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Modelling Innovation: evaluating the impact of CreaTech on culture and creativity in the West Midlands

This funding model includes a 48-month funded PhD Studentship, set in-line with UK Research & Innovation values. For 2026/7, this will be £21,805per year. The tax-free stipend will be paid monthly. This PhD Studentship also includes a Full-Time Home Tuition Fee Scholarship for up to 4 years. The funding is subject to your continued registration on the research degree, making satisfactory progression within your PhD, as well as attendance on and successful completion of the Postgraduate Certificate in Research Practice. 

International applicants are reminded, that it if they are successful following interview, they are liable to pay the fee difference between the Home and International Tuition Fee Rate. The tuition fees for new doctoral researchers are listed here.

All applicants will receive the same stipend irrespective of fee status.

Application Closing Date:

Midday (UK Time) on Friday 10th April 2026 for a start date of 7th September 2026.

How to Apply

To apply, please follow the below steps:

  1. Complete the BCU Online Application Form.
  2. Complete the Doctoral Studentship Proposal Form in full, ensuring that you quote the project ID. You will be required to upload your proposal in place of a personal statement on the BCU online application form.
  3. Upload two references to your online application form (at least one of which must be an academic reference).
  4. Upload your qualification(s) for entry onto the research degree programme. This will be Bachelor/Master’s certificate(s) and transcript(s).
  5. International applicants must also provide a valid English language qualification. Please see the list of English language qualifications accepted here. Please check the individual research degree course page for the required scores.

Frequently Asked Questions

To help support you to complete your application, please consult the frequently asked questions below:

Project Title: Modelling Innovation: evaluating the impact of CreaTech on culture and creativity in the West Midlands

Project Lead: Dr Karen Seaward-Patel

Project ID: CreaTech - 50941215

Project Description:

Birmingham City University invites applications for a fully funded Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA) examining models of innovation in the creative and cultural sectors across the West Midlands.

This doctoral project focuses on the cultural sector’s understanding and development of innovation in the areas of music and performing arts, visual arts, digital arts, and cultural heritage. The successful candidate will undertake original research analysing the conditions that ensure cultural sector professionals have the skills, knowledge and infrastructure to contribute to the growing CreaTech agenda.

The project builds on a body of existing creative sector research (Hopkins, Williams & Hay, 2026; Davies & Lyons, 2025; Raines, Scott, Dunford, Ruck, 2025; Taylor, 2025) about the West Midlands that has mapped the workforce, evaluated the potential for creative industries growth, and analysed audiences for the creative and cultural sectors. It offers a unique opportunity to bridge academic scholarship and creative sector R&D and has the potential for significant impact on our understanding of CreaTech innovation. The precise scope will be developed collaboratively between the student and supervisory team but will involve close engagement with Culture Central’s existing projects, key staff and wider networks of artists, technologists, researchers, institutional partners, policymakers and other creative industries collaborators. The research is expected to combine semi-structured interviews, surveys, focus groups, analysis of existing data sets, and fieldwork with critical analysis, contributing both to academic debates and to practical understanding of technological innovation within the creative sector.

The project has been designed in collaboration with Culture Central, providing an exceptional opportunity for placement-based research, professional training, and sector mentorship alongside doctoral study. Through this partnership, the project offers unrivalled access to industry expertise, networks, and professional resources.

The research is part of a wider doctoral programme supported by CreaTech Frontiers, a 5-year, £7.2 million project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The project aims to establish a thriving CreaTech ecosystem across the West Midlands by developing skills and talent, funding collaborative R&D, and supporting business innovation. Led by Birmingham City University, CreaTech Frontiers is delivered by a consortium of six core partners that includes Coventry University, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the University of Birmingham, the University of Warwick, and Digital Catapult. The successful candidate will join the CreaTech Frontiers academic community and play a key role in delivering the project’s objectives.

The aims of the project are to:

  • Explore the cultural sector’s understanding and development of innovation in the areas of music and performing arts, visual arts, digital arts, and cultural heritage.
  • Identify the conditions that ensure cultural sector professionals have the skills, knowledge and infrastructure to contribute to the growing CreaTech agenda.
  • Develop and recognise approaches for understanding how ‘creative’ skills directly influence the innovation output of the region.
  • Explore and develop the potential for more porous roles between the creative and cultural sector workforce.
  • Understand the importance and value of the cultural sector in wider innovation and R&D activity for the creative industries.

This research is particularly important because the creative industries have a key role to play in economic/social growth narratives and regional development (Turner, 2023). While central, regional and city governments, arts and cultural organisations, universities and colleges, and the wider creative industries are committed to developing and embedding CreaTech across the region, they are working in a complex landscape of disinvestment, infrastructure challenges and workforce skills (Davies & Lyons, 2025). In addition to this, the language around R&D and innovation is widely used in policy, education, and the media, but understanding of the conditions that enable innovation to thrive are less well understood, especially in the cultural sector, within cultural organisations, and among artists and other creative industries workers (Jones, Sapsed, Lorenzen, 2015; Snowball,  Tarentaal, Sapsed, 2022; Wohl, 2021).

There are also a wider set of issues relating to skills, knowledge and the capacity of creative industries workers to fully engage with ‘innovation’ as a practice (Lazzeretti, L. 2012). While there has been some research undertaken in this area, such as the Theatre Transformed Report (Easton and Gather, 2025), the broader connections between creative practices, technological experimentation, and innovation continue to present a challenge to the sector. The project will therefore explore this relationship between the workforce (practices, skills), infrastructure (investment, physical space) and audiences (interest in creative output) to map out what support is needed and to fully realise the potential of CreaTech in the region. It will examine issues around access, equity and infrastructure, contributing to knowledge on CreaTech and the creative industries.

The key research questions to be addressed are:

  • How are people expressing their creativity through CreaTech?
  • What does a model of creativity look like for CreaTech in the region?
  • What are the structural barriers to CreaTech in the region and how can they be addressed?
  • Why is innovation difficult for creative individuals and businesses?
  • What are the opportunities for CreaTech in the region?

Person Specification:

Knowledge of the West Midlands creative sector and the area of CreaTech would be an advantage, along with skills in qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Entry Requirements:

To apply for our Media and Cultural Studies PhD research degree you should have, or expect to be awarded, a Masters degree in a relevant subject area from a British or overseas university.

Exceptional candidates without a Masters degree, but holding a first class Bachelors degree in media studies, may be considered.

We also welcome enquiries from potential PhD researchers without formal academic qualifications but with appropriate levels of professional experience.

International applicants must also provide a valid English language qualification, such as International English Language Test System (IELTS) or equivalent with an overall score of 7.0 with no band below 6.5 or equivalent.

If you have any questions or need further information, please use the contact details below: