Research Team
Dr Roberta Comunian
Dr. Roberta Comunian is Lecturer in Cultural and Creative Industries at the Department for Culture, Media and Creative Industries at King's College London.
She previously worked at the University of Kent and at the University of Southampton. She holds a European Doctorate title in Network Economy and Knowledge Management. She is interested in: relationship between public and private investments in the arts, art and cultural regeneration projects, cultural and creative industries, creativity and competitiveness. She has been Marie Curie Fellow at University of Newcastle (Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies) investigating the relationship between creative industries, cultural policy and public supported art institutions. She has also undertaken research on knowledge transfer and creative industries within an AHRC Impact Fellowship award at the University of Leeds. She is currently researching the role of higher education in the creative economy and has recently explored in various papers the career opportunities and patterns of creative graduates in UK.
She previously worked at the University of Kent and at the University of Southampton. She holds a European Doctorate title in Network Economy and Knowledge Management. She is interested in: relationship between public and private investments in the arts, art and cultural regeneration projects, cultural and creative industries, creativity and competitiveness. She has been Marie Curie Fellow at University of Newcastle (Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies) investigating the relationship between creative industries, cultural policy and public supported art institutions. She has also undertaken research on knowledge transfer and creative industries within an AHRC Impact Fellowship award at the University of Leeds. She is currently researching the role of higher education in the creative economy and has recently explored in various papers the career opportunities and patterns of creative graduates in UK.
Dr Abigail Gilmore
Dr Abigail Gilmore is Director of the Centre for Arts Management and Cultural Policy at the University of Manchester.
Her doctoral research, awarded by the University of Leicester, was on popular music, cultural policy and local music scenes and communities. She has been involved in a range of policy-related academic research projects, including an AHRC funded study of the Millennium Dome, the development of local cultural strategies and creative industries mapping, before going on to work in advisory and consultancy positions to the cultural sector with government departments and non-departmental bodies in the North West, for the last five years. She established the online regional research capability, the Northwest Culture Observatory and has published in the International Journal for Cultural Policy and Cultural Trends. Research interests include arts, culture and regeneration, the role of academic and applied research in engagement with and management of the arts, cultural mapping and planning methodologies, and comparative models of instrumental cultural policy.
Her doctoral research, awarded by the University of Leicester, was on popular music, cultural policy and local music scenes and communities. She has been involved in a range of policy-related academic research projects, including an AHRC funded study of the Millennium Dome, the development of local cultural strategies and creative industries mapping, before going on to work in advisory and consultancy positions to the cultural sector with government departments and non-departmental bodies in the North West, for the last five years. She established the online regional research capability, the Northwest Culture Observatory and has published in the International Journal for Cultural Policy and Cultural Trends. Research interests include arts, culture and regeneration, the role of academic and applied research in engagement with and management of the arts, cultural mapping and planning methodologies, and comparative models of instrumental cultural policy.
Advisory Committee
Geoffrey Crossick, former Vice-Chancellor University of London, Director of AHRC Cultural Value Project
Professor Geoffrey Crossick is former Vice-Chancellor
of the University of London and Director of AHRC Cultural Value Project . He was Chief Executive of the Arts & Humanities Research Board
between 2002 and 2005, taking it through to its establishment as a full
research council. He last year announced plans to step down from his current
post at the end of July 2012 in order to work across a portfolio of activities
in higher education, the cultural and creative sectors, and more broadly.
A Trustee of the National Maritime Museum, a member of the Governing Board of the Courtauld Institute of Art and a member of the British Library Advisory Council, he chairs the Trinity Long Room Hub (the arts and humanities research institute of Trinity College Dublin). Professor Crossick is active in debates about the importance of the arts and humanities, including the creative industries. He speaks in the UK and internationally on the relationship between higher education and the creative economy. He has published an influential lecture on Knowledge transfer without widgets: the challenge of the creative economy (2006). He chaired the Universities UK report Creating Prosperity: the role of higher education in driving the UK’s creative economy (2010).
Professor Crossick was until recently a member of the Board of Universities UK and Chair of the university sector’s Financial Sustainability Strategy Group. He is a member of the HEFCE Enterprise & Skills Committee. His essay The future is more than just tomorrow: higher education, the economy and the longer term was published by Universities UK in September 2010. He was recently appointed by the French government to the governing Council of the Agence d’évaluation de la recherche et de l’enseignement supérieur. He is a social historian specialising in the urban social history of 19th and 20th century Britain and continental Europe, and is the author or editor of 7 books and over 40 articles. A Fellow of both the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Arts, Professor Crossick was in 2004 elected an Honorary Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
A Trustee of the National Maritime Museum, a member of the Governing Board of the Courtauld Institute of Art and a member of the British Library Advisory Council, he chairs the Trinity Long Room Hub (the arts and humanities research institute of Trinity College Dublin). Professor Crossick is active in debates about the importance of the arts and humanities, including the creative industries. He speaks in the UK and internationally on the relationship between higher education and the creative economy. He has published an influential lecture on Knowledge transfer without widgets: the challenge of the creative economy (2006). He chaired the Universities UK report Creating Prosperity: the role of higher education in driving the UK’s creative economy (2010).
