Professor Ian Hargreaves awarded CBE
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Ian Hargreaves CBE "It’s not every day you get named in a line-up that includes...Shane Williams!"
Ian Hargreaves, the school’s Professor of Digital Economy, has been recognised in the Queen’s birthday honours list with a CBE for services to the Creative Economy and Higher Education.
Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Ian said: "The honours list certainly does bring together people form extraordinarily diverse areas. It’s not every day you get named in a line-up that includes Kate Winslet, Gary Barlow and Shane Williams!"
Professor Hargreaves’ latest research project on creative citizenship accurately reflects the award’s recognition by seeking to understand the way communities and individual citizens contribute to the creative economy of the UK.
"Learning how to take advantage of the Internet’s potential to do new things is a key part of what I do. In Wales we can see a lot of that in new community-led media services that enable people that are not professional journalists to get involved for themselves and contribute to their community in a new way" he said.
The project secured significant funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) in 2011 and will work in partnership with Ofcom, the communications regulator, and Talk About Local, to work to understand the value of emerging forms of community news media along with acts of creative citizenship in other areas, such as design, planning and clusters of artists.
Last year Professor Hargreaves’ independent review of intellectual property, entitled ‘Digital Opportunity’, set-out ten recommendations to Government designed to ensure the UK has an IP framework best suited to supporting innovation and promoting economic growth in the digital age.
Head of School Professor Justin Lewis said, "Ian’s calibre was highlighted recently when he contributed to the hearings of The Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press on behalf of the school and the wider journalism higher education sector, his contribution to this and the creative economy has justifiably been recognised with this award."
Professor Hargreaves told Radio Wales: "A lot of what I do is quite controversial and I often have plenty of people telling me I’m wrong. So it’s nice every now and again that somebody recognises that what you do might be quite useful."
Related Links:
The Queen's Birthday Honours List 2012 - 16 June 2012
BBC Good Morning Wales interview [1 hr 15 mins 58 sec]
See Also:
Daniel Meadows’ Early Photographic Works exhibition reaches Cardiff