Profile

Dr Saskia Warren

Saskia Warren’s research is concerned with geographies of cultural and creative practice. Presently her research is focused on intersections of identity with labour, and in particular the significance of faith and religion in understanding the shifting contours of the cultural and creative economy. Developed over a series of smaller projects, this research agenda has been brought together in the current AHRC Leadership Fellow project, Geographies of Muslim Women and the UK Cultural and Creative Economy. In 2017 the Nordic Geographers’ Meeting, hosted by University of Stockholm, awarded best paper and presentation for early findings related to the research.

Knowledge exchange and widening access are central to Saskia’s work on creativity and difference in spaces of education and labour. Partners in her research and curatorial practice include Arts Connect, Collection’s Trust, British Library ESOL programme, Henry Moore Institute, and Yorkshire Sculpture Park.  She has worked with artists Liz Rowe and Chris Poolman (AKA General Public), Ben Kelly, Bridget Smith, and Simon Pope. Funding for her research and practice has generously been provided by Heritage Lottery Fund, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, University of Manchester, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Saskia has published her interdisciplinary research in a range of formats including an edited collection, book chapters, and articles in leading international journals. She is co-author, along with Phil Jones, of Creative Economies, Creative Communities: Rethinking Place, Policy and Practice (2015, Routledge). Journals in which her work has been featured include, amongst others, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Social and Cultural Geography, Cultural Geographies, Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, and European Journal of Cultural Studies and Area.

Saskia is a Lecturer in Human Geography at University of Manchester. She lectures and delivers small group teaching in social, cultural and urban geography, and also qualitative methods. Doctoral candidates co-supervised by Saskia are undertaking original research into light festivals, the Chilean games sector, and children’s creative mapping. Prior to taking up her current post, Saskia held the position of Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, and exhibition assistant at Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, Kingston University.

Saskia completed her BA (Hons) in English Literature at University of Oxford, MA in Arts Gallery & Museum Studies at University of Leeds, and PhD in Cultural Geography & Art Theory at University of Sheffield (supervised by Tariq Jazeel, Jess Dubow and Audiences Yorkshire). Both her Masters and collaborative doctorate were funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. She was awarded an honorary mention in the Area Prize 2014 (RGS-IBG) for New Research in Geography.