From research presentation to illustration: Picture My Research

2 December 2025

Recently, CRADLE PhD student Ameena Payne participated in the Centre for Regenerating Futures’ 2025 Picture My Research event. This event offered four PhD students a unique opportunity: to give a short presentation on their research, with artist Sarah Firth turning their presentation into a graphic illustration as they spoke!

Ameena’s broader thesis-by-publication centres on feedback research in the lives of international master’s degree students in Victoria, Australia. Her presentation at the Picture My Research event was drawn from her first paper, which is currently under review.

Ameena’s presentation was illustrated live by Sarah during the event – as depicted in the time lapse below.

Ameena’s project uses phenomenology and arts-based methods to examine the lived experiences of international master’s degree students, so this illustrative experience was particularly fitting! While attending the event, Ameena was encouraged to hear from others engaging with phenomenology, which she found affirming and a valuable reminder of the strength of shared methodological enquiry.

Special thanks to the Centre for Regenerating Futures for facilitating this innovative event.

About Ameena Payne

Ameena received a CRADLE strategic PhD scholarship in 2022 and her project explores how social capital informs feedback seeking, interpretation and practice. Ameena hails from Chicago, USA. She learned from her elders the paradoxical role educational institutions played in both suppressing and organising for revolution; this knowing has deeply influenced her academic positionality.