Caroline Chapain
University of Birmingham Lecturer
Birmingham, UK
I am a lecturer at the Business School, University of Birmingham. Previously, Caroline studied and worked in France and in Canada. From 2002 to 2005, I worked as a research advisor on public finance, economic development, and cultural issues for the Montreal Metropolitan Planning Organization. Since 2005, I have been looking at the way creative industries emerge, operate and develop at the local and regional levels in the UK and in Europe. I was recently involved in a project looking at the links between creative clusters and regional innovation in Great Britain for NESTA (the British national agency for innovation). In the last two years I have been involved in various projects exploring the links between creative practices and online media as well as the development of creative systems for the Arts and Humanities Research Council Connected Communities Programme in the UK: one looking at 'Crafting communities of practice and interest: connecting "online" and "offline" making practices', one looking at ‘Complexity theory and the creative economy’ and a large project looking at 'Community, Media and Creative citizenship’; this latest project is running until 2014 - see http://creativecitizens.co.uk I am also co-chairing with Roberta Comunian and Nick Clifton the Regional Studies Association Network on Creative Regions in Europe (http://www.regional-studies-assoc.ac.uk/research-networks/current/creco.asp)