Centre for Inclusion and Creative Practice
Vision
This new centre brings together the impactful socially engaged research of the School of Arts and Creative Industries, the digital innovation of the Rix Inclusive Research for learning disabled people, and the Office for Institutional Equity working to promote equitable opportunity and outcomes within the university.
This ground-breaking collaboration spans academic school, research institute and professional services to enable impactful, practice-led research with a mission to drive inclusion across four key impact areas: disability, race and representation, gender and sexuality, and socio-economic class.
The Centre is located in The Source which houses the innovative partnership between UEL and Newham Youth Empowerment Services established in September 2023 and led by Professor Dominic Hingorani as Creative Director.

Key objectives
This is a unique and innovative development in UEL’s research landscape as this centre is a pioneer in bringing together an academic school, professional services and an institute. Its foundational structure is about connection to actively synergise across our areas to explore how we can deliver impactful research.
- Large scale consortia led grant capture
- Diversify the talent pipeline into PGR
- Impact public policy on inclusion
- A catalyst for 3*/ 4* outputs and world leading impact case studies
- A hive for commercialisation and Knowledge Exchange
- An incubator for ECR
- A world leading reputation for practice research
- Flagship as a Civic University delivering SDGs.
Existing partners and projects
Creative Newham Cultural Producers Programme - A £1.6 million project led by Professor Dominic Hingorani for UEL as Lead Organisation for Creative Newham – a 100+ alliance of grassroots cultural organisations – to create 48 new diverse cultural producers in the borough over the next 3 years.
Black Women Professors NOW – A Women in Higher Education Network that supports Black academic women in institutions and addresses the systematic racism often present in academic environments.
STAR Social Transformation Through Advocacy and Research – A £3/4 million OfS-funded project to drive Global Majority inclusion in PGR.
Doctoral Training Programme consortium with Guildhall School of Music and Drama, University of West London, Goldsmiths University of London, Royal College of Arts, V&A, Creative Newham, Newham Youth Empowerment Zone, BBC East Music – that seeks to increase the representation of students from underrepresented groups.
JOMBA! - Centre for Creative Arts – an international collaboration using arts to connect academics and practitioners across the globe to advance social change and democratic action.

Researchers
Our researchers work to address societal inequalities and to ensure that accessibility is at the core of what we do; inclusivity in all aspects of research practice. We support our early-career researchers (ECRs) with a skills development programme with a focus on mentoring, and we continue this offer for our Mid-Career researchers (MCRs) too. Our postgraduate research students (PGR) are supported throughout their doctoral journeys and are integral to our Centre.
Members from School of Arts and Creative Industries
Dr Rosemary Stott (Dean of School) is interdisciplinary specialist in Media, with a particular focus on Film in global context. She is UEL’s Lead for ‘World on our Doorsteps’ an Arts Council England Creative People and Places funded project. She has also published in the areas of inclusive learning design, digital technologies for learning and teaching and in lecturer engagement.
Professor Dominic Hingorani is Co-Artistic Director of Brolly Productions CIC: A global majority led cross arts company creating new roles in the repertoire for underrepresented artists and engaging diverse participants and audiences for the arts and heritage.
Professor Sarahleigh Castelyn is a practice researcher who focuses on dance and performance practices that are often marginalised by the global north. Her latest book Contemporary Dance in South Africa: The Toyi-Toying Body combines practice research with textual analysis to explore political and social meanings in South African how contemporary dance post-Apartheid. Sarahleigh’s research also focuses on representations of madness in dance, and is a member of the African Dance Disability Network.
Clare Qualmann is an artist/researcher with an interdisciplinary performance-based practice. From a background in the visual arts her work engages a range of participatory methods, and a range of media to explore and reveal the overlooked - the politics and potentials of everyday life.
Liselle Terret is a performance artist and director who foregrounds her identification as neuro-divergent, disrupting theatrical norms through a radical Crip, queer, collaborative and feminist approach across her work. Liselle is director of Not Your Circus Dog Collective (2018), a subversive crip queer learning disabled and neuro-divergent performance company.
Structure and governance
Leadership: A joint team to drive the centre’s mission and operations.
Advisory Board: Composed of partners, community representatives and researchers to guide the Centre’s strategy and outputs.
Research income avenues
External funders such as UKRI and ACE and key partnership bids.
Research environment and outputs
- REF outputs
- Strong Impact Case Studies
- Impact researcher development
- PGR community and successful completions
- Targeted researcher mentoring and planning
- Roundtable events with researchers and partners brokering new generative relationships
- Funding bid record
- Open access and democratisation of research
- Civic university profile
- SDGs embedded into all projects
- Research-informed teaching

Road map and key milestones
2024
- Planning and Organisational Meetings
- Launch of Centre
- ACI Excellence Studentships with Impact
2025
- Roundtable events for partners, local and international organisations, and researchers of all stages.
- Mentoring Scheme for Members (MCR)
- Training series for PGR students
- Workshops on Grant Funding
- Workshops on Researcher Development (ECR)
- Practice Research Series
- PGR Conference
- Launch of Centre’s First Annual Conference
2026
- Cont. Roundtable events for partners, local and international organisations, and researchers of all stages
- Cont. Mentoring Scheme for Members
- Cont. Training series for PGR students
- Cont. Workshops on Grant Funding
- Cont. Workshops on Researcher Development
- Cont. Practice Research Series
- Centre’s Second Annual Conference
- PGR Conference
- Annual Review of Centre