Román Baca

I am a classically trained ballet dancer and US Marine Iraq War Veteran. I served in Fallujah, Iraq, and returned with a desire to continue to help my fellow service members by merging my artistic training and military experiences. I am currently working as an Early Career Researcher at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire, and a Junior Research Scientist with the USAF/USN Research Unit. 

I am also a PhD researcher supervised by Professor Matthew Reason and Dr Penn Smith. Within the program I will explore a participatory arts practice to help veterans with moral questioning, future thinking, and self-representation through arts facilitated meaning making and imagination. I will also create performative outcomes of the above-mentioned arts practice both positively impact well-being in the veteran, while fostering empathy and peacebuilding in audiences?

I will investigate the assertions that: personal perception is an expressive and creative instance; struggle and constraint are vital to the creative process; and people can find meaning through creative, experiential and attitudinal values.