We are delighted to announce the appointment of Co-Chairs to the CHEAD Innovation and Knowledge Exchange Forum.
Rowan Bailey is Professor of Culture, People and Place and Strategic Lead for Research in the Arts and Humanities at the University of Huddersfield. She is Director of the Centre for Cultural Ecologies in Art, Design and Architecture (CEADA) and the National Creative Health Hub, leading knowledge and cultural exchange at the intersection of culture, place, health and community development. Her work focuses on place-based cultural development, creative health, and transnational knowledge and cultural exchange. She currently leads Cultures of _ (2022-2026), a major programme of place-based cultural development in Kirklees that works with cultural organisations, local authorities and communities to strengthen cultural participation, local identity and long-term cultural infrastructure. Through the West Yorkshire Creative Health System, she leads a regional consortium that is developing a coordinated creative health ecosystem, bringing together health, cultural and community partners to support system change and improve health and wellbeing outcomes across West Yorkshire. Across her work, she is committed to developing collaborative models that connect research, policy and practice to address contemporary social, cultural and health challenges.
Charlotte Nicol is Associate Dean, Research & Knowledge Exchange (People & Place) at Teesside University, where she provides strategic leadership for a multi-million pound portfolio spanning the Arts and Social Sciences schools, and chairs the Creative Digital Investment Zone Board. Before moving into higher education leadership, Charlotte held leadership positions in the creative and cultural industries. She is a Clore Fellow and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a former Creative UK National Council member.
Charlotte Frost is Associate Dean at the UCA Canterbury School of Art, Architecture and Design, where she leads the school's research, knowledge exchange and civic engagement strategy. She is Principal Investigator on the Sidney Cooper AI project, a collaboration with the Sidney Cooper Trust and the Beaney House of Art and Knowledge exploring AI-mediated approaches to heritage and living archives. Before joining UCA, Charlotte was Programme Manager for the £2.3m UKRI-funded Games and Innovation Nexus (GAIN), a major knowledge exchange programme delivering multi-institutional partnerships and industry engagement across the games sector. Prior to that, she was Co-Director of Furtherfield, an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, where she produced community-engaged digital art projects including CultureStake, The People's Park Plinth and The Treaty of Finsbury Park, supported by funders including Arts Council England, DCMS and EU Creative Europe. Her work sits at the intersection of digital innovation, cultural heritage and civic participation, connecting research, policy and practice to address contemporary knowledge exchange challenges.
The IKE Forum was created by CHEAD’s RIKE Alliance to catalyse innovation and knowledge exchange in art, design, creative media, and related disciplines. It does this through providing space for open dialogue, sharing of practices, and the co-development of understanding and advocacy to:
Support members’ engagement with industry, third sector and cultural partner organisations, international institutions, local and national agencies, and policy makers
Develop understanding and literacy around the KEF Framework, innovation practices, civic engagement, and ethical practice in knowledge and cultural exchange
Advocate for the value of innovation, knowledge and cultural exchange in institutional policy, sector frameworks, and public discourse
Catalyse and build strategies, capacity and capabilities towards future KEF cycles, and other frameworks
IKE Forum membership is open to those with leadership roles or organisational responsibility for Innovation and Knowledge in member organisations as well as staff from those organisations involved or interested in innovation and knowledge exchange.
A Co-Chair model is used for both the REF Forum and the IKE Forum to encourage an inclusive and shared leadership model.
See CHEAD Events for the upcoming IKE Forum series of online discussions exploring the evolving landscape of creative industries policy, devolution and civic engagement and knowledge and cultural exchange.
