The Brunel Creative Industries Hub was established in 2021 to build connections between academia and the creative sector in West London. Its aim is to showcase the latest research and teaching in the creative industries at Brunel University London.
We approach the ‘Creative Industries’ with a broad cultural, artistic and creative remit intended to cover the manifold activities, practices and theoretical approaches that reach across staff, students and disciplines in the College - from creating poetry to managing intellectual property.
Our staff, students and industry collaborators are at the heart of the Creative Industries Hub - creating, learning, developing and educating one another in dynamic exchange. The Creative Industries Hub was instigated to give a place to come together, a place where we can discuss and expand on the wonderful work in the creative and cultural sector created at Brunel, in West London, the UK and globally.
Explore our website and find out more about our research projects, student work, podcasts, events and more.
Creative Industries Leads
Isobel Ward – Creative Industries and Communities Business Development
Dr Isobel Ward supports academics, industry and practitioners to develop impactful partnerships and collaborative research opportunities together. Isobel originally trained in architecture and has worked on small and large projects from the design consultation phase to delivering buildings on site, and coordinating with clients, consultants and artists. She has also worked in research and engagement roles for charities, on a number of academic projects, and as a freelance project manager. Her experience in working with cultural institutions and arts practitioners, in combination with social sciences and humanities academic research means she is able to work across disciplines and sectors to strengthen industry-academic partnerships.
If you have collaborative projects you would like to discuss, are seeking academic expertise or are looking to link up with external partners, please email: isobel.ward@brunel.ac.uk.
Professor Mónica Degen
Mónica Degen is Professor of Urban Cultural Sociology at Brunel. Her research examines the politics of space in cities through the prism of experiential urbanism and she has worked in the creative sector with architects, museum practitioners, place branding experts and designers. Her work has shaped strategies for urban design in London and Barcelona and influenced the curatorial practices of several major museums from Cologne City Museums to the Museum of London. She is the author of Sensing Cities: Regenerating Public Life in Barcelona and Manchester (Routledge, 2004), The New Urban Aesthetic: Digital Experiences of Urban Change (Bloomsbury, 2022 with Gillian Rose - Oxford University) as well as many papers on urban cultural regeneration, cultural institutions and cultural policy. In her spare time Monica enjoys going to exhibitions, watching films, travelling and the beach.
You can contact her on: monica.degen@brunel.ac.uk.
For more information on her work and reports see:
Chris Cox
Chris has worked across the Creative sector both theatrically and in Games Design – he currently teaches Games where his interests lie particularly in why people play the games they do, what is it that draws them in and keeps them playing – why do certain games appeal? He’s worked in various roles at Brunel as an academic and working around the student experience. In his spare time Chris loves the theatre (particularly interactive / immersive experiences) video games and has pet ferrets!