminist Materialist Account", won the 2015 Norman K. Denzin Qualitative Research Award.

With Jane Speedy and Nell Bridges from the University of Bristol and Ken Gale, I was part of an ESCalate project to develop online resources on collaborative writing for early career researchers and faculty: www.writeinquiry.org

I am principal investigator, with Dagmar Alexander, on a funded project (through the University of Edinburgh): 'Developing doctoral students as (collaborative) writers'.