Academic Partnerships
Amplify Your Research • Engage Meaningfully • Inspire Change
Research reaches its full potential when it connects with the world beyond academia. Public engagement is not an add-on, it’s an opportunity to listen, collaborate, and co-create with communities, policy-makers, and audiences who can benefit from and contribute to your work.
At Preston Street Films, we help researchers bring their ideas to life through film, audio, photography, design, and creative workshops – turning insights into accessible, compelling stories that resonate with diverse audiences.
“Involving people in research and innovation makes it more relevant and useful for everyone.”
UKRI public engagement strategy
Case Study: Places of Poetry
We were commissioned by the University of Exeter to create a series of short films to support The Places of Poetry project. The project centres around a map of England and Wales and allows people to ‘pin’ original poems to places.This documentary film was conceived as a piece that would give viewers the necessary information about the project, feature some of the poets and their poetry from around the country, and also have a feeling of poetry at its heart.
Presented by the poet and writer Paul Farley and featuring the work of poets from Stroud, Portsmouth and Liverpool it takes us on a journey to explore a small sample of the Places of Poetry project.
Why This Approach Works
- Purpose-Driven Story Telling
We work with you to clarify what your research can offer and how it can make a difference, crafting narratives that connect meaningfully with the people who matter most. - Inclusive Engagement
From community groups to regional audiences, our productions are designed to be co-produced, participatory, and sensitive, ensuring diverse voices are heard and celebrated. - Strategic Impact
We support planning at every stage – from grant proposals to public-facing content, helping ensure engagement efforts are credible, measurable, and impactful. - Reach and Recognition
Our work is built to travel beyond traditional academic spaces: podcasts, festivals, broadcast radio, and digital platforms help research reach regional, national, and global audiences.
“Involving people in research and innovation makes it more relevant and useful for everyone.”
UKRI public engagement strategy
Case Study - BBC Ideas and the University of Oxford: The Surprising Benefits of Exercising with Friends
BBC Ideas aims to bring complex academic concepts and. research to a wide audience through short, engaging and informative documentary films. We have made ten films for the strand, working in partnership with institutions including the University of Oxford, The Open University and The Royal Society.
The film explores research carried out by Dr Arran Davis at the University of Oxford that suggests that exercising with other people can have benefits over exercising alone. For more information visit the University website here.
What we offer
- Documentary Films & Case Studies
Bring research to life with rich, human-centred storytelling that captures attention and imagination. - Podcasts & Audio Productions
Engage audiences with accessible, high-quality audio that conveys expertise in a relatable way. - Creative Workshops & Training
Build capacity for storytelling within your team, covering audio, video, photography, and design – empowering researchers to share their work confidently. - Multi-Channel Engagement Support
From digital content strategy to social media planning, we help ensure your research connects with audiences far beyond academia.
“Involving people in research and innovation makes it more relevant and useful for everyone.”
UKRI public engagement strategy
Public Engagement Is Encouraged and Fundable
UKRI’s public engagement guidance urges applicants to include engagement activities at the start of the project and to budget for them. Creative media formats such as video or podcasting count as valid engagement modes
Stronger funding bids
Embedding creative media, such as short videos or podcasts, within a research proposal aligns with UKRI and AHRC expectations for impact and engagement. These formats are most effective when they are integrated from the start, clearly linked to impact objectives, and budgeted for as part of the project.
That’s where we come in. We work with academics and research teams from the early stages of funding bids, helping to shape engagement plans that are purposeful, fundable, and aligned with UKRI guidance. By consulting at the outset, we ensure that creative media is not an afterthought but a strategically designed element that strengthens your Case for Support and demonstrates how your research will reach and resonate with wider audiences.
Case Study - BBC Radio 4, Strandings
Podcasts and Audio
A powerful way to generate impact is through audio productions. Whether it is an ongoing podcast or a one-off documentary story, audio is an effective way to engage audiences with interesting research projects and the people of your department. It’s also relatively easy, cheap and quick to produce.
“Podcasts provide a cheap and effective way to deliver audio content to your audiences.”
Through a series of conversations, a podcast series can create a body of work that highlights interesting research stories/findings. The potential here is vast, for example: behind-the-scenes insight into a project, exchange of ideas between academics, cross-discipline exchanges with other departments and many other formats.
Training
Whether it is a remote location or a budget constraint, we understand that sometimes you cannot hire professional help to create the content you need. Building some basic creative capacity within your team will give you the confidence to capture interesting moments in high quality.
