Academic mentors and a new humanities lab at the College of Arts and Law will be made available as part of the CreaTech Frontiers scheme for the West Midlands.
Photo credit: Junction10 Photography
CreaTech Frontiers has today opened applications for research and development grants of up to £10,000 for freelancers and Small and Medium Enterprises across the West Midlands. They will be given the chance to work with state-of-the-art facilities and academic experts working in the creative industries at institutions across the region, including the University of Birmingham.
A new creative industries cluster for the West Midlands, CreaTech Frontiers is made up of five collaborators: University of Birmingham, Birmingham City University, Coventry University, University of Warwick and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The funding pot of £250,000 being made available this summer will give freelancers and SMEs access to academic R&D expertise, mentoring and training, and use of world-class research and development labs to create new content, products and services.
At the University of Birmingham, that includes access to the new Birmingham Transformative Humanities Lab, with equipment that can help test and develop AI and machine language for creative applications. The College of Arts and Law academics who have offered their expertise to grant applicants are:
Other University of Birmingham academics involved are:
This is CreaTech Frontier’s first round of funding, with a minimum of £1.8 million expected to be awarded over the next five years.
Professor Helen Abbott, Head of the College of Arts and Law, said: “The University of Birmingham is delighted to be part of this consortium bringing together leading universities in the West Midlands with cultural organisations, providing research and development expertise from academics and creatives, education and skill development opportunities, generating and supporting jobs, and supercharging the creative industries in the region.”
Professor of Electroacoustic Composition and Practice
Biographical and contact information for Professor Annie Mahtani, Professor of Electroacoustic Composition and Practice at the University of Birmingham.
Lecturer
Biographical and contact information for Dr Joanna Bucknall, Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Drama and Theatre in the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts at the University of Birmingham.
Professor of Composition and Electronic Music
Biographical and contact information for Professor Scott Wilson, Professor of Composition and Electronic Music at the University of Birmingham.
Associate Professor
Birmingham Law School
Biographical and contact information for Dr Chen Zhu, Associate Professor at Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham, UK
