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King’s People

Biography

Dr Lauren England joined the CMCI Department in 2021. Prior to this, she was a Baxter Fellow in Creative Economies at the University of Dundee. Her PhD (2016-2019) on craft higher education and sustainable business development in the UK was conducted in the CMCI Department at King’s, in collaboration with Crafts Council UK.

She is currently researching the development of sustainable creative economies in Africa, with a focus on fashion and craft. Lauren has received funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the British Academy, Urban Studies Foundation, and Bristol & Bath Creative R&D (AHRC).

Research interests

  • Craft entrepreneurship and the organisation of craft firms
  • Sustainability and creative enterprises and ecologies
  • Cultural and Creative Industries in developing economies, focusing on Africa
  • Higher education and the creative economy, including pedagogical practices and creative graduates
  • The impact of Covid-19 on creative economies and creative workers
  • Cultural policy and the work of socially engaged arts organisations

Selected publications

  • England, L. 2022. Crafting professionals: Skills and resources for graduates entering the craft economy. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 25(6), pp.1633-1651.
  • England, L. 2021. Crafting professionals: entrepreneurial strategies for making a living through passionate work. Innovation
  • Comunian, R., Hracs, B. & England, L. (eds.) 2021. Higher Education and Policy: Developing Creative Economies in Africa, London, Routledge.
  • Comunian, R., & England, L. 2020 Creative and cultural work without filters: Covid-19 and exposed precarity in the creative economy. Cultural Trends, 29(2), pp.112-128
  • Comunian, R., & England, L. 2019. Creative clusters and the resilience of knowledge: from industrial to creative glassmaking, Geoforum, 99, 238-247

Dr England's full list of publications can be found here.

Teaching

Dr Lauren England teaches on the BA in Culture, Media & Creative Industries and the MA Arts & Cultural Management.

Expertise and public engagement

The African Hub for Sustainable creative development aims to become a hub for knowledge sharing that supports creative entrepreneurship in Africa and raises the profile of African academic work and collaborations engaging with sustainable creative economies development in Africa.

At the University of Dundee, Lauren worked with the Cultural Development group of the Dundee Partnership to develop and deliver the Dundee Cultural Recovery project (2021). This research generated insights into the impact of the pandemic on the organisations and creative freelancers who make up Dundee’s cultural economy and the role of policy in supporting Dundee’s cultural recovery. The research is feeding directly into the Covid Recovery Plan being developed by the Cultural Development Group.

As part of her PhD (2016-19), Lauren worked with Crafts Council UK to develop public outputs from her research and inform the organisation’s programme development and policy recommendations.