Understanding Well-being Data

About Susan

Academic employment history 

AI & in/equality Lead, Centre for Machine Intelligence. University of Sheffield. Jun24-
University-wide responsibility for its strategic investments in responsible AI research, skills, education and outreach.

Postdoctoral Researcher, Living With Data (co-I from Jun 20), University of Sheffield, Sep19-Jun20
Multi-method research, to understand people’s experiences of, and responses to data and AI practices. Partners: DWP & BBC.

This is cited in the National Data Strategy (DCMS 2020)

AHRC Creative Economy Research Fellow, What is Good Data?, University of Sheffield, Jan19-Aug19 

Fellowship focused on knowledge exchange and dissemination activities, co-produced with ACE. 
Outputs: panel discussion in streamed webinar; media coverage in The Guardian, Arts Professional, The Stage, Museums Journal 

Consultant researcher, Arts Council England, Aug18-Dec18
Project managed survey to continue work of previous fellowship, in co-production with ACE

AHRC Creative Economy Research Fellow, Data, Diversity and Inequality, University of Leeds, Jan18-Aug18 
Qualitative sector research to understand lived experience of protected characteristic and social origins data

Aim – to inform ACE policy and future practice, including new social mobility metrics

Consultant researcher, Cultural Engagement for Wellbeing, NEA, Jun16-Dec16
Co-produced research on a Welcome-funded Seed award, undertaking literature review, data review, report writing and presentation to Advisory Group

Placement Partnerships and Learning Manager,  Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Sep07-Sep11
Managed relationships with around 2,000 individuals at community, arts and education organisations across the UK, and internationally 

Fellowship to develop HE-industry partnerships: promoting equality, improving practices, RCSSD, Sep09-11
Develop Central’s strategic vision with creative industry, local and third sector partners, and profile this work.

Academic qualifications  

Funding History 

2026: Understanding AI, The University of Sheffield £5,000 [Principal Investigator]
Festival of the Mind event 

2026: PAVE: Public AI Voice and Engagement, The University of Sheffield HEIF, £73,340 [Principal Investigator]
Seed funding for an NGO collaboration led by TUoS to advocate for a citizens’ track in AI governance and develop the evidence infrastructure. 

2026: Let’s Talk AI – stories from a national AI awareness campaign, TUoS Public Engagement Development Fund (PEDF), £5,000 [Principal Investigator]
Collaboration with film-maker Sean Lovell, documenting the process and impacts of the first ever national AI awareness campaign for a film, launching in November 2026 in Sheffield. 

2026: Let’s Talk AI: participation at the International AI Impact Summit, TUoS Policy Support Fund, £4,840 [Principal Investigator] 
Impact-oriented travel and subsistence to support invitation to FCDO & British Council’s UK Delegation.

2025: AI Skills: Pilot for a National Critical AI Literacy Campaign, Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), £64,000 [Principal Investigator]
Co-produced with 100 community members in Plymouth, Sheffield and Morecambe Bay, and artist Kitty McEwan, this project produced AI literacy devised by the people, for the people and with the people. Outputs include: webtoons,  bus stop advertising, public broadcast and media campaigns, international exhibitions. 

2025: Measuring what matters: Scoping dimensions of measurement for responsible AI in the public sector, Responsible AI UK, £21,498 [Co-Investigator]
Led by TUoS, in collaboration with Durham University, delivering reflexive learning workshops around responsible evaluation and measurement tools. 

2025: Responsible AI in South Yorkshire Local Government, TUoS Policy Support Fund, £20,000 [Co-Investigator]
Impact-oriented workshop series developing a community of practice for responsible AI among all five local authorities in South Yorkshire.

2024: Including Public Voices in Responsible AI, Responsible AI UK, £849,702 [Co-Investigator]
Led by TUoS, in collaboration with University of Oxford, University College, London, Ada Lovelace Institute, Turing Institute. The project aimed to ensure that public voices are front and centre in artificial intelligence research, development and policy.

2024: Transforming the Cultural & Heritage Sector’s Data Infrastructure, Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), £349,685 [Co-Investigator] UKRI102
Led by The University of Leeds, collaboration for a people-centred approach to data infrastructure: connecting fragmented data, empowering stakeholders, building collective intelligence, improving evidence-based policymaking.

2024: FRAIM: Framing Responsible AI Implementation & Management, Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) programme APP13917 / AH/Z505596/1, £286,887 [Co-Investigator]
Coproductive research on organisational policy and process for responsible use of AI in public and private sectors; partnered with The British Library, Eviden, the Open Data Institute, and Sheffield City Council. 

