Professor Roni Brown
Roni is Professor Emeritus, University of the Arts London. Her career has spanned three decades, serving in senior leadership positions in creative higher education institutions. Prior to her retirement, Roni was Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic, University of the Arts London, where she provided strategic leadership in teaching, research and knowledge exchange working with her colleagues to create an institutional setting in which creative learning and intellectual curiosity can thrive.
Other senior positions include Pro Vice-Chancellor and Head of London College of Fashion (2019-2021) and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) where she led the academic strategy. In 2019 UCA was awarded Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework.
Roni is now serving the Creative Higher Education sector in non-executive, advisory and consultancy roles, including as Chair of The Place and member of the Board of Governors at Arts University Bournemouth.
Previously Roni has served the arts sector through a number of non-executive roles including South-East Area Chair for Arts Council England and member of its National Council between 2017-2023; as Deputy Chair of Artswork, a charity empowering young people through their creativity; and Director of ArtsTemps, a commercial enterprise supporting paid work opportunity for arts students.
Roni holds a PhD in the History of Architecture and Design from De Montfort University and is published across the disciplines of Design History and Material Culture Studies. Roni's research focuses on user-led content in art and design practice and everyday creativity, broadening the field of design history to consider the role of the user in design and the social value of participatory creative experience. More recently Roni’s work has focussed on sector policy, pedagogical leadership and quality assurance in Higher Education Art and Design.