DAVID GAUNTLETT

What I am working on at the moment?

I am Professor of Creativity and Design at Westminster School of Media, Arts and Design, University of Westminster, UK, where I do research about creativity and making, and how we can foster more of it, everywhere. That ties in neatly with my leadership role as Director of Research across our School, where I am have to foster creative research amongst 200 staff there, covering a diverse array of practices. My books include Creative Explorations (2007), Making is Connecting (2011), and Making Media Studies (2015) and I am meant to be doing a second edition of Making is Connecting right now. I have worked with a number of the world’s leading creative organisations, including the BBC, the British Library, and Tate, but best of all I enjoy a long-standing collaboration with LEGO and the LEGO Foundation on innovation in creativity, play and learning.

Why I wanted to join the Participatory City Global Advisory?

I have always been keen on participation, in terms of people making and doing things and therefore feeling more connected to the world and to other people. And I am very keen on projects that try to support that happening. So of course I was delighted to be asked.

A little bit about my background

I was a sociologist and then a sort of media person and then became a general-purpose making and creativity person. I am also a daddy.