Collaborative artwork with Blast Theory. Recipient of impact award at UKRI’s national AI conference: UKAIRS. 

2022: Research Policy Fellowship – Digital and International Cultures, AHRC, £111,024 [Principal Investigator]
Full-time policy fellowship embedded in the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. 

2022: Digital and International Policy, AHRC Knowledge Exchange AH/X000028/1, £15,000 [Principal Investigator]
Knowledge exchange funding to facilitate shared learning. 

2022: Living With Data archives, TUoS: Unleash Your Data by FAIR data principles, £4,983 [Principal Investigator]
Open Access Award to facilitate access to qualitative and quantitative datasets according to FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) principles.

2022: Animation of public sector data systems, TUoS: Festival of Social Science public engagement award, £3,200 [Principal Investigator]
Public Engagement Award to narrate how data moves across AI-enabled data systems in the BBC, DWP & NHS.

2021: Networks of Data, HEIF Knowledge Exchange, £19,400 [Principal Investigator]
Enabled the sustainability of the sector-based Cultural Data Researcher Network, that was established in my post-doctoral positions, a CDRN website. Also build and design of well-beingdata.com website (see below), according to FAIR principles and in collaboration with neurodiverse stakeholders to ensure accessibility. 

2021: Understanding Well-being Data: Open Access award, Wellcome Trust 201587/Z/21/A, £13,200 [Principal Investigator]
Open access award facilitated 78,000 accesses (so far) to the monograph on publisher site and republication on innovative website: well-being data.com for pedagogic interventions across policy, practice, research and teaching. 

2021: Understanding Well-being Data animations, TUoS Public Engagement Development Fund (PEDF), £5,000 [Principal Investigator]
Three short animations, one on well-being, one on data and one on understanding to communicate core concepts and the process of ‘following the data’ to a public audience. 

2019: Living With Data: knowledge, experiences and perceptions of data practices, Nuffield Foundation,OSP/43959 £286,543 [Co-Investigator]

2018: Research Methods and Creative Practice to Critically Understand Cultural Policy and Management, Northwest Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership (NWDTP), £1,500 [Co-Investigator]
Interdisciplinary training workshop programme for ECRs 

2015: Postgraduate Well-being, University of Manchester Student Union, £3,000 [Principal Investigator]
Funded research whilst a PGR at The university: reanalysis of University of Manchester responses to Advance HE’s Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) and focus groups 

2015: Reappropriating Value(s) in Higher Education ECR event, British Sociological Association, £1,500 [Co-Investigator]
Day-long workshop, reflecting on inequalities of access to and in Higher Education. Facilitating opportunities for ECR publications and training with senior academics. 

2014: Connected Epistemologies, AHRC Early Career Researcher award, £1,000 [Principal Investigator]
Award for methodological reflective practice as an AHRC-funded ECR  

2010: Learning and Teaching in Industry, Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE): £30,000 [Co-Investigator]
Internship Programme funding students from low socio-economic backgrounds

2010: Exchange: Enhancing Collaborative Models of Learning and Teaching in the Performing Arts with Higher Education, Higher Education Academy (HEA), £7,400 [Co-Investigator]

2009: Fellowship to the Centre of Excellence in Training for Theatre, HEFCE Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL), £30,000 [Principal Investigator]
Non academic fellowship to improve data, communications, partnerships and funding 

Academic Outputs 

Books

Monograph

Oman, S (2021) Understanding Well-being Data: Improving Social and Cultural Policy, Practice and Research. Palgrave Macmillan. Open Access.

Edited Collection 

Oman, S & O’Donovan, C (2026/7, forthcoming) Including Public Voices in AI: people, place and policy approaches. Bristol Policy Press  

Book chapters, Peer-reviewed

Beresford, H, Muis, I, Oman, S, Redden, J, Renkema, E, Tichenor, M, Bentley, C, Cerratto-Pargman, T & Bates, J. (September, 2024) Practitioner Interventions in Data Power. In Jarke, J. & Bates, J. Dialogues in Data Power: Shifting Response-abilities in a Datafied World. Policy Press. https://doi.org/10.51952/9781529238327.ch005  

Oman S. (2022) 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, Leisure and Wellbeing (ed.s) Louise Mansfield and Norma Daykin. Routledge. Pp. 11–25 https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003304975-2