Professor Crossick was until recently a member of the Board of Universities UK and Chair of the university sector’s Financial Sustainability Strategy Group. He is a member of the HEFCE Enterprise & Skills Committee. His essay The future is more than just tomorrow: higher education, the economy and the longer term was published by Universities UK in September 2010. He was recently appointed by the French government to the governing Council of the Agence d’évaluation de la recherche et de l’enseignement supérieur. He is a social historian specialising in the urban social history of 19th and 20th century Britain and continental Europe, and is the author or editor of 7 books and over 40 articles. A Fellow of both the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Arts, Professor Crossick was in 2004 elected an Honorary Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
Richard Russell, Arts Council England
Richard is the Arts Council’s Strategy Director with a remit covering policy development and research, and has led on establishment of the Digital R&D fund for the arts with Nesta and the AHRC. Prior to this role, he was national Director for Strategic Partnerships leading on place, communities, local government and the creative economy. Before his national roles, he worked in the Arts Council's south east region, where as Director, External Relations & Development he led a number of projects including coastal cultural regeneration programmes, arts broadcast projects with the BBC, Channel 4 and FIVE, and the region's strategy for children, young people and the arts. In 2008, Richard was seconded to the Commission for Architecture & the Built Environment to set up the DCMS funded Sea Change programme. Richard has held senior posts in a range of arts organisations and funding agencies including Southern Arts, Cleveland Arts, Birmingham City Council, and a number of arts centres and festivals throughout England. He managed the programme for Birmingham's Year as UK City of Music in 1992 and helped create a number of new organisations and initiatives, including Sound It Out Community Music in Birmingham and various artists in schools programmes.
Pablo Rossello, British Council
Pablo Rossello works as Programme Manager for the British Council's Creative and Cultural Economy Department since 2006, where he oversees the development and delivery of the programme in Latin America, the Middle East and Central and South Asia. He holds a MSc in Sociology from the London School of Economics, and a MA in Cultural and Creative Industries from King's College London.
Link: creativeconomy.britishcouncil.org
Link: creativeconomy.britishcouncil.org
Anamaria Wills, CIDA
Award-winning practitioner and cultural producer with over 30 years’ experience working in the creative sector, including at the National Theatre, the Old Vic and the Arts Council. She founded CIDA in January 2000 specifically to help artists earn more from their creativity. Since then, the company has supported the development of around 3,000 artists and creative enterprises across the world; has helped create over 600 new creative jobs; and has brought nearly £40million into the UK creative economy Internationally, she is currently working with transnational partnerships aimed at strengthening creative entrepreneurship and innovation in the creative economy in Europe. She led on developing the first comprehensive creative sector competency and qualifications programme for the Singapore Workforce Development Agency. Most recently, she has co-devised and delivered the Creative Enterprise programme for the British Council across Sub Saharan Africa. She regularly works with HE institutions across the world, bringing the perspective of the practitioner and links with the breadth of creative industries, to develop innovative programmes for post-graduates and post-doctoral researchers. She has just returned from Brazil where she gave the annual SESI public lecture ‘Transforming Your City Through Creativity’ to mark the 2012 anniversary of the founding of the city of Sao Paulo.
Link: www.cida.org
Link: www.cida.org
Simon Dancey, CCSKills
Simon Dancey is the International Director for Creative and Cultural Skills, the UK sector skills council for the creative industries.
His role is to develop international partnerships, projects and policy across the globe, focussing on skills development and interventions including apprenticeships. He is a board member of the International Network of Sector Skills Organisations (INSSO), the former Director of Community Music Wales and a trustee of the Arts Council of Wales, with specific interest in international arts, training and social justice.
He has a wealth of international training and advisory experience in countries from Australia to Finland and Israel to the USA, working both with NGOs, government organisations, and agencies including the European Union, UNESCO and the British Council. He has been a member of a number of international advisory groups developing cultural and social justice policies, including Creative Co-operations and the 3Net initiative.
His role is to develop international partnerships, projects and policy across the globe, focussing on skills development and interventions including apprenticeships. He is a board member of the International Network of Sector Skills Organisations (INSSO), the former Director of Community Music Wales and a trustee of the Arts Council of Wales, with specific interest in international arts, training and social justice.
