Professor Tracy Harwood

Job: Professor of Digital Culture

Faculty: Computing, Engineering and Media

School/department: Leicester Media School

Research group(s): Institute of Creative Technologies (IOCT)

Address: De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, UK, LE1 9BH

T: +44 (0)116 207 8028

E: tharwood@dmu.ac.uk

W: http://www.ioct.dmu.ac.uk

 

Personal profile

Twitter @tgharwood | @ioct_dmu | @ArtAIfestival
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/tgharwood
Linkedin https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tracy-harwood-8047a83
Skype Tracy.Harwood

Research group affiliations

Institute of Creative Technologies

Institute of Artificial Intelligence

Institute for Applied Economics & Social Value: Marketing Sub-Group

Research interests/expertise

Professor Harwood's research focusses on applications and impacts of emerging technologies. Current projects explore the use of artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual/augmented/mixed reality (VR/AR/MR). She has an industry management background and has a PhD in negotiation behaviour.  She is director of the university’s Usability Lab (see www.dmu.ac.uk/usabilitylab), is also founder and director of the award-winning Art AI Festival (see www.art-ai.dmu.ac.uk) and a co-host of international podcast, And Now For Something Completely Machinima (see www.completelymachinima.com).

Harwood is a specialist in interdisciplinary research using mixed methods research design and has taught on post-graduate and research development programmes on this approach, latterly focussing on practice-based research. She is published in leading marketing and digital creativity journals, including Journal of Services Management, Journal of Service Marketing, Journal of Consumer Behaviour, Leonardo, Digital Creativity and Journal of Visual Culture. She is Area Editor for the European Innovation Alliance's Endorsed Transactions on Creative Technologies and a Programme Committee Member of the IEEE International Conference on Creative Lifestyle Computing.

Her latest book, Pioneers in Machinima: The Grassroots of Virtual Production, is a critical review of the emergence of machine-cinema, co-authored with the original community manager of Machinima.com.

Areas of teaching

Creative Technologies

Digital Culture

Creative Industries 

Marketing and consumer behaviour

Research methods

Courses taught

MA Digital Arts

MA/MSc Creative Technologies

MSc Creative Industries Management 

Practice-Based Research Doctoral Training Programme

Honours and awards

De Montfort University Teacher Fellow, 2003 

HEA National Teacher Fellow, 2004

Membership of professional associations and societies

Fellow, Higher Education Academy (FHEA)

Higher Education Academy National Teacher Fellow (NTF)

Fellow, Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (FRSA)

Fellow, National Conference of University Professors (FNCUP)

Forthcoming events

Co-Chair: International Colloquium on Relationship Management, postponed til Sept 2021 (see www.icrm2020.com)

Consultancy work

Usability and User Experience (UX) - see www.dmu.ac.uk/usabilitylab

Creative Industries

Digital Economy

Creative Technologies and Smart Cities

Current research students

Adolola, I., Adaptive interface for better accessibility for mobile applications in developing countries (First), Apr 2021

Boomer, J., Community‐building through culture: How two‐way acculturation is used in building sustainable online gaming communities, awarded a DMU scholarship (First) Jan 2021

Carroll, S., Artificial intelligence as a learning tool for identifying and categorising artworks from computational creative practice and historical computer-generated metadata, awarded Midlands 4 Cities Collaborative Doctoral Award, working with Computer Arts Archive (First) Oct 2021

Fakehinde, D., iMuseum: Intelligent, interactive virtual musem for conserving and celebrating the history of Leicester's multicultural population (Second) Oct 2021

Frize, J., Breadboarding as musical practice (Second)

Khairul, K., Cybernetic Actions: harnessing digital reality technologies towards developing actor training approaches, awarded a DMU scholarship (Second) Oct 2020

Morley, D., Design materiality and synaesthesia: developing methodologies to effectively utilise visual-tactile interplay within printable substrates to enchance graphic communication (First), Apr 2022

Palfreyman, L., Exploring how AR is changing the sense of space and place in the city (First) Oct 2020

Uwins, M., Immersive soundscapes for retail performance management (Second)

Wang, R., Artifiical intelligence technologies in interactive theatre (First) Oct 2020

Wei, L., An exploratory model for e-learning in creative music education (Second), Oct 2021

Weller, R., Exploration of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals as a foundation for creating ethical guidelines in the context of Social Networking Sites (Second) Jan 2021

Completed –

Kokil, Uttam (2019) Comparative study of two user experience models and their application in computer gaming (First).

Almakky, Abeer (2017), Safety-critical medical devices, changing patterns of interaction with insulin pump: an analytical framework (Second).

Lataifah, Mohammad (2015), Using design thinking to facilitate information technology service (First). 

Chang, Jimmy Man Tsun (2007), The impact of strategic partnering on performance in garment manufacturer-supplier relationships in the Hong Kong garment manufacturing industry (Second).