Oman, S. (2019) Re-ordering and re-performing: Re-placing cultural participation and re-viewing well-being measures, Cultures of participation – arts, digital media and cultural institutions (ed.) Eriksson et al. Sage. Pp. 201-219 https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429266454-12 

Oman, S. (2015) ‘Measuring National Well-being: What Matters to You?’ What Matters to Whom?, in Cultures of Wellbeing Method, Place, Policy (ed.) White, S. Palgrave MacMillan. Pp. 66–94. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137536457_3 

Journal articles, Published

Kennedy, H, Ditchfield, H, Oman, S, Bates, J, Perea, I M, Fratczak, M, & Taylor, M (2025). How people connect fairness and equity when they talk about data uses. Big Data & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517241303162 

Taylor, M, Kennedy, H & Oman, S (2024) Challenging assumptions about the relationship between awareness of and attitudes to data uses amongst the UK public, The Information Society, 40(1). 32-53, https://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2023.2283729

Ditchfield, H., Oman, S., Kennedy, H., Frątczak, M., Bates, J., Taylor, M., & Medina-Perea, I. (2024). What ifs: The role of imagining in people’s reflections on data uses. Convergence, 30(6), 2025-2041. https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565241300898

Bentley, C, Muyoya, C, Vannini, S, Oman, S & Jimenez, A (2023) Intersectional approaches to data: the importance of an articulation mindset for intersectional data science. Big Data & Society, 10(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517231203667 

Bates, J, Kennedy, H, Medina Perea, I, Oman, S & Pinney, L (2023) Socially meaningful transparency in data-based systems: reflections and proposals from practice. Journal of Documentation. 80(1). https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-01-2023-0006 

Oman, S (2022). Re-performance: a critical and reparative methodology for everyday expertise and data practice in policy knowledge. International Review of Public Policy. 3:3. Pp. 291-313. https://doi.org/10.4000/irpp.1833 

Oman, S & Bull, A (2021) Joining up well-being and sexual misconduct data and policy in HE: ‘To stand in the gap’ as a feminist approach. The Sociological Review. 70:1. Pp. 21-38 https://doi.org/10.1177/00380261211049024 

Oman, S. (2020) Leisure pursuits: Uncovering the ‘selective tradition’ in well-being evidence for policy. Leisure Studies, special issue on well-being policy and research. 39:1. Pp. 11-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2019.1607536

Oman, S & Taylor, M (2018) Subjective well-being in cultural advocacy: A politics of research between the market and the academy. Journal of Cultural Economy. 11:3. Pp. 225-243. https://doi.org/10.1080/17530350.2018.1435422

Journal articles, in production

Kirk, J, Kandt, J, Bartle, C, Heins, E, de Vito, L, Vine, J, Hill, R, Tasker, A, Wynne-Jones, S, Maras, K, Oman, S, Botta, F, Narasimhan, K (2026, forthcoming) Practices of research impact: insights from a UK policy fellowship scheme. Public Administration Review. 

Ben Walmsley, Patrick Towell, Clare Danĕk, Stephen Dobson, Anna Kime, Steven Hadley, Trevor MacFarlane, Stephen Miller, Susan Oman, Sarah Thelwall, Sophia Woodley, Martin Zebracki (in review) Transforming the Arts, Cultural & Heritage Sector’s Data Infrastructure: A scoping study to establish a national cultural data observatory. International Journal of Arts Management.

Oman, S (2027) Publics and AI governance: taking an inequalities lens to the evidence

Oman, S, Rempel, E, McCloskey, E, Davies, T, Field Reid, O, Malkin, C (2027) Paving the Way to Participatory Public Engagement on AI – connecting local contexts to multi-national governance infrastructure 

Short-form articles and practitioner / sector engagement 

Davies, T, Oman, S, Field Reid, O (2026) A citizens’ track is needed for democratic AI to move from rhetoric to reality. Ada Lovelace Institute. https://www.adalovelaceinstitute.org/blog/a-citizens-track-is-needed-for-democratic-ai-to-move-from-rhetoric-to-reality/ 

Oman, S (2026) Councils can’t deliver better public understanding of AI without resource. The MJ. https://www.themj.co.uk/councils-deliver-public-understanding-ai-resource 

Duarte, T, Carmi, E, Wong, M, Oman, S et al (2026) The UK government’s AI skills programme betrays UK workers and our digital sovereignty. Computer Weekly. 3 February 2026. https://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/The-UK-governments-AI-skills-programme-betrays-UK-workers-and-our-digital-sovereignty 

