Dr Amalia Sabiescu

  • Lecturer in Media and Creative Industries

Amalia is a media and communications scholar specialising in the study of information technology adoption and influences in cultural and creative practice, international and community development.

Profile

Amalia’s current research examines the adoption, use and impacts of information and communication technology (ICT) in society, with applications in the areas of cultural and museum studies, community and international development. She has extensive experience in research with museums, cultural institutions and communities on the role of ICT in cultural heritage transmission, socio-cultural change and contemporary cultural practice. In parallel, she is researching the intersections between communication and global inequalities, focusing on low-income and minority communities and young people at risk of social exclusion.

Academic background

Prior to joining Loughborough University, Amalia held postdoctoral research positions at RMIT University (Australia, working from Spain), Coventry University (UK), and University of Lugano (Switzerland). She conducted qualitative and participatory research studies in diverse socio-cultural contexts in Europe (e.g., UK, Switzerland, Italy, Romania, Spain) and South Africa, where she examined social and cultural factors in the appropriation and use of communication technologies and intersections with issues of citizen voice, participation, and social inclusion. Amalia holds a PhD in Communication Sciences and an MSc in Technologies for Cultural Heritage Communication from the University of Lugano.

Amalia is the co-editor of the volumes ‘Museum Experience Design’, published by Springer, and ‘Digital Echoes: Spaces for Intangible and Performance-based Cultural Heritage’ published by Palgrave Macmillan.

Current research and collaborations

Amalia is an AHRC Early Career Leadership Fellow and UKRI Innovation Fellow (2019-2021). Her fellowship, “Cultural engagements and young people’s professional aspirations”, explores new approaches to mobilising community, cultural and creative resources to provide skills development and lifelong learning opportunities for UK’s young people. The study is conducted in collaboration with cultural, non-profit and academic partners, including the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum, two Coventry-based charities, and the multidisciplinary team from the Centre for Excellence in Media Practice at Bournemouth University.

The fellowship complements her ongoing research collaboration with the V&A to explore the role of museums in informing young people’s choices for creative industries careers.

Amalia has a long term research interest in the socio-cultural trajectory of the transnational Roma minority, and intersections between information and communication practices, social change and social inclusion. She has conducted research with Roma communities in the UK, Romania and Spain over the span of more than ten years, and is now consolidating and structuring findings to understand linkages between Roma’s socio-cultural and communication practices in these different contexts.

Current PhD / research supervisions

Amalia is interested to supervise masters by research and PhD dissertations in the areas: communication for development and social change; digital interventions in the cultural and creative industries; museum communication and museum experience design; participatory media and digital storytelling.

Interests and activities

Amalia is:

  • A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (since May 2018)
  • Affiliated Member of the UNESCO Chair in ICT for Development, Royal Holloway, University of London (since February 2017)
  • Member of the International Development Informatics Association – IDIA (since 2011)
  • Member of the Community Informatics Research Network – CIRN (since 2011)