Department of Cultural, Media and Visual Studies

 

 

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Helen Kennedy

Professor of Creative and Cultural Industries, Faculty of Arts

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Biography

My career has been characterised by my passion for the integration of research, innovative curriculum development and collaborative and creative partnerships. I began her academic career at the University of Gloucestershire as a Senior Lecturer in Media Communications working in a mixed practice and theory environment. Within the first year I took on the Field Leadership responsibility overseeing staffing, pedagogic strategies and the research development of the practice based staff within the Department. I then moved to the School of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of the West of England (UWE) in 2002 and spent the following seven years inaugurating and developing the Play Research Group (PRG) and the Digital Cultures Research Centre (DCRC) as key international nodes in the field of Game Studies through seminars, symposia, conferences and visiting fellowships. During this period I published widely and collaboratively with the other wonderful members of the PRG and DCRC - in the process we established a distinctly British Game Studies approach to the examination of computer games, everyday technologies of play and the wider ludification of culture.

In 2013 I moved to Brighton to take on a Deputy Head role leading and managing a very large school of Art, Design and Media and became Head of the newly formed School of Media in February 2016. I left Brighton in August 2019 to take up the position as Professor of Creative and Cultural Industries here at Nottingham.

My current research interests are feminist interventions into games culture and the creative industries more generally, immersive experience design, and cultural evaluation. I was Principal Investigator on an international project aimed at the transformation of games (REFIG.ca) from 2015 - 2021. Since 2014, I have been researching experiential cinema as an aspect of the ludification of contemporary culture with Professor Sarah Atkinson at King's College London with whom I have co-authored a number of key, field establishing publications. I have led and am currently leading a number of funded projects in the area of immersive experiences - XR Circus, Surround Stories and Live, Experiential and Digital Diversification.

Teaching Summary

I am currently teaching modules at BA and MA level that are concerned with contemporary understandings of the Creative and Cultural Industries. Although these encompass a broad sense of the field I… read more

Research Summary

Currently co-leading an ERDF funded project supporting SME engagement with Immersive Technologies. The project is called Live and Experiential Digital Diversification: Nottingham (LEADD:NG) and more… read more

Department of Cultural, Media and Visual Studies

University Park
Nottingham, NG7 2RD

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