Carmi, E, Duarte, T, Wong, M, Oman, S, Davies, T (2026) The Real Cost of the UK’s ‘Free AI Training for All’ is Democracy. Tech Policy Press. 10 February 2026. https://www.techpolicy.press/the-real-cost-of-the-uks-free-ai-training-for-all-is-democracy/

Oman, S (2025) Assuring Inclusive AI: Reviewing Evidence as a Call to Inclusive AI Action. Tech Policy Press. https://www.techpolicy.press/assuring-inclusive-ai-reviewing-evidence-as-a-call-to-inclusive-ai-action/   

Oman, S (2025) Reflections from a day in parliament: Improving AI is reliant on evidence that includes people’s experiences and opinions. The Centre for Machine Intelligence. https://sheffield.ac.uk/machine-intelligence/news/improving-ai-reliant-evidence-includes-peoples-experiences-and-opinions

Oman, S (2024) A digital strategy for the UK cultural sector. Arts Professional. https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/feature/a-digital-strategy-for-the-uk-cultural-sector  

Oman, S, Ditchfield, H & Kennedy, H (2022) To understand uses of personal data in the present, people draw on the past and imagine the future, LSE Impact Blog, 17 November 2022. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2022/11/17/to-understand-uses-of-personal-data-in-the-present-people-draw-on-the-past-and-imagine-the-future/ 

Oman, S (2022) Doing understanding differently: rethinking our relationship with metrics – and the people behind the data. The Sociological Review Magazine. https://doi.org/10.51428/tsr.ndhx3631. July 2022. 

Oman, S (2021) Data are cultural: what does that mean for understanding well-being?, Arts Professional. November 2021. https://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/article/data-are-cultural-what-does-mean-understanding-well-being   

Oman, S (2018) A Question of Class: how do social inequality metrics work in arts organisations? AHRC, September 2018. https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20210802102001/https://ahrc-blog.com/2018/10/26/a-question-of-class-how-do-social-inequality-metrics-work-in-cultural-organisations/  

Oman, S (2018) The Inequality Challenge in the Arts, Arts Council England, 10 September 2018

Oman, S (2017) Student Experience Survey: investigating wellbeing at university, Times Higher Education, 27 March 2017. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/blogs/student-experience-survey-2017-investigating-well-being-university 

Oman, S (2015) Why government issued well-being may not make us happier. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/why-government-issued-well-being-may-not-make-us-happier-42153 

Oman, S Rainford, J, & Stewart, H (2015) Stories of Access in Higher Education: a triumph (or failure) of hope over experience? Discover Society.  https://archive.discoversociety.org/2015/12/01/stories-of-access-in-higher-education-a-triumph-or-failure-of-hope-over-experience/ 

Oman, S (2006) ‘Recent Graduates’ Exhibition as Education, Curatorial essay, NYArts Magazine, June 2006.

Selected media commentary 

BBC (2025) Responding to AI. BBC Science Cafe. Broadcast 27 May 2025. 

BBC (2025) Look North. Available at: Will Artificial Intelligence weaken trust in politicians? Dr Susan Oman comments on new AI chatbot. 

BBC World Service (2025) 

Selected Media Coverage of research

Royaume-Uni : un programme gouvernemental de formation à l’IA sous le feu des critiques pour sa dépendance aux Big Tech américains. La Tribune. Publié le 12 février 2026 à 06:15. https://www.latribune.fr/article/tech/intelligence-artificielle/63847819398702/royaume-uni-un-programme-gouvernemental-de-formation-a-l-ia-sous-le-feu-des-critiques-pour-sa-dependance-aux-big-tech-americains 

‘We all deserve a voice in how AI is used’, BBC News, April 2026

MP becomes first to create himself as an AI bot, BBC News, August 2025

“Because I’m Happy!”: Happiness in the East and the West: Culture can shape happiness in profound ways.Psychology Today. Psychology Today. April 2022.

Empowering the arts sector to tackle inequalities through data, AHRC, June 2021.

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 
https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/blog/breaking-barriers-class-and-social-mobility-arts-and-culture

Tackling class discrimination, Arts Professional. 30 August 2018.  

Emirates want to lead the world in happiness, Al-Ittihad, United Arab Emirates, 14 March 2016. 

