Dr Allan Taylor

Experience

Allan has a sustained track record of innovation in higher education through championing access, inclusion, employability and entrepreneurship in the creative industries. He has held senior leadership roles at the University of East London (UEL) and De Montfort University (DMU), where he spearheaded curriculum transformation over the media and performance portfolio of programmes, introducing industry skills and practice as a core strand across both institutions.

Passionate about external engagement, Allan has led widening participation initiatives such as the Future Creatives and Future Influencers programmes at UEL and DMU respectively, and was the convenor of Leicester Creative Expo – an event that gave businesses working in the city's creative industries a voice in shaping the future of Leicester's cultural strategy. Internationally, he led the British Council's Creative Spark programme in East Kazakhstan, establishing a creative industries hub and designing a student entrepreneurship training programme at the Kazakh-American Free University. These initiatives underpin his core beliefs in building strong partnerships between universities, industry and communities.

His current research focuses on the intersections between digital media, performance, gender and identity and is the author of Authenticity as Performativity on Social Media (Springer Nature, 2022), as well as the forthcoming textbook, The Creative Careers Handbook (Bloomsbury, 2026). A values-led and inclusive leader, he is driven by a commitment to advancing equity in higher education and to empowering the next generation of creative professionals.