Engagement

Professor Stephen Broad is an islander in exile, researcher, teacher, community conductor and occasional broadcaster. He studied at the Music School of Douglas Academy (Piano with Anne Crawford and composition with William Sweeney) and then at the University of Glasgow, where he won prizes in music and physics. He undertook a DPhil in Historical Musicology at Worcester College, Oxford with the late Robert Sherlaw Johnson and with Annegret Fauser, and is Director of Research and Engagement at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

As Head of Engagement, Deborah works with her team to develop and deliver the full range of Engagement services, programmes and initiatives at the Conservatoire. She has recently developed the Engagement Strategy (25/26 to 29/30), which is central to the team’s ambitions and defines work across four areas: Creative Enterprise, Innovation, Public Engagement, and Engagement Culture & Infrastructure. Deborah works alongside Knowledge Exchange colleagues in Scotland and through Conservatoires UK to advocate for the specific strengths and challenges of small specialist creative arts institutions.

Celia’s ‘squiggly’ career has ranged from mainstream music academia, technology-assisted learning and research (when it was new and more interesting), corporate training, and institutional senior management where she played a key role in RCS’s development as a research institution.

The focus of her current work is the need for rapid evolution and change in higher music education and driving institutional innovation to achieve that – including maximising the potential of knowledge exchange and innovation in the small specialist arts sector.

As RKE Development Officer, Stephanie supports students, staff, and recent graduates from across the institution and in the wider community with creative enterprise support, funding, and engagement initiatives. She coordinates the newly developed Creative Enterprise Development Office.

As the KE Development Assistant, Gallia supports the Engagement team to deliver on Enterprise, Innovation, and Public Engagement through administrative support and project operations. In addition, Gallia manages the staff Athenaeum Awards and the Engagement Committee.

In her role as Impact Officer, Verena develops new approaches for capturing and amplifying the impact of the work produced by our staff, students and alumni, their projects and partners. With a background in the creative application of new technologies, she is particularly excited to be working on the next iteration of Innovation Studio, supporting creative experimentation, collaboration and interdisciplinary work at RCS.

Shilpa is a working freelance director and dramaturg, as well as the co-Artistic Director of Bijli Productions. She is also a PhD candidate at RCS.

Her directing and dramaturgy practice specialises in new writing. She trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and values collaboration, respect, rigor and curiosity. She is especially interested in stories which reflect big scale political and social issues through the most personal and everyday occurrences. She approaches directing and dramaturgy from a core ethos of asking challenging questions with kindness.

She has worked with many Scottish companies as a director and dramaturg including Playwrights’ Studio Scotland, A Play, A Pie, and A Pint, Independent Arts Projects, the National Theatre Scotland, the Traverse Theatre, Perth Theatre, and Catherine Wheels. Her research investigates the process of using new plays to explore our relationship to historical narratives.