We can provide in-depth and bespoke training in a number of areas to help you and your team capture important moments as they happen. These include: shooting video, photography, video editing, sound recording, and audio editing. We can provide training on high end professional equipment, or help you make the most of the equipment you already have such as your mobile phone.
Creative Workshops
Having a creative professional in a room of academics can help facilitate a different way of thinking that is outside the academic box. We can arrange workshops in a range of creative disciplines including graphic design, collage, drama and more.
A recent example is a Poster Workshop for The Department of Archaeology and History at the University of Exeter. We ran a one day design workshop with academics into how they could approach creating research project posters in a different, more creative way. The results were fantastic; the posters they created have been exhibited in the university and the creative techniques they learned will inform their approach to academic future communication.
“it was great to see the conversations and creative process in action and we are very pleased with the result”
University of Exeter
Social Media
We can create content specifically for social media to drive audience engagement. However, creating interesting content is all well and good, but what do you do with it once you have it ready to go?
We can offer a Social Media Strategy – a bespoke approach that will maximise the impact of your content once it is published.
We can also offer Social Media Management – executing your strategy according to a planned schedule and targets.
As you can see, the possibilities of academic collaboration with Preston Street Films are limitless and and we’re keen to work with academics in all sorts of ways to tap into the incredible expertise and stories that universities hold.
Do have a look around the website and get in touch to see how we can work together.
Science and Technology
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - BRIDGING THE GAP
At the cutting edge of innovation, it’s not uncommon for communication gaps to arise between your groundbreaking work and the general public. Preston Street Films specialises in bridging these gaps through high-quality video content, transforming complex science and technology concepts into simple, engaging, and entertaining stories.
Whether you’re a tech start-up or an established brand in the science and technology sector, we can help you connect with a wider audience. Our video production services are designed to position your company as a leader in your field, enhancing brand visibility and attracting potential customers or investors.
With expertise in documentary films, explainer videos, product demonstrations, and corporate presentations, we ensure your story resonates with both technical and non-technical audiences. Preston Street Films makes it easy to communicate your innovations clearly and compellingly, whether for internal communications, marketing, or investment pitches.
Case Study - SWCTN Automation Prototypes
The South West Creative Technology Network (SWCTN) commissioned us to create a series of eight films showcasing their automation prototypes developed across the South West. The projects featured included LIDAR room mapping, inflatable robots, augmented reality tools, and a health app. Each 2–3 minute film provided an insightful exploration of the technology and its applications, explained through interviews with the company founders.
Case Study - University of Exeter Medical School
The University of Exeter asked us to create a series of 7 films for their Clinical and Biomedical Sciences programmes. The films feature academics and students and were created to promote the university’s postgraduate MSC programmes.
EXPLAIN WITH VIDEO
Video an excellent way of explaining what your product is and how it works. Through a variety of techniques including animation, live action filming, motion graphics, voiceover and interviews we can put together videos that are engaging and informative.
Case Study: New Motion Labs Enduo Drivetrain
New Motion Labs commissioned us to make a video that explains the nuance of how their Enduo product differs from traditional drivetrains.
Using a combination of 3d animation, live action aerial footage and motion graphics we created a video that blends a technical explanation of the product with client testimonials and striking brand imagery.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Video is an incredibly powerful tool for establishing thought leadership and positioning the leaders in your company as industry experts. By showcasing the expertise and innovation within your organisation, you can effectively build brand awareness and differentiate yourself from competitors. Sharing your knowledge through high-quality video content not only engages your audience but also helps attract new customers, potential investors, and valuable business partners.
At Preston Street Films, we specialise in crafting videos that elevate your company’s reputation and establish you as a thought leader in your industry. Whether you’re creating executive interviews, expert insights, or industry-specific webinars, our videos help you communicate your leadership and vision in a compelling and accessible way.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social Media
We can create content specifically for social media to drive audience engagement. However, creating interesting content is all well and good, but what do you do with it once you have it ready to go?
We can offer a Social Media Strategy – a bespoke approach that will maximise the impact of your content once it is published.
We can also offer Social Media Management – executing your strategy according to a planned schedule and targets.
PODCASTS
Audio is a powerful tool to showcase the cutting-edge work happening in science and technology. Whether it’s an ongoing podcast series or a one-off documentary, audio offers a dynamic and engaging way to highlight your innovations and the people driving them. It’s also a cost-effective and fast medium to produce, making it an ideal choice for busy professionals.
