- Led by Dr Oonagh Murphy, Goldsmiths, University of London
- Partnered with Arts Council England
Dr Murphy was awarded a BRAID Fellowship in 2024 to collaborate with the Arts Council England and create a Responsible AI Innovation Framework for the arts and culture sector. She received a funded extension in 2026 to develop this work further.
Research and Impact
Transparency and values-led governance: Dr Oonagh Murphy’s framework for Responsible AI in the Cultural Sector
Dr Oonagh Murphy (Goldsmiths) worked in partnership with Arts Council England to develop responsible AI governance and shape the organisations sector development strategy to support the cultural sector engage with the impact of AI technologies in operational and creative practices. This collaboration helped shape a new organisation-wide AI policy for Arts Council England’s 700 staff and led to the announcement that AI will not influence decision-making in its annual £600 million grant funding programme. The Responsible AI Practical Toolkit has also been made available for other organisations looking to develop their own AI policies and has other institutions have already begun to engage it, including the Royal Academy of Arts, The V&A, Wildlife Trusts, MUNCH, Creative Scotland, Arts Council of Wales. This work represented an important step towards transparent and values-led AI governance in the cultural sector, helping to safeguard fairness, accountability and public trust across decision-making processes. As part of her costed extension Dr Murphy will work with the Arts Council England to establish a new national Responsible AI Cultural Leaders Academy.
Further Reading
https://braiduk.org/building-on-success-braid-fellows-project-extensions
https://www.ukri.org/who-we-are/how-we-are-doing/research-outcomes-and-impact/ahrc/building-a-responsible-ai-framework-for-the-cultural-sector/
https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/research-and-data/responsible-ai-arts-council-england
Biography
Dr Oonagh Murphy is Director of the Responsible AI Cultural Leaders Academy at Arts Council England where she supports the cultural sector to respond to the challenges and opportunities that AI technologies have on creative practice, and cultural management. She focuses on skills development, capacity building and strategic decision making.
She began working with the Arts Council in 2024 as a Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) Research Fellow, where she worked with the New Technologies and Innovation team to develop AI Governance structures and AI Policy for Arts Council, and led research into the use of AI in creative practice.
Her current role as Director of the Responsible AI Cultural Leaders Academy is part funded by BRAID, in parallel to this role she is as Senior Lecturer in Digital Culture and Society at Goldsmiths University. Her writing on Responsible AI in the cultural sector has been published in six languages, she is a keynote speaker, and advisor to cultural organisations globally. She sits on the DCMS College of Experts, is a former Turing Fellow and Churchill Fellow.
