Triangle

City as Lab connects digital research with the people, places and policymakers of the Nottingham city region. It facilitates collaboration through small-scale project funding, the use of friendly convening space at Castle Meadow Campus in the heart of the city, and the offer of award-winning tools for harnessing and visualising place-based data.

We regularly host city and regional policymakers, government departments and community and voluntary organisations. This ranges from Nottingham City Council, the East Midlands Combined County Authority and the Department for Transport to the NHS City Care Partnership and charities like Refugee Roots and the Canal and River Trust, among many others.

 

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Meet the Team

Headshot of Professor Paul Grainge
Flower
Sara Winskill-Smith headshot
 

Paul Grainge

Academic Director, City as Lab

Paul is Professor of Film and Television Studies at the University of Nottingham. He has led a number of major strategic initiatives involving partner collaboration in Nottingham and the Midlands region.

He was formerly Director of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership and currently serves on the Programme Board of the Universities for Nottingham Co(l)laboratory Doctoral Research Hub

At a national level, Paul is a member of AHRC Advisory Board.

Jasper Donelan

Digital Research Specialist, City as Lab

Jasper is one of the University's Digital Research Specialists, a team of colleagues who advise on innovative and secure uses of technology for research.

Jasper is interested in ways of making data and technology engaging for diverse audiences, as well as in the interaction between physical and digital assets.

Sara Winskill

Senior Projects Administrator, City as Lab

Sara is an experienced Senior Administrator, providing support to the City as Lab programme and projects.

Sara has worked in a range of roles at the University of Nottingham over several years. With a background in Research and Innovation, Sara has built up knowledge and experience in managing both internal and external funded projects, along with Local and Regional Development Funds.

 
Helen Kennedy
Tara Webster-Deakin
Gary Priestnall
John Hickson
 

Helen Kennedy

Challenge Theme Lead, Telling Untold Stories of the City

Tara Webster-Deakin

Challenge Theme Lead, Improving the lives of young people

Tara Webster-Deakin is an Assistant Professor of Education with expertise in student engagement, multi-sector partnership working, and collaborative research. Tara's university role encompasses teaching, pedagogical research, and outreach with schools and the local community. 

Prior to HE Tara managed regional projects working with and advocating for young people for whom the system had failed, and teaching Drama and French to 11-16 year olds. She describes herself as a "social justice champion" and is passionate about ensuring youth voice is heard.

As well as her university role, Tara is a member of the Collaborative Action Research Network Coordinating Committee and is on the Editorial Board of the Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning Journal.

Gary Priestnall

Geovisualisation Lead, City as Lab

Gary Priestnall is an Associate Professor within the School of Geography with research interests in digital geographic representation, using a range of technologies including Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and location-ware mobile computing.

He has led the development and application of the Projection Augmented Relief Model (PARM) technique.

A recent collaboration with Nottingham City Council resulted in the Nottingham City PARM, located in the City as Lab space, which was awarded the British Cartographic Society’s ‘Map of the Year’ in 2024.

John Hickson

Geospatial Data Lead, City as Lab

John is the City as Lab Geospatial Data lead and spends most of his life wrangling data of all formats for CaL research projects.

John comes to the CaL team fresh out a PhD at the University of Nottingham in the School of Geography where he studied the effects of climate change in forests using a wholly remote sensed methodology. John has a background in forest ecology, mapping, and remote sensing.

When not wrangling data, John spends his time painting, riding motorcycles, and climbing.

John is a specialist resource available to researchers who are looking to collaborate with CaL to assist in mapping and data acquisition.