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Karen Patel
Associate Professor in Media at Birmingham City University
Karen Patel is an Associate Professor in Media at Birmingham City University's College of English and Media.12 She holds several key positions within the university:
- Academic Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the College of English and Media1
- Co-Lead of the Creative Industries Research Cluster in the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research1
- Director of the Centre for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the Arts (CEDIA) in Arts, Design and Media1
Her research interests primarily focus on:
- Diversity and inequalities in craft work and the broader creative industries1
- Cultural workers' use of social media1
- Expertise in cultural work3
Academic Work
Karen has authored two books:
- "Craft as a Creative Industry" (Routledge, 2024)
- "The Politics of Expertise in Cultural Labour: Arts, Work and Inequalities" (Rowman and Littlefield, 2020)
She also co-edited "Craft Entrepreneurship" with Annette Naudin (Rowman and Littlefield, 2020).1
Current Projects
Karen is currently working on an Academy of Medical Sciences/British Academy UK-AU Networking Grant project. This project explores socially engaged craft and sustainability, in collaboration with researchers from the National University of Singapore and RMIT in Melbourne.1
Previous Research
She previously led the Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project "Craft Expertise" in collaboration with Crafts Council. This project revealed the extent of racism and microaggressions in the UK craft sector and produced various toolkits and reports for Crafts Council advising on practice and actions for inclusivity in craft.1
Karen Patel's work significantly contributes to understanding and addressing issues of inequality, expertise, and cultural value in the UK craft and creative industries.4
Highlights
I have written a piece for Nature Careers on equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives in the humanities, with CEDIA at BCU and my AHRC funded project Craft Expertise as case studies, and drawing on my own experience in higher education. https://lnkd.in/etPptfBe
Pleased to announce my first publication - a chapter in 'Collaborative Production in the Creative Industries', free to download
