Newcastle University and the Royal Society of Arts have been named as new hosts of the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre.
Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (Creative PEC) provides independent research and policy recommendations for the UK's creative industries.
This comes as AHRC confirms £11 million in funding to allow the Creative PEC to continue its work for a further five years.
Newcastle University will host the Northern Hub of the Creative PEC.
Impactful policy
The creative industries are a UK success story, growing at double the rate of the overall UK economy between 2011 and 2019, with 400,000 additional jobs created since 2015.
To make good, impactful policy decisions on how to support the creative industries and ensure the UK remains a world leader, we need robust evidence and independent advice. The Creative PEC is at the heart of these debates providing an impartial, reliable and challenging voice.
Nationally-leading
Professor of Macroeconomics Giorgio Fazio will be the Research Director of the Creative PEC following its move. He said: “Research in the next phase of the Creative PEC will be powered by a new Research Unit hosted at Newcastle University, a consortium delivering regular State of the Nation reports incorporating both key trends commentary and “deep dives” into emerging topics, and a large and diverse network of PEC Research Fellows.
"Our goal is to become the national and international reference point for research on policy for the Creative Industries.“
The PEC will draw on and enhance our significant place-based policy expertise, developing partnerships to inform policy for the creative industries over the next five years and beyond
Professor Nigel Harkness Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Humanities and Social Sciences
The Creative PEC has provided evidence to inform policy on subjects as varied as R&D funding, creative skills education in schools and universities, the role the creative sector can play in tackling the climate emergency and how the creative industries can help narrow regional economic disparities.
Since its inception in 2018 Creative PEC has published a new independent research paper at a rate of one every month providing the data and evidence needed to support the creative sector.
- addressing industry and government identified priorities
- advancing research into the longer-term challenges and opportunities facing the sector
It will do this by:
- producing its own new research
- acting as a platform for policy-relevant research produced by other
- engaging policymakers through embedding researchers in policymakers’ planning and design cycles