A podcast series, for example, could feature conversations that dive into exciting discoveries, explore the real-world applications of your work, or share stories from your team. The possibilities are limitless—from behind-the-scenes insights into projects, to conversations with collaborators or industry leaders. These formats can create an impressive body of work that builds your reputation and inspires curiosity about what you do.
With audio, you can reach beyond your immediate network to connect with customers, partners, and a wider audience. It gives your ideas a voice that resonates, helping you build recognition for your achievements in the science and technology sectors.
At Preston Street Films, we work with Sound and Bones, our sister company specialising in audio production, to deliver compelling content that captures attention and creates impact.
Get in touch to explore how we can help you craft audio stories that bring your work to life.
GET IN TOUCH
No matter what your business does, we can create video or audio content to help you stand out from the competition. Get in touch today to speak with one of our producers about how we can support your goals.
We’ll take the time to understand your business, your brand, and your needs, asking the right questions to ensure we deliver exactly what you’re looking for. From there, we’ll provide a tailored quote and a clear plan of action.
Training
Every organisation is trying to tell its story. But sometimes finding the time, the budget and the resources to tell that story can be difficult. Having people within your team who can quickly and effectively produce high quality video can be a fantastic way of generating new social media content or capturing important moments.
At Preston Street Films we offer bespoke training in video and photography, showing you how to get the most out of the equipment you have – including your mobile phone.
We will walk you through the steps of identifying what the story is you are trying to tell, how best to shoot it and then the technical aspects of getting the best image and sound. We will show you how to edit – turning your shots into a compelling video – and how to optimise the video for sharing across your social media platforms.
No matter what your level of experience is or what kind of films you want to make, we can create a course for you. Sessions can be run at your premises, here at the PSF Studios, or online.
We can tailor-make a package that works for you, providing ongoing support, advice and follow up sessions if required
Social Media Content
Having training in creating content for social media is an excellent way of ensuring your organisation is always sharing high quality and engaging material.
If handling the editing at your end is too time consuming, we can provide a regular Social Media Content Service – you send us the content you have filmed, and we will edit it and turn it into stunning, branded social media content. We can then either send this back to you, or upload it directly to your social media channels. Have a look at our Social Media page to see how we can help manage and grow your social media presence.
Photography
We are all photographers with powerful cameras in our pockets. But when it comes to using these images for your company’s social media, website or the annual Christmas mug – often they are just not good enough.
This workshop (online or in person) is designed to teach you the basic skills of photography. Even when using your smart phone, by spending time on details like interesting composition, good lighting and being intentional, you can take your photography skills to the next level.
How to shoot yourself and survive
To cut a long story short... Video Editing
Video Editing is where your story comes together. We can teach you all aspects of editing, from organising rushes, colour grading, audio mixing and finally exporting your video in a range of formats.
Whether you’re an absolute beginner and just want to improve your Instagram Reels, or you have some skills and want to learn more, we can offer a bespoke course for you.
We can offer teaching on a range of software including Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects and FCPX.
Academic Partnerships
Bringing Academic Research to Life Through Creative Storytelling
Every department in every university holds a wealth of fascinating stories waiting to be shared, yet many remain confined to academic circles. At Preston Street Films, we specialise in working with academics to bring research to life, using not just film but also audio, photography, graphic design, and a wide range of creative techniques.
Our approach allows us to collaborate with you to enhance the impact of your research and expand its reach to a broader audience. These creative outputs can be showcased not only on your university’s own channels but also developed in partnership with external outlets, including broadcasters like the BBC, amplifying your research’s visibility.
Let us help you tell your academic story in a way that resonates with diverse audiences, deepening its influence and impact. Get in touch today to discuss how we can work together.
Documentary Films
Within your department there are undoubtedly many fascinating projects and people with stories waiting to be shared. Documentary films can be a powerful way of sharing and promoting your research projects. As well as Research Stories, films can also include Faculty Profiles or Student Stories to raise the profile of your entire department.
A 10-minute branded documentary telling the story of Bellhouse, a playful, interactive sound sculpture translating non-verbal climate data into the chimes of 35 bells.
By bringing together all the people behind the project, at a time when climate data is more important than ever, Bellhouse challenges the ways in which scientists communicate critical pieces of information to the general public.
Training
Whether it is a remote location or a budget constraint, we understand that sometimes you cannot hire professional help to create the content you need. Building some basic creative capacity within your team will give you the confidence to capture interesting moments in high quality.
