Lancaster University

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Director appointed to new Arts Institute

05/02/2006 09:56:04

Professor Rachel Cooper
Professor Rachel Cooper

The Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts (LICA) has appointed its first director.

Professor Rachel Cooper – currently Director of the Adelphi Research Institute for Creative Arts and Sciences at the University of Salford - is set to take up her new post at Lancaster University on July 1, 2006.

The LICA, based in Lancaster University’s faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, is a new interdisciplinary centre which brings together Art, Music and Theatre Studies to form a new institute focusing on the Contemporary Arts. The institute also incorporates public arts provision at Lancaster - the Peter Scott Gallery, Nuffield Theatre and Lancaster International Concerts.

Professor Cooper, who has held her post at Salford for 15 years, said she was looking forward to the opportunity to develop a centre which was still in its infancy.

“Creativity has an important role part to play in the modern world in terms of innovation, development and research. This is an exciting opportunity to lead the LICA, to bring together Art, Music and Theatre Studies as well as developing a team of researchers in Design.

“I particularly welcome the opportunity to develop interdisciplinary research, not only between the subjects within LICA but also between LICA and other Lancaster University centres such as the Lancaster Environment Centre, the Management School and InfoLab21 – Lancaster University’s centre of excellence for Information Communication Technology.”

LICA will host two research centres, CASCPP (Centre for the Advanced Study of Contemporary Performance Practice) and PATRIC (Centre for Practice and Theory: Research in Composition). Music and Theatre Studies are also co-hosts of PALATINE (The Performing Arts Learning and Teaching Innovation Network), a Subject Centre of the Higher Education Academy.

● Professor Cooper is a Professor of Design and author of six books and more than 200 research papers. She is editor of The Design Journal and president of the European Academy of Design. She is on the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and 2008 RAE Panel for Art and Design. She has undertaken research for the Home Office, DTI, the Design Council and a number of leading companies. She is currently leading a £3 million EPSRC-funded project ‘Vivacity 2020 Sustainable Urban Design for the 24 Hour City’. Her research interests cover design management; design policy; new product development; design in the built environment; urban regeneration; design against crime and socially responsible design.