Dr Rachel Connor

CC Team Lead

Dr Rachel Connor is Senior Research Fellow for Creative Communities at Northumbria University.

An expert in the research and practice of innovation and co-creation, Rachel’s career to date spans academia, the creative and cultural industries and third sector organisations. An accredited leadership and creativity coach, she has spent over two decades coaching and mentoring creative professionals in cultural and creative arts projects in the UK and globally. She brings this considerable experience to bear by leading and supporting the Community Innovation Practitioners in the delivery of their innovative projects.  

As both an academic and practitioner, Rachel has a longstanding commitment to community-led culture, research and development, with a focus on methodologies of ideation, writing and creative thinking skills. She was Principal Investigator on a range of research-informed projects in the cultural and creative industries, funded by such bodies as the British Council, Independent Social Research Foundation and AHRC, particularly in the north of England. 

A multi-hyphenate professional, Rachel originally trained as a researcher and teacher in higher education, having gained her PhD in Anglo-American women’s modernist writing from the University of Liverpool and a Masters in Novel Writing at the University of Manchester. After stints as an early career academic at Salford and Glasgow Universities, she pivoted to teaching and practice-led research in creative writing with specialisms in fiction and drama. Appointed by Leeds Beckett University to design, validate and implement new undergraduate and postgraduate pathways in creative writing, she oversaw the development of a new community of students and staff in creative practice.  

At Leeds Beckett University, Rachel held several leadership roles: including the Practices of Writing research strand (with a remit for community outreach, participation, and engagement), as Course Director for Creative Writing and subsequently Head of English and Creative Writing. Rachel has a strong commitment to values of inclusion and equality and is a member of the regional advisory board of the educational charity First Story.