Month: July 2024

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Entertainment to Change the World, London: Video from the OKRE Summit 2024

How are younger generations engaging with media and entertainment, from video games to TikTok and Spotify?

I had a chance to discuss this with some inspiring women in London at the Entertainment to Change the World event. This was the second OKRE Summit – if you don’t know the organisation, they’re connected to the Wellcome Trust and serve as ‘a catalyst for entertainment content challenging misleading perceptions.’

I spoke on the ‘Think digitally, think generationally, think differently’ panel with these very inspiring women: cultural historian, producer and writer Sofia Akel, Lorraine Ní Annracháin, Global Campaigns and Programmes Lead at Spotify, and Marcia Brophy, Global Mental Health and Innovation Specialist at UNICEF.

Watch the video online here!

Huge thanks to OKRE and my fellow panelists for the chance to talk about these important issues.

OKRE SUMMIT 2024
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Looking for more support for your grad school search?

As a first step you can get my free advice on grad school in my previous post.

If you want more support I’ve created an email course that guides and supports you step by step through my 10-day strategic process for finding potential programs and advisors that best fit your specific goals and circumstances.

It’s available instantly here (US version). A UK version is here.

I believe we need more women, POC/BAME, and minoritised groups with the academic background in Islamic art and history, post-colonial studies, and lived experience to move knowledge out of the academy and get it to the public. People who can move the needle on ensuring that representations of Muslims and Islamic civilization in games and entertainment are fair and representative of accurate visual, material, and historical evidence.

It’s taken me a few years to arrive at this solution and I’m interested to see if I can help more people, more effectively this way.

Do me know how it goes – sending you good luck in your grad school search!

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Thinking about grad school? Here’s my advice

One of the most frequent email requests I get are requests for my advice on graduate school.

Navigating the grad school search as the first person in my family to pursue a PhD was a confusing process for me. Even after I finished a Master’s degree I didn’t really understand academia, how it works, what I should be looking for in a PhD program or an advisor, or why.

I remember what that was like and how mystifying the whole process can seem to an outsider.

And I believe we need more women, POC/BAME, and minoritised groups with the academic background in Islamic art and history, post-colonial studies, and lived experience to move knowledge out of the academy and get it to the public. Who can move the needle on making accurate, inclusive public-facing games and immersive experiences inspired by Islamic art, architecture, history, and the global medieval past.

So here’s an expanded version of the pdf that I’ve been sharing with students for years. This is the advice I give to students I have mentored, based on my experiences as a tenured professor at research universities in the US and UK. You can get it instantly below.

If you’re interested to study with me at the University of Edinburgh, please start with my free guide below, and the key info on my University of Edinburgh faculty page here.

If you know someone who could use some advice on grad programs please share this with them.

Thank you!

Finding Your Ideal Graduate Program (2024)

Are you considering Master’s or PhD programs in history of Islamic art/architecture or allied fields, and not sure what to look for in a program or an advisor?

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I’m happy to help.

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In this free guide I lead you through the first step of my strategic approach to finding potential programs and advisors that best fit your interests and circumstances.

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Who is this for?

It’s for women, people of colour, and others from minoritised communities, and anyone considering Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences graduate programs who cares about public education and making a difference in the world, and who wants advice from an experienced academic mentor who’s been through it.

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Why did I write this?

I’m committed to making accurate, inclusive knowledge about global Islamic art and history widely and freely accessible to all, in and out of the academy. I believe we need more people from diverse backgrounds with the academic training and background, and lived experiences, to make positive change in public education, including through video games and entertainment and our public-facing museums and cultural heritage institutions.

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About me

Hi, I’m Glaire Anderson (PhD, MIT), Senior Lecturer in Islamic Art and Founding Director of the Digital Lab at the University of Edinburgh. I’m an award-winning researcher and author, and a video games and GLAM consultant. I was an historian/art historian for Assassin’s Creed Mirage (Ubisoft, 2023).

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