The ADAPT-AI consortium is thrilled to be working with these extraordinary cultural venues and cutting-edge creative digital partners to tackle the urgent challenge of growing and diversifying audiences in our rapidly evolving creative economy. This unprecedented partnership positions our doctoral students at the heart of London's cultural landscape with access to millions of visitors and cutting-edge AI technologies, enabling them to critically develop ethical methods of audience engagement that will transform who participates in and who leads the UK's creative industries.
Professor Sarah Atkinson, Director ADAPT-AI Doctoral Focal Award, King’s College London
03 July 2025
King's awarded AHRC Doctoral Focal Award to deliver programme to grow and diversify audiences in the creative economy
ADAPT-AI Doctoral Focal Award, led by King’s with London South Bank University and Guildhall School of Music & Drama, will provide funding to recruit and train Doctoral students over seven years.
The ADAPT-AI: Analysing and Diversifying Audience Participation with Creative Technologies & AI, Doctoral Focal Award is a new initiative based in the Faculty of Arts & Humanities at King’s, in partnership with London South Bank University and Guildhall School of Music & Drama combining research expertise in the creative industries, digital humanities, media production, and performance practice.
The Arts and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Focal Awards champion the next generation of researchers, offering future-facing training in areas vital to the UK’s creative economy and societal wellbeing. The ADAPT-AI programme has been awarded funding to train twenty students across four cohorts over seven years.
The inaugural programme will see the ADAPT-AI cohort collaborate with a diverse group of partners including; Barbican Centre, 180 Studios, The National Gallery, Southbank Centre, Serpentine Galleries, VIVE Arts, Royal Shakespeare Company, Outernet, Lightroom, B3 Media, Target 3D, and Innovate UK Immersive Tech Network, who together are drawing millions of audience members annually and are leading in immersive content creation in the UK.
ADAPT-AI's London location means students will be at the heart of a global hub for creative industries and cultural innovation. The facilities and audiences across the consortium and partners mean doctoral students will have access to cutting-edge technologies and diverse user groups, essential for comprehensive audience research and development.
Introducing Focal Awards allows us to support cohorts of students in centres for excellence for strategically valuable areas such as health and the creative economy. In the future this approach will allow us, in consultation with the sector, to provide support where it is needed to disciplines across the arts and humanities, vital skills and digital humanities.
Professor Christopher Smith, Executive Chair, Arts and Humanities Research Council
The ADAPT-AI doctoral programme will train a new generation of digitally skilled, entrepreneurially adept creative thinkers and practitioners who will drive innovation and contribute to the growth of the UK creative economy. We are excited to be working with a diverse range of partners to address key skills gaps and underrepresentation in both the doctoral community and creative sector workforce.
Professor Peter Heather, Associate Dean for Doctoral Studies, King’s Doctoral College, King’s College London
At Southbank Centre, we're inventing the future of culture by exploring how new forms of digital creativity and cross-artform immersive experiences can reach wider and more diverse audiences. The ADAPT-AI programme offers an exciting opportunity to work with doctoral researchers to evaluate the impact of our programmes and to test new technologies and methods for understanding audience engagement and data. It will help us innovate with confidence, while strengthening our commitment to public value and cultural inclusion.
Mark Ball, Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre
Read the announcement on the UKRI AHRC website.
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