People
Find out more about the people and networks behind Creative PEC.
Creative PEC Networks
Core Team
Meet our Core Team who are based between Newcastle University and RSA House, London.
Hasan Bakhshi MBE
Director
Nataliya Nikolova
UK Administration & Partnerships Manager (Creative UK)
Emily Hopkins
Policy Advisor
Rodrigo Cavalcante Michel
Research Associate (policy)
Nik Gunn
Policy Adviser
Anna Zabow
Head of Communications (job-share)
Alejandro Ramirez-Guerra
Research Associate at Newcastle University Business School
Tom Cahill-Jones
Research Network Manager
Simon Budgen
Head of Operations
Billy Beckett
Communications Manager
Lilli Geissendorfer
Deputy Director
Bernard Hay
Head of Policy
Duncan Todd
Finance and Administration Manager
Makena Guantai Day
Executive Assistant
Alice Kent
Head of Communications (job-share)
Giorgio Fazio
Research Director of Creative PEC and Chair of Macroeconomics at Newcastle University Business School
Industry Champions
Meet our Industry Champions. They are a UK-wide network of practitioners, drawn from all parts of the creative industries to provide Creative PEC with on-the-ground insight to inform our research and policy work.
Annie Lydford
Annie is Managing Director at Nevill Holt Opera
Nicole Yershon
Freelance Advertising Consultant
Nia Williams
Director of Learning and Engagement at National Museum Wales
Claire Whitaker
Bid Director, Southampton City of Culture 2025
Sharon Watson
CEO and Principal of Northern School of Contemporary Dance
Annie Warburton
Chief Executive at Cockpit Arts
Sandeep Virdee
Artistic Director and Founder Trustee at Darbar Arts Culture Heritage Trust
Zing Tsjeng
Freelance Journalist
Polly Tootal
Freelance Photographer
Yehrin Tong
Illustrator
Nia Thomas
Managing Director at Boom Cymru
Maria Tanjala
Co-founder of Big Couch and FilmChain
Phil Stuart
Founder and Creative Director of PRELOADED
Tolu Stedford
Development Producer at the Independent Film Trust and CEO of Creative Lions Productions
Nick Starr
Co-Founder at Bridge Theatre
Amy Smith
Head of Talent at Framestore
Jaswinder Singh
Director of Asian Arts Agency
Nasima Siddiqui
Co-Founder at WyndyMilla
Michelle Adia Scarlett
Community Immersive Producer
Will Saunders
Consultant and Executive Producer
Indhu Rubasingham
Artistic Director at Kiln Theatre
Lara Ratnaraja
Cultural Consultant
Laura Pye
Director at National Museums Liverpool
Rachel O’Riordan
Artistic Director of the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre
Kobi Onyame
Recording artist, Producer and Songwriter
Dave Moutrey
Director and CEO at HOME
Liz Mosley
Self-employed Graphic Designer
Helen Mort
Author
Jo Morrison
Director of Digital Innovation at Calvium
Conor Mitchell
Founder and Artistic Director of The Belfast Ensemble
Fiona McLaughlin
Co-founding Director at Taunt Studios
Vaughn McKenzie
CEO of JAAK
Samuel McDowell
Co-Founder and Director of Charco Press
Amanda Maxwell
Community Manager and board member of shesaid.so
Anna Lowe
Co-founder and Director of Partnerships at Smartify
Hope Dickson Leach
Writer and Director
Vikas Kumar
Founder and Director of GemArts
Nick Keynes
Director at Tileyard Studios
Anra Kennedy
Content and Partnerships Director at Culture24
Noel Kelly
Chief Executive Officer and Director at Visual Artists Ireland
Kurban Kassam
Freelance Film Producer
Reiko Kaneko
Ceramicist, Designer and Educator
Jennifer Johnston
Head of Learning at Into Film
Lyndsey Jackson
Deputy Chief Executive at Edinburgh Fringe Festival Society
Alia Alzougbi
Artist, Educator and Cultural Producer
Sade Banks
Founder and CEO of Sour Lemons
Mandy Barker
Founder of Sail Creative
Natalie Griffith
Brand & Marketing Director of Unit 2 Games
Lucy Bayliss
Head of Creative Programmes at DanceEast
Charlotte Beevor
Entrepreneurial Designer and Stylist
Kevin Beimers
Director of Italic Pig
Stephen Bennett
Joint Head of Policy Lab and Visual artist
Sarah Bird
Director of Wild Rumpus
Wolfgang Buttress
Artist
Ben Carlin
Co-Founder of Megaverse and Immerse Sheffield
Phil Critchlow
Founder and CEO of TBI Media
Stephanie Edwards
Co-Founder of Urban Symbiotics
Tom Adeyoola
Entrepreneur
Tony Heaton
Freelance Sculptor and Performance Artist
Tom Chalmers
Founder and Managing Director at Legend Times Group
Sarah Ellis
Director of Digital Development at Royal Shakespeare Company
Syima Aslam
Director at Bradford Literature Festival
Paul Corcoran
Chief Executive at Agent Marketing
Michaela Greene
Development and Communications Director at Roundhouse
Loyd Grossman
Chairman of The Royal Parks
Inua Ellams
Poet, Playwright, Performer, Graphic Artist and Designer
Ben Evans
Director at London Design Festival
Amir Hussain
Chief Executive at Yeme Architects
Global Creative Economy Council
The Global Creative Economy Council (GCEC) grew out of the PEC International Council that was working in the first stage of Creative PEC, from 2018-2023. Learn more about the work of the International Council.
