Creative and Cultural Industries Research Centre

The Creative and Cultural Industries Research Centre unites the activities that shape the interdisciplinary research landscape in the arts and humanities around a common purpose and intent. Our academic research focuses on increasing the understanding of the shifting boundaries and new relationships within artistic and humanities-based practice and theory, exploiting the potential of overlap and merger across disciplines to create new and dynamic knowledge. We share our research through our creative practice, exhibitions, events and published research.

Our aims

Our centre of excellence explores and communicates the research and its interdisciplinary impacts in diverse ways, through clusters focused on animal studies, art and wellbeing, pedagogy in practice, situated knowledge and place, social and political history, and literary and communication studies. Our researchers explore the potential of hybrid art forms made possible by using digitisation alongside traditional art and design media, performing and therapeutic arts, film and media, humanities and publishing, and collaborations across disciplinary boundaries. The research illuminates and challenges cultural values and social assumptions within civil society to benefit local, national and international communities and organisations. As well as influencing public and stakeholder activity. We share and disseminate our research and its impact through our creative practice, exhibitions, conferences and events as well as through published research.  
  
We are active in national and international research events and activities, such as the FORMAT International Film and Photography Festival, a biennial held across the city of Derby, and the Being Human festival. 

Research Centre Leads

The Creative and Culutural Industries Research Centre is led by Professor Ang Bartram and Professor John Steel. 

Ang Bartram reading book about dog theory to Oscar the dog
Professor Ang Bartram

Ang works as an artist and artistic researcher. Her research focuses on documentation as an act of ephemeral art process, and with animality and empathy (as acted and/or intuitively behaved)...

John Steel
Professor John Steel

John is Research Professor in Journalism and his role is to support research activities across the School and wider university. He has interests in a variety of research areas including journalism eth...

Our research

An attendee experiencing a virtual exhibit
Long exposure: developing the UK’s leading international photography festival

Making a significant and cultural impact on the city of Derby, FORMAT has grown to become the UK’s leading international photography festival. Organised as a collaboration with QUAD arts and media cen...

Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Artistic encounters deliver new perspectives on climate emergency

Vital debates about climate change are being taken into new communities – thanks to thought-provoking artistic research by the University of Derby. Our researchers have devised original approaches tha...

A giant figure of Brittania walks in the South Wales valleys
Addressing the history and identity of welsh wales through Realistic Collage

Understanding our past can help us learn and discover how and why historical events occurred. Researcher Marc Bosward is concerned with how history and society can be understood through the practice o...

Research Clusters

Angela Bartram's dogs and people
Digital and Material Artistic Research Cluster

The Digital and Material Artistic Research Centre (DMARC) is the home to artistic research from the disciplines of Performing Arts, Music, Media, Art and Design within the School of Arts.

Identity, Culture and Representation Research Cluster

We are a centre of excellence in exploring and communicating the impacts of Derbyshire's heritage, from the local to the global.

Join us

If you are interested in joining the research centre or would like to find out more about how we could collaborate with you, please contact Professor Ang Bartram or Professor John Steel.

If you are interested in applying for a PhD, please contact: