I am a collaborative researcher whose research focus and strategy concern the relationships between culture, policy and place governance. Research projects  in which I have been involved and led favour collaborative, practice-based and interdisciplinary research drawing on mixed methods.

Between 2012 - 2018 I was Co-Investigator on the AHRC Connected Communities large-grant project Understanding Everyday Participation - Articulating Cultural Values which led to research outputs including a monograph on the role of the public park within local cultural policy. From 2020 - 2022 I was Co-I on the national UKRI urgent call project 'Covid-19 impacts on cultural industries and implications for policy', a partnership project between the Centre for Cultural Value and AHRC Policy and Evidence Centre for Creative Industries (the PEC). I led the research network Beyond the Creative City, with partners in Manchester, Melbourne and Toronto, which built on research as a Co-I on the PEC. I am also a Co-I on the ESRC Strategic Hub for Local Policy Innovation Partnerships, leading the cultural recovery strand. Between October 2023 - March 2025 I am part-time seconded to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as UKRI Policy Fellow Cultural Placemaking and Levelling Up

Following a BSc Sociology, my doctoral research project at the University of Leicester investigated popular music, cultural policy and local cultural management.  My research trajectory has remained focused on policy-related projects, including an AHRC funded study of the Millennium Dome, an ESRC study of Local Music Industries and Economic Development in Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield, and the development of local cultural strategies and creative industries mapping. For five years (between 2004 - 2009) I worked outside of HE in research leadership for the cultural sector with non-departmental bodies in the North West, and was the founding Director of the Northwest Culture Observatory based at the regional cultural consortium, before returning to HE in 2009.

Research, knowledge exchange and public engagement activities concern the role and value of the arts and relationships between culture, place and policy. I regularly speak on these topics at academic conferences and sector symposia. Within the University, I work closely with Policy@Manchester, am on the advisory board for Creative Manchester and am affiliated to the Manchester Urban Institute, leading the Creative Placemaking theme. I am also an affiliate of the AHRC Policy and Evidence Centre for Creative Industries (the PEC).   Other governance and advisory roles for arts and cultural organisations include trustee and chair roles with Brighter Sound, the Macclesfield Barnaby Festival, and Abandon Normal Devices. I am currently non-executive director with Creative Addo, North Wales. 

Postgraduate Programmes

I founded the Masters in Arts Management, Policy and Practice which joined  the long-standing MA Art Gallery and Museum Studies in 2009 when I joined the Institute for Cultural Practice (ICP).  More recently, I have led the development of new programmes, such as MA Heritage Studies, and Creative and Cultural Industries. I also lead the PhD by Professional Practice in Arts and Cultural Management, which is co-convened with sister programmes in Museum Practice and Arts and Social Pratice.