We can provide in-depth and bespoke training in a number of areas to help you and your team capture important moments as they happen. These include: shooting video, photography, video editing, sound recording, and audio editing. We can provide training on high end professional equipment, or help you make the most of the equipment you already have such as your mobile phone.
Creative Workshops
Having a creative professional in a room of academics can help facilitate a different way of thinking that is outside the academic box. We can arrange workshops in a range of creative disciplines including graphic design, collage, drama and more.
A recent example is a Poster Workshop for The Department of Archaeology and History at the University of Exeter. We ran a one day design workshop with academics into how they could approach creating research project posters in a different, more creative way. The results were fantastic; the posters they created have been exhibited in the university and the creative techniques they learned will inform their approach to academic future communication.
“it was great to see the conversations and creative process in action and we are very pleased with the result”
University of Exeter
Podcast and Radio
Audio productions are an incredibly powerful way to generate impact and engage audiences. Whether it’s an ongoing podcast series or a one-off documentary story, audio offers a unique and effective way to bring your research to life and showcase the people and projects within your department. What’s more, it’s a relatively easy, cost-effective, and quick medium to produce.
A podcast series, for example, can be developed through a series of conversations that highlight interesting research findings and the stories behind them. The possibilities are endless—from behind-the-scenes insights into research projects, exchanges of ideas between academics, to cross-discipline collaborations with other departments. These formats can create a compelling body of work that attracts attention and amplifies your department’s impact.
By using audio, you can engage a wider audience and give your research a voice that resonates far beyond traditional academic circles. Get in touch to explore how we can help you create impactful audio content for your department.
At Preston Street Films we have access to a wealth of audio production expertise through our sister company Sound and Bones.
Case Study: Strandings – BBC Radio 4
Social Media
We can create content specifically for social media to drive audience engagement. However, creating interesting content is all well and good, but what do you do with it once you have it ready to go?
We can offer a Social Media Strategy – a bespoke approach that will maximise the impact of your content once it is published.
We can also offer Social Media Management – executing your strategy according to a planned schedule and targets.
As you can see, the possibilities of academic collaboration with Preston Street Films are limitless. Do have a look around the website and get in touch to see how we can work together.
Social Media
The social media landscape is continually changing. New platforms, new algorithms, new trends. It can be hard to keep up when you’re also managing your other marketing channels.
At Preston Street Films we don’t just make stunning video, we can also create and maintain your entire social media output. We can help you come up with a complete social media strategy; work out your tone of voice, which platforms to use and how best to use them. We can help you create content, write copy and schedule posts. And then we can manage it all for you, responding to posts, community management, improving channel growth and freeing you up to get on with other things. We can seamlessly integrate with your team, managing as little or as much of the process as you like.
Get in touch to find out how we can help you get the most out of social media.
Our team can help you grow your presence across social media platforms including:
- X
- TikTok
- YouTube
And if anything on that list looks baffling don’t worry, we can guide you through it and take on any aspects you don’t want to deal with yourself.
Every business is different.
We can help tailor a social media strategy that fits you and your needs, and reaches the right audience for you.
Understanding Your Brand
Once we have a clear understanding of your brand, your objectives and your competition, we can start crafting a bespoke social media strategy for you. We will assess your current social media and come up with a plan that suits your specific needs.
We will draw up a comprehensive plan for scheduled and reactive posts, so we can ensure a regular output and maximise follower engagement.
We will develop strategies to grow your follower base, keep them engaged and push them towards your website. We will tend and support your social media channels, helping them grow and thrive.
Get in touch to find out how we can manage your Social Media.
Content is King
People love video. The internet loves video. Social media loves video. We can make video for social media that will help your brand stand out from the competition.
But we don’t just make video, we can also help you write copy, take photographs and create animations that will help elevate your content keeping it fresh, on-brand and engaging.
And we can help you create your own content, training your team to use their phones to shoot professional looking video and photographs.
Case Study: BBC Bitesize, Other Side of the Story
The BBC commissioned us to make a series on 3 short videos for their Other Side of the Story which aims to help young people make better choices about what they see and share online.
As well as the 3 videos for the website, we also made 3 Social Media videos on the same themes, that told the story in under a minute. These videos had to pack a lot of punch – giving the information in a funny, shareable and engaging way to encourage young people to watch. The videos all feature the YouTuber Eman Balogun, whose channel SV2 has over 3.2 million subscribers.
The social media videos were formatted for TikTok and Instagram and were shared widely.