Externally funded research grants information

2022 British Science Festival, Art AI Festival, £6,350

2022 EPSRC UK-RAS Network Pump Priming: Industrial Automation and Optimisation: Human Robot Collaboration, Corobotics and Autonomous Systems (PI Prof Philip Breedon/NTU, CI Prof Marc Hanheide/Lincoln)

2022 Heritage Lottery Fund (Leicester City Council), Art AI Festival £12,680

2021-22 AHRC (InnovateUK & Design Museum) 'Net Zero' Design Challenge Pilot Scheme (AH/W008173/1) Leicester Outdoor Pursuits Centre, with Zainab Muhammed, £16,043

2020 Arts Council England, £60,250 (ACPG-00196790) Art AI Festival, Leicester City Council (£3,000), Phoenix (£5,000) plus in-kind support

2019 Arts Council England, £14,999 (ACPG-00164056) Art AI Festival

2018 InnovateUK Audiences of the Future (PI: Sophy Smith), £205,528 (total project £6.58M): Immersive performances of the future (partners: Royal Shakespeare Company, The Philharmonia Orchestra, Punchdrunk International, Manchester International Festival (MIF), Jingo Juice Ltd t/a Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF), Magic Leap, Intel, Epic Games, NESTA, i2 media, Goldsmiths University, Uni Portsmouth, Arts Council England, The Space, Phi Centre Montreal)

2017 InnovateUK Knowledge Transfer Partnership Scheme (KTP010965): Serendipity Artists Movement Limited, business development, £109,948

2017 University of Otago (PI Dr Tony Garry) Cyborg and relationship marketing research project development, NZ$20,000

2015 InternetNZ (PI Dr Tony Garry) Compromising Privacy for Convenience and Wellbeing on the Internet of Things, NZ$30,224

2014 University of Otago (PI Dr Tony Garry) Compromising Privacy for Convenience and Wellbeing on the Internet of Things, NZ$5,000

2014 AHRC Cultural Values Project (AH/L014203/1): Machinima: an investigation into the contribution of participatory user-generated machine-cinema to cultural values, £47,563.

2009 Knowledge Transfer Partnerships Scheme: Phoenix Square digital arts centre (KTP007720), international audience development for digital arts, £125,445.

2009 Knowledge Transfer Partnerships Scheme: Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People (KTP007325), social media development strategy, £93,319. 

2008 Arts and Humanities Research Council Catalyst Scheme: Creative Skills Workshops, £16,706.

Internally funded research project information

2022 HEIF: Pure Tabletop (PI: Mario Gongora)

2021/2 HEIF: Virtual Mobility 1 and 2

2021/2 RIF: Art AI Festival impact evaluation

2020/1 De Montfort University £65,000, Art AI Festival

2019 De Montfort University £10,000, Art AI Festival

2018 De Montfort University, Art-AI Festival (May), Leicester, £4,000 (plus in kind support from partners Hammerson, Phoenix and Elliott)

2016 Confucius Institute and #DMULocal: Creative Technologies in the Public Realm, conference (with Dr Sophy Smith)

2011 HEIF5: Usability Lab 

2010 HIEF4: Creative Industries Supply Chains

Professional esteem indicators

Area Editor, European Alliance for Innovation’s Transactions on Creative Technologies

Programme Committee member: IEEE International Conference on Creative Lifestyle Computing

Current editorial review board memberships –

Journal of Creativity & Human Development (www.creativityjournal.net/); Netdreamer Publications

Reviewer for –

Psychology & Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Consumer Behaviour, Journal of Consumer Research, Management Decision, Journal of Marketing Communications, Direct Marketing, Convergence, Creativity & Human Development International, Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Packaging Technology and Science; and conferences: Academy of Marketing, European Marketing Academy, Australia & New Zealand Marketing Academy, CIGCHI Creativity & Cognition, Eye-Tracking South Africa annual conference, Higher Education Academy Annual Conference, Digital Arts and Culture Annual Conference, ISEA, International Conference on Computer Science & Application Engineering (CSAE 2018)

Usability Lab

An industry facing contract research Lab, specialing in using mobile technologies to support R&D and provide insight into all aspects of product and service usability. 

See www.dmu.ac.uk/usabilitylab

Art AI Festival

World leading festival celebrating creative applications of the latest artificial intelligence technologies.  The Art AI Festival is a collaboration with international curator, Luba Elliott, working in partnership with Phoenix and Highcross Shopping Centre.  

See www.art-ai.io/

Legacy website is at www.art-ai.dmu.ac.uk/

And Now For Something Completely Machinima

An international podcast exploring the past, present and future of machine cinema #machinima #virtualproduction #realtime filmmaking, including VR

See www.completelymachinima.com

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