Professor Sarita Malik
Associate Pro Vice Chancellor – Research Impact / Professor - Media, Culture and Communications

Summary

Sarita Malik has been Professor of Media and Culture in the Division of Sociology and Communications since 2016. Her research examines issues of inequality and culture (representation, production and participation) in shifting sociopolitical, cultural and technological contexts. Since the 1990s, Sarita's work has made a major contribution to how 'diversity', social justice and the role of arts and culture are understood through policy and practice, most notably in the Creative Industries. Publications have spanned topics including 'race', representation and diversity in film, public service broadcasting and the cultural industries, creative activisms, racialised terminology in organisational cultures, and she has produced a range of writings on culture and inequality more widely.

Sarita is a Member of the AHRC Peer Review College and in 2022, was appointed to The Department of Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) College of Experts. Sarita is a Member of Creative UK's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Group, and the recipient of the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies 2024 Outstanding Achievement Award.  

Sarita was a Member of Sub-Panel 34 (Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, Library and Information Management) for the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF2021) exercise. 

As a former curator and public arts programmer, broadcast journalist and professional research bid writer, Sarita's research is built on knowledge exchange with a variety of stakeholder groups, community, professional and public, often drawing on collaborative, interdisciplinary and participative research methodologies. Since 2011, Sarita has been the Principal Investigator on four Connected Communities UKRI/Arts and Humanities Research Council projects, including a multi-stakeholder study of community filmmaking and cultural diversity and a collaborative project with the British Film Institute exploring diasporic cinema.

Between 2014 and 2020, Sarita generated and led a major AHRC-funded international consortia project about the relationship between culture, creativity and resistance in mainland UK, Palestine, Northern Ireland and India http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/projects?ref=AH/N004094/1 . Her latest AHRC project (2021-24) is a collaboration with the Guardian and British Film Institute, and is a longitudinal study of the screen sector where racial inequality remains a policy challenge. Sarita's research has been disseminated widely in a range of outlets including the Guardian, Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, The Conversation, Arts Professional, Sight and Sound, Black Film Bulletin, Channel 4, the BBC and Sky Television.

Qualifications

Sarita has a PhD in Sociology (Open University) [AHRB collaborative studentship based at the British Film Institute under the principal supervision of the late cultural theorist, Stuart Hall], an MA in Film and Television Studies (University of Warwick) and a BA (Hons) in English and Media (Sussex University).

Responsibility

Professor Malik is Associate Pro Vice Chancellor - Research Impact