The 4th CivicLAB Annual Conference, 2024

The CivicLAB Conference 2024

CivicLAB is based at the University of Derby, a UNESCO City of Life Long Learning and home to a fantastic selection of World Heritage Sites. It has been designed to support academics, creative and cultural industry professionals and freelance creatives to share their insights on research and practice through a place-based approach to knowledge generation. 

The main objective of the Conference is to provide a supportive and creative environment for academics, creative and cultural industry professionals and freelance artists to share their insights on research and practice through a place-based approach to knowledge generation. Together, we will discuss approaches to building civic practice, research and community capacity as a means of addressing long-standing social issues.

As a Civic University, we are committed to supporting Derby and Derbyshire, our place, our people and its rich and diverse community by enacting and enabling imaginative communities to flourish and support creative cultural ecosystems and strategies to grow.

2024 Conference themes

• Securing our future
• Driving ambition to bring positive change
• Making a positive environmental impact
• Supporting health and wellbeing 
• Investing in culture as a driver for change

Conference Chair: Dr Cara Courage

Dr Cara Courage is a globally renowned placemaking leader, cultural and creative sector consultant-director and researcher and creative and organisational change agent, named in the top 10 of place-thinkers worldwide and a 'strategy angel' for the arts sector. Her most recent project is 'Trauma-Informed Placemaking', with Dr Anita McKeown, a research platform and forthcoming textbook (Routledge, 2024).

Cara is the Editor and Convenor of The Routledge Handbook of Placemaking (Routledge, 2021); Co-Editor of Creative Placemaking and Beyond (Routledge, 2018); and author of The Arts in Place: The Arts, the Urban and Social Practice (Routledge, 2017).

Find out more about CivicLAB

Certificates of attendance can be issued, post-conference by emailing civiclab@derby.ac.uk 

Our venue

Artcore Gallery - 8 Albert Street, Derby, DE1 2DS

Organising Committee

• Dr Rhiannon Jones, Associate Professor (Civic Practice)
• Professor Ian Whitehead, Chair Civic Operations Board
• Hana York, Civic Operations Officer 

For more information surrounding Civic, please email at civiclab@derby.ac.uk or visit the CivicHUB page.