The GCEC brings together academics, practitioners, policy professionals and investors from five continents to identify and discuss emerging trends of global significance in creative economy practice and policy. In particular, it aims to provide inclusive perspectives on global policy issues that span both Global South and Global North, and consider ideas for transnational policies and standards. Supported by PEC Creative and the British Council, it contributes to the work of both organisations by providing targeted insights and related research.
Daniar Amanaliev – Kyrgyzstan
Co-founder and CEO of ololo group. Chair of Kyrgyzstan’s Creative Industries association.
Laura Callanan – New York City, United States
Founding Partner of Upstart Co-Lab
Edna dos Santos-Duisenberg – based in Geneva, Switzerland and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Vice-President, International Federation on Multimedia Associations
George Gachara – Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia
Social entrepreneur, Arts Manager, and the Managing Partner at HEVA Fund LLP.
Avril Joffe – Johannesburg, South Africa
Post Graduate Coordinator of the Cultural Policy & Management Department at the Wits School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand
Marcel Kraus – Prague, Czech Republic
Head of the Hyb4City department at Charles University's Hybernská Campus, Prague
Jairaj Mashru – Mumbai, India
International Advisory Board of the Global Creative Economy Council
Omar Nagati – Cairo, Egypt
Architect, Urban Planner and Co-founder of CLUSTER
Diana Marcela Rey Vásque
Cultural Statistics Expert at UNDP for Saudi Arabia, Associate Researcher at Lado B
Leandro Valiati – Brazil, France and the UK
Senior Lecturer and Programme Director in Creative and Cultural Industries Programmes, University of Mancheste
Andrea Dempster Chung – Jamaica
Andrea Dempster Chung is the co-founder and executive director of Kingston Creative, an NGO that uses arts to achieve social and economic transformation.
Dwinita Larasati – West Java, Indonesia
Lecturer and Researcher at Industrial Design Program, FSRD ITB, Indonesia Tita is a product designer, lecturer/researcher at the Faculty of Art & Design, Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), Focal Po…
John Newbigin – UK
Chair, Creative PEC’s Global Creative Economy Council John is the Mayor of London’s Ambassador for the Creative Industries and is Chair of Creative PEC’s Global Creative Economy Council Gl…
Research Alumni
Our Research Alumni made up our research consortium during Creative PEC’s first phase from 2018-2023.
