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Dr Susan Oman

Changing Faces

Research Fellows to work with DCMS

Robin Cantrill-Fenwick
2 min read

Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) has announced two new DCMS Research Fellows.

The fellowships form part of a new collaboration between AHRC and DCMS to help fulfil the potential of arts and humanities research in informing public policy. 

The fellows, DR SOFYA SHAHAB and DR SUSAN OMAN, will support DCMS in developing knowledge across the cultural and heritage sector.

Shahab has been appointed Culture Heritage Protection Research Fellow. She will join the Cultural Heritage Protection team in Arts, Heritage and Tourism to explore how projects between the DCMS and British Council contribute to human rights. 

As a social anthropologist based at the University of Sussex's Institute of Development Studies, Shahab's research explores the lived experiences of conflict, migration and oppression driven by feminist research methods to evidence different forms of violence. 

Oman has been appointed Digital and International Culture Research Fellow and joins the Cultural Diplomacy team in Arts, Heritage and Tourism, to explore the social impact of digital culture in and beyond the pandemic. Her interest in social impact led her to a Masters in Cultural Policy, followed by a doctorate investigating how we might better understand cultural participation using national well-being data. 

After completing her PhD, Oman was awarded a fellowship with Arts Council England to recommend improvements to diversity and data in the arts. She now lectures in Data, AI and Society at the University of Sheffield.  

Both fellows will lead research in some of the most crucial areas and challenges facing these sectors, while working with policy officials to produce academic papers, presentations and blogs in efforts to promote evidence-based policymaking. 

Commissioner for Cultural Recovery and Renewal, Lord NEIL MENDOZA, commented: “I am very pleased that we have been able to appoint Dr. Susan Oman and Dr. Sofya Shahab to begin new work, based here at DCMS, to benefit the culture and heritage sectors.”