Team

Susie is the Creative Economies Lab Administrator, working across both Bristol+Bath Creative R+D and South West Creative Technology Network. She is the first point of contact for the lab, providing administrative, communications and events support for a wide range of research activities and day-to-day running of the projects.

Her background is in healthcare information management and reporting, and loves all things data.

As the Communications & Events Officer for Bristol + Bath Creative R+D. She manages all social media, newsletters and aids in event promotion and production. Using her skills to create a greater understanding of the work of the cluster to the Bristol and Bath network. Working closely with the Directors on the legacy of the £6.8m government-funded project. She has experienced knowledge of communicating in large complex organizations both internally and externally.

Amy is also a consultant in social media for artists and creatives. Working to help individuals authentically tell their story online, in a way that doesn’t hinder their practice but enhances it.

Along with communications and marketing, she is an experienced art photographer, curator, and production assistant. With a passion for how new technologies can allow for better accessibility and inclusivity in the digital world.

Tarek is working on a number of large research projects examining creative industries clusters in the south west of England and beyond. Currently, he is working on Bristol+ Bath Creative R+D (including the Creative Workforce for the Future project) as well as legacy planning for the South West Creative Technology Network (SWCTN). Previously he was part Founder and Deputy Director of Network: Queen Mary University of London’s Centre for the Creative and Cultural Economy. Network was partly a legacy of Creativeworks London, which was a large knowledge exchange hub, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council between 2012 and 2016. There, Tarek conducted research into knowledge exchange practices, creative SMEs, creative clusters, and creative hubs – where he has published extensively.

Alice runs Container Magazine. She is an editor, researcher and creative producer interested in art, music, film and figuring out how the world works. Alice is the editor on two research programmes, Bristol+Bath Creative R+D and South West Creative Technology Network, and a researcher on the UK Feature Docs project. Her own research interests include the commons and alternative value systems. Originally from Belfast, Alice worked as an arts programmer and producer for over ten years, specialising in music and arts festivals and events.

Melissa works on the Research England-funded South West Creative Technology Network (SWCTN), which supports creative technologists across the South West. SWCTN run funded research and prototype programmes, supporting thinkers and makers to do what they love and create new work and businesses. She’s currently producing the data strand of the programme: www.swctn.org.uk/data

Having studied human rights law at postgraduate level, she spent 10 years working as a documentary filmmaker specialising in oral history, worked in feature film development, and was for three years CEO of a modern slavery charity. She is interested in how people in the creative economies can develop new ways of working, producing and leading, develop themselves and their teams and drive meaningful social change.

Kerry is the Research Manager for the Creative Economies Lab, and works mainly on the Bristol+Bath Creative R+D programme. She works with the partners and team across the programme to make sure that the reporting, contracts and budgets are doing what they should be, as well as many other programme management responsibilities.

Kerry has a background in research development in universities and operational management in the charity sector, and so has some insight into the demands on people and organisations from funders, regulators and government bodies. She matches these practical skills with her aspirations and desire to create a better world for creative industries and society in general.

Jon is the Director of Bristol+Bath Creative R+D and heads up the Creative Economies Lab. He worked with video as a writer, editor and researcher in broadcast TV for the first half of his career, and co-founded original scratch artists Gorilla Tapes in 1984, exhibiting internationally for ten years. He works in theory and practice in technology and cultural form.

Liz Roberts is a Research Fellow for Bristol+Bath Creative R+D and the South West Creative Technologies Network, where she focuses on evaluation of the programmes. Liz is a cultural geographer who has worked at the intersection of social science and arts and humanities across a range of interdisciplinary projects. Her research has centred around cultural industries and digital policy (specifically in the rural context), visual and creative methods, science communication and climate change, resilience and wellbeing, film analysis and storytelling.

Simon is Associate Professor of Creative Economies at UWE Bristol. His work is concerned with critiquing concepts like ‘creativity’ and ‘economy’ to imagine more equitable futures for cultural and creative work. He co-leads the Lab alongside Tarek Virani.

He is currently leading a research team to explore these themes as part of the £30M ‘My World’ (UKRI Strength in Places Fund) programme led by University of Bristol. He is also co-investigator on the multi-million pound Bristol and Bath Creative R&D Cluster (AHRC) programme, where he leads its evaluation and research strategy. He is also the Chair of the AHRC Monitoring and Evidence Working Group, hosting a national conversation about the impacts of the Creative Industries Cluster Programme (CICP).

He is also an artist​ and author, drawing and writing about everyday life, focusing on the geographies and histories of memory, and our relationship to the landscape.

Juliet is the Research Coordinator for Bristol+Bath Creative R+D, where she works with Simon Moreton to run the Creative Ecologies Pathfinder. This includes managing the Trailblazer Fund, New Scholars scheme, and Hopeful Futures Network. She acts as a pivot point between the team: coordinating communications, events and the day-to-day running of the project. Her background is in the visual arts, having previously worked at Spike Island, Arnolfini and Antlers Gallery in Bristol, and Wormfarm Institute in Wisconsin, USA.