He has a wealth of international training and advisory experience in countries from Australia to Finland and Israel to the USA, working both with NGOs, government organisations, and agencies including the European Union, UNESCO and the British Council. He has been a member of a number of international advisory groups developing cultural and social justice policies, including Creative Co-operations and the 3Net initiative.
Jeremy Davenport, Creative Industries KTN
Jeremy has a passion and expertise in working across professional disciplines, organisations and cultures to drive innovation in process and product. Career that spans public and private sector with focus on business development and leading in the design and delivery of inter disciplinary programmes and projects across varied sectors. Particular interest in the knowledge economy, strategic HR - corporate alignment, and KT and the Creative Industries as a driver to solving commercial and social problems and challenges.
Professional Experience: University of the Arts London/Creative Industries Knowledge Transfer Network; SQW Ltd - Cambridge; Enlargement - European Commission - Slovenia; Overseas Development Administ; ODI Fellow; Masdar UK Ltd.
Professional Experience: University of the Arts London/Creative Industries Knowledge Transfer Network; SQW Ltd - Cambridge; Enlargement - European Commission - Slovenia; Overseas Development Administ; ODI Fellow; Masdar UK Ltd.
Kion Ahadi, Head of Research & Evaluation, Creative Skillset
Dr Kion Ahadi is currently Head of Research and Evaluation at Creative Skillset, which entails managing a portfolio of projects with a total value of over £2m. He has worked at a senior level for a number of organisations, such as the Department for Work and Pensions, Lifelong Learning UK, the Management Standards Centre and the Health Foundation. He has also worked in the past as a Senior Research Advisor for Nesta and the Young Foundation where he undertook an evaluation of the Regional Innovation Funds Advisory Service (a £200m fund supporting innovative projects across the NHS).
Kion has commissioned and also conducted a number of high profile systematic reviews, the most recent one looking at the role networks play in improving the quality of healthcare. As Head of the Management Standards Centre Kion was responsible for managing the revision of the management and leadership national occupational standards and for developing standards for management consultants. He also led the production of a Sector Qualification Strategy for Management and Leadership, which was highly regarded by the UK Commission for Employment Skills.
Link: www.creativeskillset.org/research/activity
Kion has commissioned and also conducted a number of high profile systematic reviews, the most recent one looking at the role networks play in improving the quality of healthcare. As Head of the Management Standards Centre Kion was responsible for managing the revision of the management and leadership national occupational standards and for developing standards for management consultants. He also led the production of a Sector Qualification Strategy for Management and Leadership, which was highly regarded by the UK Commission for Employment Skills.
Link: www.creativeskillset.org/research/activity
Hasan Bakhshi, Director of Creative Industries at NESTA's Policy & Research Unit
Hasan leads NESTA's creative industries and digital policy and research. Prior to NESTA, Hasan worked as Executive Director and Senior International Economist at Lehman Brothers, and as Deputy Chief Economist at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He has eight years' experience as an economist at the Bank of England. Hasan has published widely in academic journals and policy publications on topics ranging from technological progress and economic growth to the economics of the creative and cultural sector.
He has also consulted for a number of organisations, including the European Commission, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and the British Film Institute. Hasan has a BA in Economics from Cambridge and an MPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford.
He is also Honorary Visiting Professor at City University, Research Fellow at the ARC Centre for Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation at the Queensland University of Technology and a member of the Creative Industries Council.
Link: www.nesta.org.uk
He has also consulted for a number of organisations, including the European Commission, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and the British Film Institute. Hasan has a BA in Economics from Cambridge and an MPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford.
He is also Honorary Visiting Professor at City University, Research Fellow at the ARC Centre for Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation at the Queensland University of Technology and a member of the Creative Industries Council.
Link: www.nesta.org.uk
Sara Selwood, Independent cultural analyst
Sara has worked in museums and galleries and cultural management for 30 years in various capacities including as curator, director and academic. Sara is a Visiting Professor of Cultural Policy and Management at City University, London, and an Honorary Professor, Institute of Archaeology, University College London. Her work as a consultant includes organisational change, policy and programme reviews, evaluations, visitor studies, mentoring and training, and research. She has written extensively on the relationship between the expectations of UK cultural policy, its implementation, funding and the publics’ experience of cultural provision. Her books include The Benefits of Public Art: the polemics of permanent art in public places (Policy Studies Institute, 1995), the first critical analysis of public art in England, and The UK Cultural Sector: profile and policy issues (2001) which remains the most comprehensive overview of the sector. She recently chaired a major review of Renaissance in the Regions, a £300m programme of government investment in regional museums in England.
Link: creativeconomy.britishcouncil.org/people/sara-selwood
Link: creativeconomy.britishcouncil.org/people/sara-selwood