Dr Johnson’s research, lectures, projects in design, new media, cultural entrepreneurship and cultural visualisation aim to enable collaborations between students, professionals, institution departments and industry through theory-led and/or practice-based studies. He is keen to develop creative interactive music archives through research partnerships between universities linked online and explore, exhibit and publish in the area of tangible and intangible cultural heritage subjects.
Dr Johnson is also a postgraduate of the Royal College of Art where he studied art, design, multi media and visual philosophy. Following his design and management studies in 1998 he established Equator International multi media and project management consultancy. He has worked on a range of projects and consultancies for media companies and cultural industries such as: BBC, Channel Four, Carlton Television, South Bank Centre, Haywood Gallery, Barbican Centre, Tate Gallery , Design Museum and the British Council. He pioneered British black cultural art initiatives like; Iniva, AAVAA, Autograph, Black Artists Networks, and Black Film, Media and Theatre Forums.
He has been the Artistic Director of international conference-music-spoken word festivals Crossfires and Centrestage working with Institute of Contemporary Arts and National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta. He has worked for Arts Council of England chairing and serving on panels and contracted by the UK Department of Innovation and Skills and Department of Education and Employment.
His pioneering research for the British Phonographic Industry explored cultural diversity and employment in the British music industry developing new opportunities for employment diversity. He has worked with the British Black Music Association and developed music enterprise opportunities in urban locales throughout the UK.
Dr Johnson’s interest in design, technology, enterprise, pedagogy and notions of giftedness led him to develop practice-based and practice-led action research through athletics coaching. As a result he has become a high-performance athletics coach for England Athletics and coached athletes for Great Britain. His research in this area examines cultural visualisation of quantum speed mechanics, quantum biology, sports product design, coaching pedagogy and new media online cultures in athletics.
Areas of Interest and Expertise
- Cultural visualisation, cultural entrepreneurship and practice-driven research methodologies: theory and practice, new media research and online archive development.
- Developing practice-based and practice-led postgraduate research structures particularly doctoral research programmes for universities through partnerships and collaborations between institutions.
- Cultural diversity, intertextuality, hybrid cultures-online technologies.
- The impact of black popular culture on design, online music archives and sound system cultures.
- Ontological blackness, tangible and intangible African Diaspora heritage cultural research.
- Graphic design communication, product design, marketing, project management, new media, apps and interactive game design research and online technologies.
- Design, technology and pedagogy: impacts on economic and social change in developing countries.
- Product design research and strategies for developing athletic performance through coaching and pedagogy.
Dr Johnson welcomes enquires from colleges, universities, museums, galleries, cultural institutions, industrial research teams, media organisations, governmental organisations, invitations to serve on boards alongside applications from students for supervision and/or interviews.
Dr Johnson engages in consultancies/research/partnerships and collaborations internationally. These range from lecture programmes, developing projects, management and supervision and assessment/examination of student projects to working with corporate teams on product development, market research, training and managing small and/or large scale projects. These are done with colleges and universities, industry and arts/design/media agencies and governmental organisations.
