Key notes
Caroline Norbury
Caroline Norbury OBE is the Chief Executive of Creative UK, the independent network for the UK’s creative industries working to support and invest in creative talent and businesses, and unite the UK’s creative industries.
Caroline sits on the Creative Industries Council and chairs the Investment for Growth sub-group of the Council. She is a non-executive director of Crowdfunder, the UK’s largest rewards-based crowdfunding platform, a member of BAFTA and the Royal Society of Arts and a trustee for the PRS Foundation, a charity supporting new music and talent.
Caroline is also Chairwoman of The Music Works, a charity in Gloucestershire changing the lives of young people through music. She was awarded an MBE in 2012 for services to the film industry and in 2022, Caroline was awarded an OBE for her leadership and advocacy in shaping the creative sector's response to Covid-19.
Dr Christina Scharff
Dr Christina Scharff is a Reader at King’s College London and explores gender, media, and culture through theoretically informed empirical research.
Christina is author and co-editor of several books, which discuss topics ranging from young women’s engagements with feminism, new femininities, and aesthetic labour to gender, race, and class inequalities in the classical music profession. Most recently, Christina co-edited (with Anna Bull and Laudan Nooshin) the book, 'Voices for Change in the Classical Music Profession: New Ideas for Tackling Inequalities and Exclusions'.
The Organisers
Dr Christa van Raalte
Dr Christa van Raalte is Associate Professor in Film and Television at BU and Head of the Centre for Excellence in Media Practice (CEMP). She has previously held a number of leadership positions in Higher Education including most recently, Deputy Dean in Faculty of Media & Communication at BU.
Her research interests include working conditions and management practices in television. She also publishes on representation and narrative strategies in film and television drama, with an emphasis on gender. Christa is currently working on a British Academy funded project that examines the experiences of production managers in the UK industry.
Dr Melanie Gray
Dr Melanie Gray is Dean of the School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Roehampton University.
She has over 25 years leadership experience within Higher Education and the creative industries. Her research is focused primarily on media brands and brand management. She has also published on gender-based discrimination in the creative industries.
Dr Parisa Gilani
Dr Parisa Gilani is a Principal Academic in Leadership at BU's Business School. Her research predominantly focuses on both leadership development and leadership and diversity. She is particularly interested in women’s enactment of leadership roles in male dominated environments and in researching the influence of ‘place’ in non-Western contexts.
Parisa has also been involved in leadership development research and practice in Iran, China and the UK.
Dr Melissa Carr
Dr Melissa Carr is a Lecturer in International Human Resource Management at Henley Business School. She is also a Director at Henley’s World of Work Institute (EDI) and the School Co-Director of EDI. She is a Chartered Occupational Psychologist with a background in consultancy and executive education, previously running leadership development programmes for multi-nationals across a range of industry sectors.
In 2014, Melissa moved into an academic role and completed her PhD at Cranfield University. Her current research interests span gender, leadership and precarious work.