Mrs Carine Laughton

Lecturer, Theatre-maker, applied performance researcher, and micro‑phenomenologist

Dr Carine Laughton is an applied performance scholar whose work advances embodied, enactive, and phenomenological approaches to creativity, intuition, and youth wellbeing. Her research integrates Lecoq-based pedagogical practice, enactive cognition, trauma‑informed processes, and micro‑phenomenological inquiry to investigate the pre-reflective mechanisms that underpin creative emergence, intuitive decision-making, and resilience in movement-based arts practice.

Carine trained at the Jacques Lecoq International Theatre School (Paris) and holds qualifications in socio‑cultural youth work (B.A.F.A), education (M.Ed), and Theatre and Performance Studies (PhD). Over a 15‑year period, she created site-specific and physical theatre works that toured to 22 countries, supported by major cultural institutions including Pro Helvetia Foundation, the French Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Market Theatre Johannesburg, MESS Festival Sarajevo, and Trans Europe Halles (Paris). Her collaborations with Imibala Theatre Company, Emergency Exit (Paris), and La Ménagerie have centred on intercultural bridge-building and humanitarian performance-making, with a strong emphasis on cultural safety, ethical co‑creation, and collaborative devising.

Her academic excellence has been recognised through the Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship for HDR Research (2019) and the Mental Health Innovation Challenge Award (PHN/i2N, University of Newcastle, 2024).

At the University of Newcastle, Carine leads research on L.E.A.P (Lived Experience Arts Platform), a youth-led, movement-based methodology that integrates embodied theatre practice, enactive approaches, and micro‑phenomenological frameworks. Her work contributes to emerging scholarship on intuition and creativity, somatic awareness, and arts-based mental health interventions, with a particular focus on young people navigating complex life circumstances.