JISC

Lizbeth is Chair of Creative Technology Innovation at the University of East London, where she also directs the SMARTlab Digital Media Institute and the MAGIC Multimedia and Games Innovation Centre and Gamelab. She founded the SMARTlab (currently based at UEL) some 15 years ago and has directed that lab as it grew and developed at four different UK institutions (The Open University/BBC, The University of Surrey, and Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design/University of the Arts London), and through a remarkable period of growth of the research teams, tools, methods and projects. She has developed many award winning learning and communication technology tools. She is a renowned expert in learning models for communities at risk and is perhaps best known as an advocate of community-based ethical learning and teaching models using interactive tools and games to inspire and engage learners of all ages. Originally trained in Literature and Philosophy, and active for many years as a professional performer and TV-radio-convergent media researcher/presenter, she has published widely in the areas of performance technologies, e-learning, connected learning, embodied learning, social networking for community engagement, social entrepreneurship models in ICT, and games for learning. In this regard, she co-developed several groundbreaking teaching and learning tools and games which have had significant take up worldwide, and which have led to the foundation of several charities for women and children at risk, also directed by Lizbeth. She won the Lifetime Achievement Award for volunteer service to women and children in education and technology in 2003. She was named Best Woman in the Public Sector and Academia and Outstanding Woman of Achievement in Technology by Blackberry/RIM in 2008. She was nominated and commended by the Times Higher Awards in 2007 for outstanding service to students with disabilities. She also holds a Senior Research Fellowship from Microsoft for her work on educational outreach models for youth at risk internationally.

Lizbeth is also the newly selected Director of Research for Futurelab, joining the team in order to bring an international range of experience and a practical approach to creative educational technologies to the existing strong lab mandate in mainstream education. She will bring her experience from her Chair of Creative Technology Innovation at the University of East London, to bear on this new role with Futurelab. For Futurelab she will manage the research teams, initiate new collaborative projects, and undertake original research into creative innovation strategies for social entrepreneurship and leadership models that support learning for all.

For RITSEC in Cairo, she is International Research Director, leading the integration of SMARTlab projects and courses in Leadership and Media Advocacy for the Middle East region.

Current contracts & funded projects with: BBC R&D, the European Commission, Microsoft CSR, MIT Press, NESTA, CISCO, Nokia/INDT, the World Summit, et al.