Dr Susan Oman
MA (City University, London), PhD (Manchester)
Information School
Lecturer in Data, AI and Society
Full contact details
Information School
Room C243
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
91Ö±²¥
S10 2AH
- Profile
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I joined the Information School in June 2020 from the Department of Sociological Studies, where I started in September 2019. Prior to this, I held two consecutive AHRC fellowships looking at data in the creative economy: one, in the 91Ö±²¥ Methods Institute (2019), and one in the School of Media and Communications at the University of Leeds (2018).
I completed my interdisciplinary PhD, based in Sociology and the Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC) at the University of Manchester in 2017. This investigated the cultural politics of participation and well-being. It was specifically concerned with the contexts of metrics and knowledge production for policy. My MA was in Cultural Policy and Management and my BA was in Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art.
I was recently awarded an Honorary fellowship to the Institute of Cultural Practices at University of Manchester in recognition of my research on methods, data and partnership working in the cultural sector.
My monograph, will be published open access by Palgrave Macmillan in 2021.
University responsibilities
- Research, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead
- Research, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead
- Research interests
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I research how data and evidence work in practice, looking at particular policy issues, such as well-being, loneliness, inequality and class. My research is situated in the sociology of knowledge and focuses on the role of knowledge in social change. I seek to develop practice and policy-relevant understanding through methodologically rigorous projects that have practical impact in various ways. I achieve this through working with relevant stakeholders, academics and non-academic research partners across the UK and internationally.
I worked on the AHRC-funded projects: and . I am co-Investigator on the project. The website profiles my research in a section called: .
I have previously led a systematic review of data and literature for a Wellcome-funded project to investigate subjective well-being as a metric for the cultural sector. During my PhD I was awarded funding from The University of Manchester’s Student Union to lead a project to investigate postgraduate well-being in the institution through qualitative fieldwork and survey re-analysis.
- Publications
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Show: Featured publications All publications
Featured publications
Books
- Understanding Well-being Data Improving Social and Cultural Policy, Practice and Research. Palgrave Macmillan.
Journal articles
- . Big Data & Society, 10(2).
- . The Sociological Review, 70(1), 21-38.
- . International Review of Public Policy, 3(3).
- . Leisure Studies, 39(1: Leisure and Wellbeing), 11-25.
- . Journal of Cultural Economy, 11(3), 225-243.
Chapters
- In Eriksson B, Stage C & Valtysson B (Ed.), Cultures of Participation Routledge
- , Cultures of Wellbeing (pp. 66-94). Palgrave Macmillan UK
Reports
- Public understanding and perceptions of data practices: a review of existing research
- Measuring Social Mobility in The Creative and Cultural Industries – The importance of working in partnership to improve data practices and address inequality.
- Improving data practices to monitor inequality and introduce social mobility measures
Other
- A Question of Class: how do social inequality metrics work in cultural organisations?.
- The inequality challenge in the arts.
- ‘Student Experience Survey 2017: investigating well-being at university’,.
- Access in Higher Education: A triumph of hope over experience?.
- Why government issued well-being may not make us happier.
All publications
Books
- Understanding Well-being Data Improving Social and Cultural Policy, Practice and Research. Palgrave Macmillan.
Journal articles
- . Big Data & Society, 10(2).
- . The Sociological Review, 70(1), 21-38.
- . International Review of Public Policy, 3(3).
- . Leisure Studies, 39(1: Leisure and Wellbeing), 11-25.
- . Journal of Cultural Economy, 11(3), 225-243.
- What ifs: the role of imagining in people's reflections on data uses. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies.
- How people connect fairness and equity when they talk about data uses. Big Data and Society.
- Challenging assumptions about the relationship between awareness of and attitudes to data uses amongst the UK public. The Information Society.
- Socially meaningful transparency in data-based systems: reflections and proposals from practice. Journal of Documentation.
Chapters
- Questioning hierarchies in knowledge and advocacy for well-being policy: Re-using overlooked free text data reveals the importance of leisure to people’s understanding of well-being In daykin N & mansfield L (Ed.), Leisure and Wellbeing
- , Leisure and Wellbeing (pp. 11-25). Routledge
- In Eriksson B, Stage C & Valtysson B (Ed.), Cultures of Participation Routledge
- , Cultures of Participation (pp. 201-219). Routledge
- , Cultures of Wellbeing (pp. 66-94). Palgrave Macmillan UK
Book reviews
- Making Culture Count: The Politics of Cultural Measurement, (eds) MacDowall et al., Cultural Trends, Volume 25, Issue 2, 2016 Special Issue: Methodologies.. Cultural Trends, 25(2).
Reports
- Public perceptions of BBC data uses in experiments which give people more control of data
- Public perceptions of DWP’s uses of data for identity verification
- Public perceptions of sharing and aggregating health data
- Report on Living With Data Interviews & Focus Groups
- Living with Data survey report
- Public understanding and perceptions of data practices: a review of existing research
- Public understanding and perceptions of data practices: a review of existing research
- Measuring Social Mobility in The Creative and Cultural Industries – The importance of working in partnership to improve data practices and address inequality.
- Improving data practices to monitor inequality and introduce social mobility measures
Website content
Scholarly editions
Other
- A Question of Class: how do social inequality metrics work in cultural organisations?.
- The inequality challenge in the arts.
- ‘Student Experience Survey 2017: investigating well-being at university’,.
- Access in Higher Education: A triumph of hope over experience?.
- Why government issued well-being may not make us happier.
- Teaching interests
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My teaching is research-led and focuses on how students interact with ideas of knowledge in a number of ways that aims to:
- Challenge widespread assumptions about data and evidence and how they are used to reinforce particular ideas or political projects.
- Familiarise students with methodologies, ethics and practicalities of data collection and analysis.
- Enable students to reflect on potential real-world impacts of their current and future practices and to present examples from different domains and industries.
- Teaching activities
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INF110 - Data Science Foundations and Contexts
INF6033 - Data and Society
- Professional activities and memberships
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Selected Media Appearances:
Media comment:
- ‘Emirates want to lead the world in happiness’, Al-Ittihad, United Arab Emirates, 14 March 16.
- ‘Digging into socio-economic diversity’, Arts Council England Webinar, 16 December 2019.
Research featured:
- ‘Arts Council takes steps to tackle working class gaps in workforce‘, The Guardian, 16 December 2019.
- ‘ACE treads carefully with ‘intrusive’ new social class metric’, Arts Professional. 17 December 2019.
- ‘Theatres to report on socio-economic background of workforce under new Arts Council rules’ The Stage. 16 December 19
- ‘Arts council aims to build picture of class inequality in the culture sector’ Museums Journal. 19 December 2019
- ‘Tackling class discrimination’, Arts Professional. 30 August 2018.
Membership
- Honorary Research Fellow of the Institute of Cultural Practices, University of Manchester
- Established the Culture Insights Managers network – a sector support network to support and train data practitioners in the cultural sector
- Member of the PKP network: an international network of female policy, knowledge and practice researchers
- Associate member of SKAPE centre for Science, Knowledge and Policy, University of Edinburgh