The team consists of a number of staff with wide reach across the project, and those working on the three strands. The various partners of these strands are also shown here.
Professor Ian Hargreaves, Principal Investigator
Cardiff University, Journalism Media and Cultural Studies
Ian Hargreaves is Professor of Digital Economy at Cardiff University. Most of his career was in journalism (Editor, the Independent; Director BBC News). In 2010 he reviewed creative industries policy for the Welsh Government. In 2011 he reviewed intellectual property issues for the UK Government. He is working on a Creative Economy Manifesto with Nesta.
Ian’s blog posts
Jennifer Peach, administration
Cardiff University, Journalism Media and Cultural Studies
Caroline Chapain, Cross-cutting themes Research Co-ordinator and Co-Investigator
University of Birmingham, Business School
Caroline Chapain is a lecturer at the Business School, University of Birmingham. Her research touches upon issues related to creativity, innovation, the creative and digital economies, creative clusters and local and regional development. Caroline is one of the coordinators of the Creative Regions in Europe RSA Network.
Caroline’s blog posts
Professor John Hartley, consultant
John Hartley is a researcher in the fields of media, culture, and creative industries. His current interests include the uses of digital media for the growth of knowledge and public thought, and the convergence of the humanities and sciences in the study of evolutionary complex systems such as culture, language and identity.
Hyperlocal Publishing
Dave Harte, Co-Investigator
Birmingham City University, Birmingham School of Media
Dave Harte is a senior lecturer in Media and Communication at Birmingham City University’s School of Media where he leads a Master’s Award in Social Media. Dave has worked in business development and policy-making in the West Midlands region and ran a major support project for the region’s Digital Media sector in the mid-2000s. He edits the Hyperlocal news site for Bournville.
Dave’s blog posts
Dr Andy Williams, Co-Investigator
Cardiff University, Journalism Media and Cultural Studies
Andy Williams is a lecturer at Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies. His research interests include: the decline of the local newspaper industry and the rise of hyperlocal community news, and the relationship between news journalism and PR (especially in reporting of science, health, and the environment).
Glyn Mottershead, Co-Investigator
Cardiff University, Journalism Media and Cultural Studies
Glyn Mottershead is a former local and regional journalist who teaches at the Centre for Journalism and works with the Centre for Community Journalism, at Cardiff University. His interests include the skills hyperlocal journalists need, how sites can be sustainable and what coverage a community really needs from them.
Damian Radcliffe, Honorary Research Fellow
Cardiff University, Journalism Media and Cultural Studies
Damian Radcliffe has spent much of the past two decades working in new technology and local media. He has written about developments in this space for Ofcom, the BBC, the Online Journalism Blog and many others. He authored the UK’s first review of hyperlocal media, ‘Here and Now‘ for NESTA in 2012. His open hyperlocal research has had over 40,000 views since December 2010.
Jerome Turner, Research Fellow
Birmingham City University, Birmingham School of Media
Jerome Turner isa former multimedia practitioner and writer, having also worked at Birmingham City University’s research and development lab in user-centred design, User-lab. He has interests in the web and social media, with particular current focus on user experience in relation to hyperlocal publishing.
Jerome’s blog posts
Research partners to Hyperlocal Publishing strand
Ofcom, the UK media regulator and provider of much core data on UK media markets.
Talk About Local, a pioneer in scaling up and propagating hyperlocal journalism networks with proven expertise at Cabinet level.
Community-led Design
Catherine Greene, Co-Investigator
Royal College of Art, Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design
Dr Katerina Alexiou, Co-Investigator
Open University, Department of Design, Development, Environment and Materials
Katerina Alexiou is a Lecturer in Design at the Open University. Her research focusses on design theory and methods with a particular emphasis on design cognition, collaborative design and creativity. She also has an ongoing interest in complexity science.
Katerina’s blog posts
Dr Theodore Zamenopoulos, Co-Investigator
Open University, Department of Design, Development, Environment and Materials
Theodore Zamenopoulos is a Lecturer in Design at the Open University. His research combines insights in design cognition with knowledge about design as social action. He uses complexity science to study both the mental processes involved in design thinking and the practices and processes that generate creative capital in community led design.
Dr Panagiota Alevizou, Research Fellow
Open University, Department of Design, Development, Environment and Materials
Panagiota’s broader background is in media and communications with a particular emphasis on new media technologies, knowledge and cultural commons as well as digital literacies. She has worked on several projects surrounding the design and uses of social media in education and researched the tensions surrounding participation in open access initiatives.
Giota’s blog posts
Gail Ramster, Research Fellow
Royal College of Art, Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design
Gail Ramster began as a researcher after an MA in Industrial Design Engineering and previous experience in information design and wayfinding. She is committed to inclusive design, and is interested in how new technology can help create more inclusive neighbourhoods. Her previous research looked at ways to improve the design and provision of public toilets.
Gail’s blog posts
Research partners to Community-led Design strand
Nesta, the UK’s leading innovation-practice body.
The Glass-House Community-Led Design, which has admired expertise and substantial influence in its field.
Creative Networks
Professor Jon Dovey, Co-Investigator
University of the West of England, Faculty of Creative Arts, Humanities & Education
Professor Jon Dovey thinks about technology and cultural form. Most recently he has been working in Pervasive Media, Cultural Value and Creative Technology knowledge exchange. He is the Director of the Digital Cultures Research Centre at UWE and also of REACT, the AHRC Creative Economy Hub for Wales and the West.
Jon’s blog posts
Dr Shawn Sobers, Co-Investigator
University of the West of England, Faculty of Creative Arts, Humanities & Education
Dr Shawn Sobers is a Senior Lecturer in Photography and Media at the University of the West of England. He is a filmmaker, writer, photographer and facilitator of community media and arts. His PhD explored the motivations, impacts and cultural sustainability of stakeholders’ involvement in community media education, using ethnographic methodologies.
Dr Caroline Chapain, Co-Investigator
University of Birmingham, Business School
Caroline Chapain is a lecturer at the Business School, University of Birmingham. Her research touches upon issues related to creativity, innovation, the creative and digital economies, creative clusters and local and regional development. Caroline is one of the coordinators of the Creative Regions in Europe RSA Network.
Dr. Tamara West, Research Fellow
University of Birmingham, Business School
Tamara has tutored at Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Salford and has ongoing interests in photography, memory and identity. Her PhD was in Cultural Geography, where her research explored the spaces of former Displaced Persons camps through participant’s oral, visual, and physical returns to sites of memory.
Tamara’s blog posts
Dr Emma Agusita, Research Fellow
University of the West of England, Faculty of Creative Arts, Humanities & Education
Dr Emma Agusita is a research fellow at the Digital Cultures Research Centre at UWE. She is a researcher, lecturer, artist, producer and community media facilitator. Her PhD research examined young people’s creative use of technologies in the context of their participation in community media activity, using a practice-led participatory action research approach
Emma’s blog posts
Research partners to Creative Networks strand
South Blessed, a highly informal but innovative video channel based in Bristol, is largely self-generating and self-funded.
Moseley Exchange is an urban creative exchange in Birmingham: many other networks like it can be influenced by well researched insight into the way it generates value using the networks that exist both within and between such exchanges.
