I am Ember Grant.
An interdisciplinary researcher, performance artist, writer and visual storyteller.
My work focuses on embodied ways of knowing, environmental attunement, and the sensory dimensions of human experience. I draw on anthropology, movement, filmmaking, and creative practice not as separate tools, but as interconnected modes of inquiry. Using them to craft immersive stories rooted in both research and lived experience. I explore themes of embodiment, wellbeing, environment, and transformation, tracing how people feel, move, and make meaning within the worlds they inhabit. This is my ongoing project: to bridge knowledge and creativity, translating lived realities into meaningful, embodied forms of storytelling.
My childhood was nomadic, spent moving between cities, coastal communities, and remote outposts across Africa, Asia, Europe, USA and Australia. In fact, I never lived anywhere for more than 18 months.
Don’t get me wrong, growing up like this had its downsides. But it also offered many incredible opportunities. Getting to experience such diverse cultures and communities from an early age opened my mind to the world, and I fell in love with its stories.
I loved listening to how people made sense of their lives, watching the small rituals and habits that shaped daily existence, and noticing the intimate relationships people developed with the environment. So much beauty in the connection and creation.
It was in those moments that my love of storytelling began. I wanted not only to witness these lives but to translate them, to capture the essence of people and places through words, images, movement, and performance. That curiosity for stories became the foundation for everything I do today.
I hold a Diploma in Filmmaking, a BA (Hons) in Anthropology and Archaeology from UCL, a MA in Acting from ArtsEd, and I am currently completing an MRes in Anthropology at UCL.
These diverse fields of study have given me a unique lens on the world – combining analytical thinking with embodied experience, and a deep understanding of how human behaviour, culture, and narrative intersect.
My Latest Research
The Shape of Waves:
Embodied Experience, Risk, and Wellbeing in Surf Therapy
This project takes a deep dive into nature-based and ocean-based therapeutic practices through a focus on surf therapy. I explore how embodied engagement with the marine environment shapes wellbeing, connection, and optimal functioning. Rather than asking whether surf therapy works, I examine how and why it catalyses transformation.
What is Surf Therapy?
Imagine paddling out into cold, relentless surf. You feel the board as it rocks beneath you. The sea as it bites your skin. You wince as the salt stings your eyes and your muscles begin to strain as the water pulls you in. Until suddenly, the swell catches you, lifts you up and propels you forward, and all your tension melts into pure exhilaration. For the next few moments, all you can do is learn to flow with the sea.
Surf therapy harnesses this embodied experience to support wellbeing, mental health, and skill-building. Delivered through structured surf sessions, it provides an accessible, nature-based intervention for marginalized and at-risk groups, including those with mental health conditions, neurodiversity or physical disabilities.
The Project
A central part of my research looks at the role of facilitators – how they craft these experiences by managing risk, navigating discomfort, and guiding participants through shifting states of flow. Their tacit knowledge, embodied skill, and intimate relationship with the ocean co-construct the therapeutic encounter, shaping how clients perceive, interpret, and respond to challenge.
Blending anthropology, psychology, and creative storytelling, this project reveals the extraordinary ways humans connect with nature, each other, and themselves – and how these encounters can produce tangible health and wellbeing outcomes for both facilitators and participants.
Previous Research Projects
Psytrance and Psychedelics:
How South Africa’s psychedelic trance subculture functions to communally foster positive psychedelic experiences.
This project explored the role of psychedelics and the associated customs, etiquettes, and harm reduction strategies within South Africa’s psychedelic trance (psytrance) subculture. The research aimed to understand how the psytrance community fosters positive psychedelic experiences through communal practices and the built environment.