Professor Marcus O'Dair

I'm a Professor of Innovation and Creativity at Kingston University, where I am currently Director of the Design, Arts and Creative Practice Knowledge Exchange and Research Institute.

My work, primarily on the impact of emerging technologies on the creative economy, has been supported by Research England, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Office for Students, UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Greater London Authority and the British Council.

I am the author of Different Every Time: The Authorised Biography of Robert Wyatt (Serpent’s Tail 2014); Distributed Creativity: How Blockchain Will Transform the Creative Economy (Palgrave 2018); and Leading with Creativity (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming).

I have published in peer-reviewed journals including Popular Communication, Strategic Change, Popular Music, IASPM@Journal, Life Writing, Journal of Risk Finance and International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. I have also published in edited collections including Decentralised Music: Exploring Blockchain for Artistic Research; ’Pataphysics Unrolled; The Canterbury Sound in Popular Music: Scene, Identity and Myth; Music by Numbers: The Use and Abuse of Statistics in the Music Industry; Life Writing and Celebrity: Exploring Intersections; Business Transformation Through Blockchain: Volume 2; Punk Pedagogies: Music, Culture and Learning; and Jazz and Totalitarianism.

I have also written for the Guardian, Times, Financial Times, Independent and Irish Times and appeared on Radio 1, Radio 3, BBC 6 Music, the World Service and CNN.

As well as academic keynotes, I have given talks around the world from Thompson Reuters in New York to the King Fahed Cultural Centre in Riyadh.

I have consulted for Linux Foundation, the Institute of Coding and Blockchain Research Institute and delivered training around the world from Accra to Amman. I have also coached leaders up to Managing Director / CEO level for organisations ranging in size from SME to multinational.

I am a non-executive director of the Featured Artists Coalition and was, until my term recently expired, a non-executive director of Enterprise Educators UK.

I previously worked in the music industry, first as a session musician with Passenger and then releasing four acclaimed albums and performing across Europe as one half of Grasscut.

I am interested in hearing from PhD students, especially in fields such as:

• creative leadership
• creative entrepreneurship
• popular music / music business
• the impact of emerging technologies on the creative economy. 

• PhD
• MBA
• BA (Hons) English Language and Literature