A new research initiative led in part by Technological University Dublin aims to examine one of the most persistent challenges facing the creative industries on both sides of the Irish Sea: the underrepresentation of people from working-class backgrounds. The project, titled Rethinking Class in the Creative Economy, is one of just six networking awards announced under the UK-Ireland Collaboration in the Creative Economy Research Networking scheme, funded by Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland and the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the UK.
Why This Creative Economy Research Networking Award Matters
The creative industries — spanning film, television, music, publishing, design, and the visual and performing arts — have long been recognized as significant contributors to economic and cultural life in both Ireland and the UK. Yet despite sustained policy attention to equality, diversity and inclusion, access to these sectors remains unevenly distributed along class lines.
This Research Networking award, announced by Research Ireland and the Arts and Humanities Research Council, creates a structured opportunity for researchers, practitioners, funders and policymakers to work together on a shared problem. Rather than treating diversity as a box-ticking exercise, the network will investigate how class is actually understood and measured within the creative industries across both jurisdictions — a foundational step toward developing meaningful interventions.
For stakeholders across the Creative and Cultural sector, this project represents a concrete opportunity to engage with cutting-edge research that could shape future policy and practice. Researchers, industry partners and policymakers interested in participating can find out more about collaborative opportunities at TU Dublin by visiting the university’s Research and Innovation pages.
The Project: Rethinking Class in the Creative Economy
The network will operate over a twelve-month period, bringing together a substantial team of academics and industry partners from Ireland and the UK. On the Irish side, the TU Dublin team comprises Dr Caroline Ann O’Sullivan (Co-Principal Investigator), Dr Mary Ann Bolger, Dr Bernadette Quinn and Dr Deirdre McQuillan. They will collaborate with Prof Beth Johnson (University of Leeds, Co-Principal Investigator), Professor Dave O’Brien (University of Manchester) and Dr Sara DeBenedictus (Brunel University London).
Crucially, the project is not confined to the academy. Industry partners include the Arts Councils of England and Ireland, Arts Emergency, the BBC, the British Film Institute, Creative and Cultural Industries Skillnet and Screen Ireland. This breadth of involvement signals a recognition that addressing structural inequality requires coordinated action across funders, broadcasters, training bodies and arts organizations — not researchers working in isolation.
What the Network Will Actually Do
The project’s aims are specific and practical:
- Explore how class is understood and measured in the creative industries across the UK and Ireland, addressing a gap that has hampered previous equality initiatives.
- Examine structural barriers that restrict access, progression and retention — particularly into decision-making roles — for people from working-class backgrounds.
- Produce research and recommendations that can inform creative economy policy and practice at organizational and governmental levels.
- Build a stronger evidence base through collaboration and knowledge exchange among researchers, practitioners, funders and policymakers.
Dr Caroline Ann O’Sullivan, Co-Principal Investigator on the project, highlighted the disconnect between policy rhetoric and lived reality: “Despite sustained policy attention to equality, diversity and inclusion, individuals from working-class backgrounds remain underrepresented across the Creative Industries in both regions. We are delighted to establish this network, which will deepen understanding of the structural barriers faced by working-class people in the Creative Industries. These barriers can restrict access, progression and retention, particularly in decision-making roles.”
She added that working with funders and industry partners across Ireland and the UK gives the network “real potential to bring about transformative change across the sector” by tackling these issues at a policy level.
Structural Barriers and Working-Class Representation: What the Research Says
The problem the network addresses is well documented in existing scholarship on the creative economy. Studies in both the UK and Ireland have repeatedly shown that creative sector workers are disproportionately drawn from affluent, university-educated backgrounds. Unpaid internships, low entry-level pay concentrated in expensive cities, informal recruitment through personal networks, and the perceived need for family financial support during early-career years all combine to filter out candidates without economic safety nets.
What makes this project distinctive is its focus on decision-making roles. Representation at entry level matters, but it is at senior levels — commissioning editors, creative directors, producers, arts administrators with budgetary authority — that decisions are made about whose stories get told and whose work gets funded. If working-class people are absent from these positions, diversity initiatives lower down the pipeline may achieve limited change.