Digital outputs for public and practitioner engagement 

Nifty Fox, Newman-Griffis & Oman, S (2026) Responsible AI in South Yorkshire Local Government

Oman, S, McEwan, K, & Colling, M (2026) Let’s Talk AI: AI Awareness designed by, with and for the public https://www.letstalkai.org.uk/

McEwan, K, & Oman, S (2025) Let’s Talk About AI: Explaining Evidence Reviews. Webtoon.https://digitalgood.net/dg-outputs/talk-ai-webtoon/

Constant Washing Machine. With Blast Theory. https://www.blasttheory.co.uk/projects/constant-washing-machine/, 2024

Understanding Well-being Data. Interview hosted by the New Books Network podcast, 2022

Public sector data uses: Online resources relating to six public sector data uses, for use in teaching, advocacy, activism and beyond, https://livingwithdata.org/resources/public-sector-data-uses/, August 2022

Well-beingdata website. well-beingdata.com 

Following the data, podcast. Premiered at Festival of the Mind, 2021

Understanding Well-being Data, animations. Premiered in exhibition, Festival of Social Science, 2021

Digging into socio-economic diversity, webinar. Originally broadcast by Arts Council England, 2019

Published Reports and Policy Briefings 

Davies, T, Field Reid, O, Oman, S, & Wilson, R (2026). A Citizens Track on AI Governance: Agency, Alignment & Accountability. Iswe Foundation. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21157507 

Walmsley, B. et al (2026) Transforming the Cultural and Heritage Sector’s Data Infrastructure. National Cultural Data Observatory. https://ncdo.org.uk/report 

Newman-Griffis D, Taghiyeva S, Oman S. (2026) Scoping Responsible AI in Local Government. University of Sheffield Centre for Machine Intelligence & Sheffield City Council. June 2026. DOI:10.15131/shef.data.32586834

Oman, S & Cannizzaro, S (2025) People’s feelings about AI: an evidence review. The University of Sheffield. Available: https://digitalgood.net/dg-research/public-voices-in-ai/

Bentley, C., Ramchurn, S. D., Parisio, I., McStay, A., & Oman, S. (2025, Apr 9). Responsible AI response to the DSIT’s open call for evidence on the Digital Inclusion Action Plan. King’s College London. https://doi.org/10.18742/PUB01-216

Oman, S (2024) Digital Culture – a review of evidence and experience, with recommendations for UK policy, practice and research. London Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Available: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/digital-culture-a-review-of-evidence-and-experience-with-recommendations-for-uk-policy-practice-and-research 

Kennedy, H, Oman, S, Ditchfield, H, Taylor, M, Bates, J, Medina-Perea, I, Pinney, L, Fratczak, M (2022) Data Matters are Human Matters: final Living With Data report on public perceptions of public sector data uses.

Medina-Perea, I, Bates, J,Kennedy, H, Oman, S, Taylor, M, Ditchfield, H, Pinney, L, Fratczak, M (2022) Public perceptions of DWP’s uses of data for identity verification.  

Medina-Perea, I, Kennedy, H, Oman, S, Bates, J, Taylor, M, Ditchfield, H, Pinney, L, Fratczak, M (2022) Public perceptions of sharing and aggregating health data. 

Ditchfield, H, Oman, S, Kennedy, H, Bates, J, Taylor, M, Medina-Perea, I, Pinney, L, Fratczak, M (2022) Public perceptions of BBC data uses in experiments which give people more control of data. 

Ditchfield, H, Kennedy, H, Oman, S, Pinney, L, Bates, J, Medina-Perea, I, Taylor, M (2021) Report on Living With Data Interviews & Focus Groups. 

Kennedy, H, Taylor, M, Oman, S, Bates, J, Medina-Perea, I, Ditchfield, H, Pinney, L (2021) Context and prior awareness matter in public concern about data uses: Living With Data survey report.

Oman, S, Kennedy, H, Taylor, M, Bates, J, Steedman, R (2020) Public understanding and perceptions of data practices: a review of existing literature. The University of Sheffield.

Oman, S. (2019) Improving Data Practices to Monitor Inequality and Introduce Social Mobility Measures: A Working Paper. The University of Sheffield.

Oman, S. (2019) Measuring Social Mobility in The Creative and Cultural Industries – The importance of working in partnership to improve data practices and address inequality. The University of Sheffield.

Oman, S. (2018) Making Social Mobility Metrics Work: the Case of the Arts. Arts Council England

Oman, S. (2018) Introducing social mobility metrics into publicly-funded arts organisations: Report to Arts Council England: Findings from Phase 2 Pilot. Arts Council England.

