Dr Orian Brook
Job Title
Chancellor's Fellow
Room number
1.09Building (Address)
Chrystal Macmillan BuildingStreet (Address)
15A George SquareCity (Address)
EdinburghPost code (Address)
EH8 9LDResearch interests
Research interests
I research social and spatial inequalities in the creative economy, particularly how space and class interact are implicated in both cultural participation and creative careers. I hold an ESRC ADR Fellowship, using he Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset to analyse the earning of creative graduates, and the social and educational backgrounds of workers in the Cultural and Creative Industries, to understand the drivers of low pay of creative graduates, and successful creative careers. I was previously an AHRC Creative and Digital Economy Innovation Leadership Fellow, exploring how places can shapes social disparities in cultural consumption, and dual job-holding and precarity in creative careers.
I have been exploring social mobility in the creative economy, in a mixed methods project which used both the ONS Longitudinal Study of England and Wales and 235 semi-structured interviews with creative workers, and worked with colleagues to deliver the report "Panic! Social Class, Taste and Inequalities in the Creative Industries". I am co-author of the book Culture is Bad for You with Manchester University Press. My doctorate at the University of St Andrews used spatial modelling of cultural participation to explore how access to cultural opportunities (such as museums and performing arts venues) intersects with education and ethnicity, in particular, in explaining attendance at these venues.
Supervision
I am interested in students researching creative work or cultural consumption, in the UK or elsewhere, with an emphasis on social and/or spatial inequalities. I am also interested in supervising research on inequalities in selection into different educational pathways, and in the employment outcomes of these pathways. I more broadly interested in projects using linked and/or administrative data.
If you are interested in being supervised by me, please see the links below (open in new windows) for more information:
Current PhD Students
Yusuf Kadarisman: Spatial Inequality in Indonesia's creative industries: a qualitative study of lived experiences.
Visiting Research Students
Sebastian Berakdar: Boundaries of Change: Influence of Cultural Conceptions on Cultural Policy on the Example of German State-funded Professional Symphony Orchestras
Raman Voranau: Video game production in small to medium studios: A three-nation study of inclusion
Background
I joined Social Policy in 2021 as a Chancellor's Fellow, having spent the previous three years working in Edinburgh College of Art, first as a Research Associate, then as an AHRC Creative and Digital Economy Leadership Fellow. I have particular interest in the use of administrative data, data linkage and digital methods.
Before coming to Edinburgh I was a Research Fellow on the Scottish Civil Society Data Partnership, taught advanced quantitative methods at University of Glasgow, and undertook my PhD at University of St Andrews, supervised by Profs Chris Dibben and Robin Flowerdew. Prior to my PhD, I was Research Director at what became The Audience Agency, and worked in marketing and audience research for a number of arts organisations in London. I have an undergraduate degree in Music.
Works within
Staff Hours and Guidance
Please email me for an appointment