The network’s comparative UK-Ireland dimension is also significant. While the two countries have different funding structures, education systems and policy environments, they share many underlying dynamics: similar patterns of occupational closure, comparable urban concentration of creative jobs, and parallel debates about how class should be defined and measured. Cross-jurisdictional collaboration allows researchers to distinguish between local contingencies and structural patterns that transcend borders.
For organizations working in this space, understanding the evidence base is an essential first step. Those who want to explore how interdisciplinary research can inform diversity strategy in cultural organizations can review TU Dublin’s research impact resources for examples of work informing policy and practice.
The Measurement Problem
One of the most interesting aspects of the project is its attention to measurement. How organizations and governments define “working-class” shapes who gets counted, who gets targeted by interventions, and what conclusions research draws. Traditional occupational classifications may not map neatly onto creative sector careers, where precarious self-employment is common and career paths are nonlinear. Subjective measures of class identity add a further layer of complexity.
By interrogating how class is currently understood and measured across both jurisdictions, the network can help ensure that future policies are built on coherent foundations rather than inconsistent or outdated categories.
TU Dublin’s Role in Collaborative Creative Economy Research
The award also carries institutional significance. TU Dublin has positioned itself as a center of strength for interdisciplinary collaborative research across the Creative and Cultural Industries, and this grant is a direct recognition of that expertise. The university’s commitment extends beyond producing academic publications: it emphasizes research that can inform policy and practice and contribute to measurable positive change in the sector.
For current and prospective postgraduate researchers, this project illustrates the kind of socially engaged, policy-relevant research being conducted at Irish technological universities. Students considering postgraduate research in the creative and cultural industries can explore opportunities through TU Dublin’s postgraduate research programmes.
The collaborative structure of the network — spanning three UK universities, one Irish technological university, and multiple industry and funding bodies — also reflects a broader trend in creative economy research toward transnational partnership. Complex social problems rarely respect national boundaries, and funding bodies on both islands have increasingly supported schemes that pool expertise.
Building a More Inclusive Creative Sector: The Path Forward
The twelve-month timeframe of the network is ambitious but realistic for a networking award. Its success will depend on creating genuine opportunities for collaboration and knowledge exchange — bringing together people who rarely sit in the same room: academics studying inequality, practitioners living it, funders resourcing responses, and policymakers with the power to change rules and incentives.
The intended outcomes are clear. A stronger evidence base on class in the creative economy. Policy recommendations grounded in comparative research. Practical guidance for organizations seeking to widen access and improve retention. And ultimately, progress toward a creative sector that is more diverse, more inclusive and more representative of the societies it serves.
This matters not only as a matter of fairness, though fairness is central. A creative economy that draws its workforce and leadership from a narrow social slice risks cultural narrowness — producing work that speaks to and about only part of the population. Widening participation is both a social imperative and a creative one.
If your organization works in the Creative and Cultural sector and wants to stay informed about initiatives like this one, follow developments through TU Dublin’s latest news and consider how your own recruitment, retention and commissioning practices shape who enters and advances in the sector.
Get Involved and Stay Informed
The network actively welcomes engagement from stakeholders across the Creative and Cultural sector. Organizations, funders, practitioners and researchers who would like further information or wish to become involved in the project can contact Dr Caroline Ann O’Sullivan directly at [email protected].
For those new to this area, the following steps offer a starting point:
- Audit your own sector — if you work in a creative organization, examine who applies, who is hired, who stays and who advances.
- Review recruitment practices — unpaid roles, informal hiring and credential requirements often carry hidden class filters.
- Engage with existing organizations — bodies such as Arts Emergency demonstrate practical models for widening access.
- Follow the research — the outputs and recommendations from this network will be directly relevant to policy and practice over the coming years.
Projects like Rethinking Class in the Creative Economy demonstrate how targeted research funding, institutional expertise and industry partnership can be combined to address entrenched inequality. Have questions about the project or thoughts on class and the creative economy in Ireland and the UK? Share your perspective in the comments below, or reach out to the research team to learn how you can contribute to this important conversation.