Oman, S. (2017) Postgraduate Well-being at University of Manchester. University of Manchester Students’ Union Oman, S. (2017) Mainstream cultural activities and subjective well-being. A review of the literature. Wellcome Trust

Stuart-Fisher, A & Oman, S (2011) Exchange: Collaborations. Performance Arts Learning and Teaching Innovation Network, HEA

REVIEWS

Oman (2016) Making Culture Count: The Politics of Cultural Measurement, (eds) MacDowall et al., Cultural Trends, Volume 25, Issue 2, 2016 Special Issue: Methodologies

Oman (2013) NESTA’s ‘Counting What Counts: What Big Data Can Do for the Cultural Sector’, Cultural Value 

CONFERENCES, PRESENTATIONS and WORKSHOPS (SELECTED)

Academic plenaries and keynotes

What cultural policy do we need in the era of digital platforms? –  in conversation with Néstor García Canclini. Cultural Policy and Sustainable Development: A Global Dialogue. Lima, Peru. November 2025.

Understanding Well-being Data for Cultural Policy. Keynote at: Understanding Health Inequalities: What evidence to trust?, part of Addressing the museum attendance and benefit gap: Inequality, representative participation and implementation science. University of Leicester. Available at https://museumattendance.le.ac.uk/public-talks/

Visualising research: critical (of) impact? Translating critical data and algorithm studies into impact, University of Copenhagen. 15-16 August 2024.

Understanding Well-being Data: Revealing gaps and new possibilities for cultural policy, practice and research. Capturing the Societal Values of Culture: Towards Inclusive and Participatory European Cultural Policies, INVENT Conference, Rotterdam, 23 September 2021.

Culture and Well-being – a Happy Marriage of inconvenience?, Breaking into the Temples of Culture: Exploring Arts, Health and Wellbeing Initiatives in the Community, Tate Liverpool. Friday 27 November 2015

INVITED PRESENTATIONS AND WORKSHOPS – practice & policy

Let’s Talk AI. Shaping Tomorrow – The UK AI Showcase & Reception. British High Commission, New Delhi. 19 February 2026.

Responsible AI in Local Government. Workshop. Sheffield. 17 July 2025

Susan Oman (2024) Reflections on responsible AI. Sheffield Policy Campus, Seminar 3: Emphasising benefits, mitigating risks: AI and regulation. 29 October 2024. 

Susan Oman (2025) What does existing evidence tell us? Ensuring that public voice is front and centre in AI research, development and policy. Houses of Parliament. 26 March 2025.

Susan Oman (2025) What does existing evidence tell us? Public Voices in AI event for local policy, practice and research. 28 March 2025. 

Susan Oman (2025) Evidence and inclusion in AI: Evidence review findings. Part of  What experts think and what evidence says, the Public Voices in AI seminar series. 10 June 2025

Susan Oman (2025) Evidence and inclusion in AI decisions. Responsible AI in Local Government. 17 July 2025.

Understanding well-being data – a training workshop for cultural policy-makers. UK Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), London. November 2023 & February 2024. 

Why and how are we measuring social mobility? UK Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), London.  September 2023.

Digital – Linking Culture and International Audiences. Invited talk at Culture, Data and Researchers Network. UK. July 2023. 

Thinking differently about data, invited talk at Administrative Data Research UK (ADRUK), 15 June 2022

Hvad kan og skal vi med well-being data? Invited workshop at Danish policy and practitioner network (loosely translated as: The Promotion of health through cultural initiatives. Network for culture, employment, social welfare and health is for research-practitioners in Aarhus and the 12 municipalities of The Central Denmark Region). May 2022

Living With Data Findings (with Helen Kennedy and Mark Taylor) CDEI (Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation)’s PADAI (Public Attitudes to Data and AI) network for cross-Whitehall organisations involved in data policy. May 2022,

Well-being data for understanding. The World Summit on the Information Society Forum (WSIS, organised by ITU, UNESCO, UNDP and UNCTAD). April 2022 

INVITED PRESENTATIONS – academic

Susan Oman (2024) Visualising, Narrating, Animating, Democratising for Open Research. Presentation at Beyond open access: Democratising knowledge through accessible research outputs Recording, part of the ‘Open Research Conversations’ seminar series at the University of Sheffield held on 23 October 2024: https://orda.shef.ac.uk/articles/media/Open_Research_Conversation_Beyond_open_access_Democratising_knowledge_through_accessible_research_outputs/27284148/1?file=49942659 

Understanding Well-being Data: a cultural problem. Center for Cultural Affairs, University of Indiana. May 2022

Following the data – approaching cultural, media research and data for policy. Presentation at MECCSA (Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association). April 2022.

