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She is a social anthropologist with extensive experience of working in partnership with cultural practitioners including curators, community groups and artists, and with cultural organisations, including long-term connections to several museums, including the Tate and Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
She is an active curator, curating the UCL Ethnography Collections and working with museums including the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the East West Gallery, Honolulu. She is also Chair of the Royal Anthropological Institute Photography Committee and one of the founding editors of a new open access series, Anthropology and Photography.
Her research interests focus on intellectual and cultural property, indigenous rights, colonial histories and legacies, new forms of cultural representation, the affects and effect of digitisation, the anthropology of art, critical museology and the South Pacific (especially Vanuatu and New Zealand). Prior to her role as Director of SCCI, Haidy was Vice-Dean for Strategic Projects, leading on the inception, planning and establishment of the new programmes and facilities at UCL East.
Core Team
- Professor Haidy Geismar - Director
Haidy is responsible for the strategic direction of the School, working with academics, industry partners and cultural practitioners to ensure that the cutting-edge research and teaching within the School is reflective of, and support, the needs of the creative and cultural industries.
- Dr Kara Blackmore - Curator - Urban Room
Kara is developing the Urban Room as a space for experiential learning, exhibition making, and community dialogue. Kara will use her experience in academic institutions and with community-driven exhibition making to support a dynamic user group of people who want to address issues of urbanism and public history.
- Andrea De Santis - Operations Manager
Andrea is responsible for all operational areas of the School, working with faculties and departments and supporting the Academic Director in the establishment and running of the School. Andrea also leads the professional service team who support all areas of the School’s administration and engagement activities.
- Ella Strickland de Souza – Senior Communications and Marketing Officer
Ella oversees the communications for the school including the website, social media channels and events.
- Kailey Nolan – Senior Communications and Marketing Officer (maternity cover)
Kailey oversees the internal and external communications for the school including the website, social media channels, and events, and supports engagement and partnerships with creative, cultural, and community stakeholders.
- Tomoyo Miyakawa – Employer Engagement and External Partnerships Manager
Tomoyo is responsible for developing industry partnerships with a focus on student employability and for delivering a wide range of work-related learning activities for undergraduate and postgraduate students across SCCI.
- Anick Soni – Employer Engagement & Work-Related Learning Officer
Anick (He/Him) supports SCCI as the Employer Engagement and Work-Related Learning Officer. His focus is on building meaningful relationships between students, alumni, and external stakeholders across the arts. He has an extensive background working in Higher Education, Media, and Diversity & Inclusion. Outside of UCL, Anick is a multidisciplinary Creative Consultant, Writer, and Researcher.
- Spencer Samuel - Media Production Technical Specialist
Spencer is a Media Production Technical Specialist working in ISD. He is currently working with the SCCI programme on the set-up and delivery of the Media Studios, Specialist Computer Cluster rooms and BlackBox in Marshgate.
- Simba Chivaka - Cluster Room & Media Space Support Specialist
Simba works closely with Spencer to manage the School's cutting-edge spaces and equipment, including the BlackBox, an acoustically optimized audio room, a recording suite, podcast suite, two screening rooms, and an audio dub suite. Additionally, Simba manages a grinding suite and two production suites. These efforts aim to create inspiring workspaces across diverse creative domains.
- Sarah Byrne - Manager and Curator - Culture Lab
Sarah will develop the UCL Culture Lab's exhibitions and programmes whilst supporting teaching aimed at nurturing a new generation of curators. The Culture Lab will work with UCL collections and archives and collaborate with students, artists, and community members on exhibition themes that resonate and matter to them. After spending 12 years working as a curator at the Horniman Museum, Sarah is looking forward to bringing her skills and experiences to the Culture Lab, helping to shape the future of such a new and dynamic space.
- Camella Ramjet - Collections Care and Curatorial Assistant
Camella's role focuses on conservation, collections care, audience engagement and accessibility for the UCL Culture Lab, including implementing preventive conservation measures for the Culture Lab’s exhibition space and collection store.
