Professor Roni Brown

Roni is Professor Emeritus at University of the Arts London (UAL). Her career spans over three decades, serving in senior leadership positions in creative higher education institutions. Prior to semi-retirement, Roni was Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic at UAL, 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 (2019–21) and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) where she led the academic strategy.

Roni now works for the Creative Higher Education as trustee, consultant and adviser, including as Board member for Arts University Bournemouth and as Chair, The Place: London Contemporary Dance School.

Roni has served the arts and education 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 and 2023; as Deputy Chair of Artswork, a charity empowering young people through their creativity; and Director of ArtsTemps, a commercial enterprise supporting paid work opportunities 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 the pedagogical environment of teaching and learning and quality assurance in Higher Education Art and Design.