‘Following the data’ to understand well-being data. SHDC-RG Research Series: Public Sessions on Science, Health, & Data Communication. Bournemouth May 2022

The Affective Practices of Public Sector Data Workers, Data in Museums, Malmö University, October 2019

How do people feel about inequality metrics? How do they work in cultural organisations? Data Nord, Copenhagen, June 2019

Researching think tanks with digital methods and data sprints: warnings, opportunities and initial findings On Think Tanks Conference, University of Bath, Universidad del Pacífico. February 2018.

Subjected to Well-being Data: Self-survey and social surveys, Vice and Virtue: the Rise of Self-Tracking Technologies and the Moralising of ‘Health’ Behaviours, Brocher Foundation for experts in the ethical, legal and social implications of the development of medical research and biotechnologies, Geneva. May 2016.

SELECTED PANEL PAPERS  – sole-authored

Responsible AI is participatory? Undervalued impacts and symbolic value. PAIRS: Participatory AI Research & Practice Symposium. AI Summit Fringe. New Delhi, India.

Digital and International Cultural Policy in the UK: What and who is it for? Cultural Policy and Sustainable Development: A Global Dialogue. Lima, Peru. November 2025.

Digital Public Policy: the case of UK cultural policy. International Conference on Public Policy, Chiang Mai, Thailand. July, 2025. 

Responsible AI: A responsible response to AI?. International Conference on Public Policy, Chiang Mai, Thailand. July 2025. 

Public voices in AI: what do we know from the evidence and how inclusive is it?. Paris AI Action Summit parallel event: Participatory AI Research & Practice Symposium. Paris, France. Feb 2025

Methodologies to understand the ‘wicked problems’ of digital, cultural and social policy. International Conference of Public Policy. Guadalajara, Mexico. June 2024

For An Animated Politics, Writing International Politics: From style and methods to power and poetics. 9th European workshops in International Studies. Thessaloniki, Greece. July 2022

Well-being Data Power in Administrative Data. Data power Sheffield, Bremen and Carleton, Canada. June 2022

Re-performance: a methodological approach to understanding cultures of expertise in policy-making, International Conference of Public Policy, the University of Concordia, Montreal, Canada, June 2019

Consultation and metrics: mapping methodologies, proxies and lifecourse narratives to address questions of social mobility and inequality in the cultural professions, Social mobility and inequality in cultural and creative work: research, practice, policy panel, International Conference on Cultural Policy Research (ICCPR 2018) Tallinn, Estonia, August 2018

‘Re-performing and re-ordering: cultures of participation and the cult of measurement’, Measurement and Value panel, Cultures of Participation, Aarhus Universitet, Denmark. April 2018

Considering participation in the Measuring National Well-being debate: ‘what matters’ as an evidence base for the ‘Good Society’? British Sociological Association Conference, Glasgow, May 2015

Civic pride, great strides and the great divide – Stories of participation and inclusion in the UK’s ‘National Wellbeing: Measuring What Matters to You?’ debate, Civic Pride Political Studies Association Conference, Sheffield, April 2015

Measuring National Well-being and Cultural Participation. Why don’t things quite add up? Power, Culture and Social Framing, ESRC Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC) Annual Conference, Manchester, September 2014

The UK’s ‘third places’ as sites of participation, RETHINK Participatory Cultural Citizenship, Aarhus Universitet, Denmark. 2013

Normalising well-being, ignoring the ordinary, obscuring vulnerability In/vulnerabilities and Social Change: Precarious Lives and Experimental Knowledge, Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change (CRESC) Annual Conference, London 2013

SELECTED PANEL PAPERS – co-authored 

Ben Walmsley, Patrick Towell, Clare Danĕk, Stephen Dobson, Anna Kime, Steven Hadley, Trevor MacFarlane, Stephen Miller, Susan Oman, Sarah Thelwall, Sophia Woodley, Martin Zebracki. Transforming the Arts, Cultural & Heritage Sector’s Data Infrastructure: A scoping study to establish a national cultural data observatory. AIMAC. Rio, July 2026

Susan Oman, Kitty McEwan and Margaret Colling 2026 Reflections from a national AI awareness campaign devised by the people, for the people, and with the people. PAIRS: Participatory AI Research & Practice Symposium. AI Summit Fringe. New Delhi, India.

Everyday data solidarities Data Justice Conference, Cardiff, Wales. June 2023.

Does Fairness Matter? People’s perceptions of everyday data uses,  AOIR (Association of Internet Researchers) conference. Dublin, Ireland. November 22.