Alejandro Ramirez-Guerra
Research Associate at Newcastle University Business School
Xiaoren Wang
Postdoc research associate at CREATe
Claudia Burger
Policy Insights Manager
Tom Chivers
Research Associate
James Davies
Research Fellow, City-REDI, University of Birmingham
Ania Ostrowska
Research Officer (Screen), Creative Scotland
Matt Lyons
Research Fellow at City REDI, University of Birmingham
Victoria Barker
Research Associate in Creative Economy, University of Manchester
Raphael Leung
Data Science Fellow at Nesta
Oliver Cox
Heritage Engagement Fellow at the University of Oxford
Richard Sambrook
Professor of Journalism at Cardiff University
Jorge Velez-Ospina
Research Fellow in Innovation and Creative Industries
Ula Furgal
Research Associate at CREATe, University of Glasgow
Wessel Vermeulen
Lecturer in Macroeconomics at Newcastle University Business School
Olivia Gable
Policy Analyst at the Work Foundation
Martha Bloom
Researcher at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex
Rebecca Florisson
Policy Analyst at the Work Foundation
Melanie Wilkes
Policy Advisor at the Work Foundation
Diana Gutierrez Posada
Research Fellow at City REDI at the University of Birmingham
Tasos Kitsos
Research Fellow at City REDI at the University of Birmingham
Eva Nieto McAvoy
Research Associate at the School for Journalism, Media and Culture at Cardiff University
John Davies
Principal Data Scientist at Nesta
Cath Sleeman
Quantitative Research Fellow, Creative Economy & Data Analytics at Nesta
Juan Mateos-Garcia
Director of Innovation Mapping at Nesta
Caitriona Noonan
Lecturer in Media and Communication in the School for Journalism, Media and Culture at Cardiff University
Rebecca Riley
Business Development Director of City REDI at the University of Birmingham
Paul Moore
Director of Future Screens NI (a part of AHRC's Creative Industries Clusters Programme) and a Co-Director of Ulster University's Creative Industries Institute
Anne Green
Professor of Regional Economic Development at City REDI at the University of Birmingham
Raquel Ortega-Argile
Chair of Regional Economic Development at City REDI at the University of Birmingham
All People
Consortium Partners
Sawan Rathi
Research Fellow in the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex Business School
Mark Taylor
Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Methods at Sheffield Methods Institute, University of Sheffield
Siobhan McAndrew
Senior Lecturer in Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Sheffield Methods Institute, University of Sheffield
Jonathan Jones
Senior Lecturer at Newcastle University Business School
Dave O’Brien
Professor of Cultural and Creative Industries at The School of Arts, Languages and Cultures at The University of Manchester
Sara Maioli
Senior Lecturer in Economics and Director of Post-Graduate Research at Newcastle University Business School
Core Team
Research Fellows Newtwork
Rupert Oliver Allen
Manager of Economic Analysis, Creative Industries Sector, Department of Canadian Heritage
Simona Iammarino
Visiting Professor at the Department of Geography & Environment of the LSE;
Marlen Komorowski
Senior Research Fellow, Centre for the Creative Economy, Cardiff University
David Throsby
Distinguished Professor of Economics at Macquarie University
Raquel Ortega-Argiles
Chair of Regional Economic Development at Alliance Manchester Business School
Hye-Kyung Lee
Professor of Cultural Policy at the Department of Culture, Media and Creative Industries, King’s College London
Research Alumni
Alejandro Ramirez-Guerra
Research Associate at Newcastle University Business School
Xiaoren Wang
Postdoc research associate at CREATe
Claudia Burger
Policy Insights Manager
Tom Chivers
Research Associate
James Davies
Research Fellow, City-REDI, University of Birmingham
Ania Ostrowska
Research Officer (Screen), Creative Scotland
Industry Champions
Annie Lydford
Annie is Managing Director at Nevill Holt Opera
Nicole Yershon
Freelance Advertising Consultant
Nia Williams
Director of Learning and Engagement at National Museum Wales
Claire Whitaker
Bid Director, Southampton City of Culture 2025
Sharon Watson
CEO and Principal of Northern School of Contemporary Dance
Annie Warburton
Chief Executive at Cockpit Arts
Global Creative Economy Council
Daniar Amanaliev – Kyrgyzstan
Co-founder and CEO of ololo group. Chair of Kyrgyzstan’s Creative Industries association.
Laura Callanan – New York City, United States
Founding Partner of Upstart Co-Lab
Edna dos Santos-Duisenberg – based in Geneva, Switzerland and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Vice-President, International Federation on Multimedia Associations
George Gachara – Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia
Social entrepreneur, Arts Manager, and the Managing Partner at HEVA Fund LLP.
Avril Joffe – Johannesburg, South Africa
Post Graduate Coordinator of the Cultural Policy & Management Department at the Wits School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand
Marcel Kraus – Prague, Czech Republic
Head of the Hyb4City department at Charles University's Hybernská Campus, Prague