Roberta Comunian joined the Department of CMCI in September 2012. Her PhD research investigated the relationship between creative industries, cultural policy and public supported art institutions in the context of Newcastle-Gateshead. She has also undertaken research on knowledge transfer and creative industries as AHRC Impact Fellow. She has recently led an AHRC research network grant to investigate the connections between Higher Education and the Creative Economy and has explored in various papers the career opportunities and patterns of creative graduates.

She is currently researching the development of Creative Economies in Africa through an AHRC funded international research network grant. 

Research Interests and PhD Supervision

• Relationship between public and private investments in the arts;
• creative and cultural industries and knowledge and production networks;
• higher education and the creative economy  including creative graduates and creative careers;
• complexity theory and its connections with the creative economy;
• role of creative industries in local and regional development

Roberta is not currently accepting PhD applications.

For more details, please see her full research profile. 

Teaching

Dr Roberta Comunian teaches in the MA in Arts & Cultural Management

Expertise and Public Engagement

Dr Comunian's expertise and engagement include policy work on the topic of Higher Education and the Creative Economy (www.creative-campus.org.uk). She recently published a policy pamphlet on this topic available to download here.

Recently, she is engaging with the international dimension of the creative economy, specifically in the context of Africa through an AHRC funded research network www.creative-economy-africa.org.uk