Finding the sweet spot and listening to tangents: how to understand people’s reflections on data uses ECREA (European Communications Research and Education Association), Aarhus, Denmark. October, 2022.

Public perceptions of the automation of welfare,  EASST (European Association for the Study of Science and Technology).  Madrid, July 2022

Key terms for a critical theory of living with data. ICA (International Communication Association) conference, Paris, France. May, 2022

Joining up well-being and sexual misconduct data and policy in HE: ‘To stand in the gap’ as a feminist approach Unsettling Knowledge Production on Gendered & Sexual Violence Symposium. University of Cape Town. November 2021

‘Managing the new arts of new data models’, Differences, Inequalities and Sociological Imagination European Sociological Association, Prague, Czech Republic. August 2015

ORGANISED PANELS & SPECIAL EVENTS

Susan Oman, Tim Davies, Connected By Data & Eleanor O’Keeffe, Ada Lovelace Institute (2026) AI and the public: – Literacy, attitudes and engagement. UK Pavillion at India’s AI Impact Summit. New Delhi. 

Ben Walmsley, University of Leeds, Patrick Towell, The Audience Agency & Susan Oman, The University of Sheffield. Towards a blueprint for a National Cultural ​Data Observatory. Cultural Policy and Sustainable Development: A Global Dialogue. Lima, Peru. November 2025.

Hannah Redler Hawes, Open Data Institute, Matt Adams, Blast Theory, Denis Newman-Griffis, Susan Oman. CONSTANT WASHING MACHINE – Responsible AI process and practice. REMIX London. January 2026. 

Hannah Redler Hawes, Andrew Cox, Susan Oman, Denis Newman-Griffis, Nick Tandavanitj. Constant Washing Machine – arts-informed creative dialogue workshop exploring culture change for Responsible AI (RAI) definitions and practice  Fantastic Futures, the AI4LAM (Artificial Intelligence for Libraries Archives and Museums) annual conference at the British Library, London. December 2025.

Oman, S, Newman-Griffis, D & Redler-Hawes, H (2025) Constant Washing Machine: Re-thinking responsible AI with embedded arts research and soap. Presented at Creative AI Exploration and Imagination: Innovative Methods for Alternative Digital Futures. 25 September 2025. Universitat Leipzig, Germany

Oman, S, Newman-Griffis, D & Redler-Hawes, H (2025) Constant Washing Machine: Re-thinking responsible AI as an everyday practice and across the AI research community. Presented at UKAIRS. 8 September 2025. University of Northumbria. 

How to build the AI-enabled society the public wants: Findings from the Public Voices in AI project. The UK AI Research Symposium (UKAIRS). Newcastle. September 2025

Adams, M, Newman-Griffis, D, Redler-Hawes, H, & Oman, S (2024) Constant Washing Machine Launch. 10th December 2024. Blast Theory Studio, Brighton. 

Administrative Data roundtable (feat Kevin Guyan, Emiliano Treré, Marlee Tichenor, and Dr Emma Gordon, Dir., Administrative Data Research UK) Data power Sheffield, Bremen, Germany and Carleton, Canada. June 2022

Social mobility and inequality in cultural and creative work: research and knowledge for policy as a social practice (discussant: Abid Hussain, Director, Diversity, Arts Council, England), British Sociological Association Conference, Glasgow 2019

Social mobility and inequality in cultural and creative work: research, practice, policy panel (discussant: Cat Hammersley, Director, Data Analysis, ACE), International Conference on Cultural Policy Research (ICCPR), Tallinn, Estonia, August 2018

 CONFERENCE ORGANISATION – Selected

Social Theory, Politics and The Arts: International conference: theme: Cultural Democracy, Manchester, November 2018 Doing Research on Participation: International conference of methods and data for participation, Manchester, May 2016

Re-appropriating Value(s) in Higher Education, University of Manchester, June 2015

The Politics of Visibility: Mediating the Global, Local & the in between, Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art, London. Nov2011.

Exchange: Collaborations, Theatre Applied Research Centre, Central School of Speech and Drama, London. Jan 2011.

Teaching & Academic Supervision

Programme Design and Leadership

BSc Data Science, School of Information, Journalism and Communication. University of Sheffield (2020 – 2024) 

Module Design

Creative media and communications, Digital Media and Society MA, School of Sociological Studies, Politics and International Relations. 

Data Science Foundations and Contexts

Module Leadership & Coordination

Postgraduate Research Supervision

Guest Lecturing & Seminar Teaching