Senior Researcher
Dr. Kit Braybrooke
E-mail: k.braybrooke@tu-berlin.de
Twitter: @dr___kitkat
Room A 410
T + 49 – 30 – 314 – 29177
F + 49 – 30 – 314 – 21907
Curriculum Vitae
Kit Braybrooke is a Senior Researcher at Habitat Unit since 2021. They are an anthropologist and artist-designer whose work explores how translocal communities navigate culture, identity and belonging across virtual and physical spaces. At Habitat Unit, they work on Urban-Rural Assembly (URA), a Sino-German research and development project examining socio-ecologically balanced transformation processes in China’s Huangyan-Taizhou region.
Before joining Habitat Unit, they worked as Research Fellow on the EU-funded project CreaTures (Creative Practices for Transformation) at the University of Sussex Department of Engineering and Design, and ACE (Accessing Cultural Experiences) at King’s College London Department of Cultural and Creative Industries in collaboration with Keio University Tokyo. They have taught courses as a Visiting/Associate Lecturer in design, sustainability and critical making at RCA - Royal College of Art (Design Products Department, course convener) and King’s College London (Digital Humanities Department), guest-taught at institutions including Universität Bonn, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and ArtEZ University Netherlands, and served as Visiting Scholar in the IRI-THEsys (Transformations of Human-Environment Systems) at Humboldt-Universität, and a national delegate of the British Council in China in 2018 and 2019.
As a creative practitioner, they have also spent much of the past decade outside of academia, managing public programmes for organisations like Mozilla (Curation & Codesign Lead, 2013-15) which explore creative means of worldly regeneration, from commoning and open source to circularity and multispecies ethics of care. They are a Director of the design studio Wê & Üs, which helps civil society organisations explore sustainable development through creative participation, a New Scholars Fellow of Bristol/Bath Creative R&D, and a co-founder of the global Art Tech Nature Culture network.
They hold a PhD in Media & Cultural Studies from University of Sussex for 'Hacking the Museum', an ethnographic study of the sociospatial dynamics and power relations of the U.K.’s first museum makerspaces in partnership with Tate, British Museum and Wellcome Collection, and a MSc in Digital Anthropology from University College London for ‘She-hackers’, an ethnography of gender relations in Free, Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) communities.
2015 – 2019
Doctorate of Philosophy, Media & Cultural Studies (PhD)
University of Sussex, Digital Humanities Lab, UK
International Scholarship from School of Media, Film and Music
Thesis: ‘Hacking the museum? Collections makerspaces & power at London cultural institutions’
Supervisors: Prof. Tim Jordan; Prof. Caroline Bassett; Dr. Rebecca Sinker (Tate)
2010 – 2011
Master of Science, Digital Anthropology (MSc, Distinction)
University College London (UCL), Department of Anthropology, UK
Dissertation: ‘She-hackers: Millennials and gender in European F/LOSS communities’
Supervisors: Prof Lane De Nicola; Prof Danny Miller
2004 – 2009
Political Science & International Relations (BA)
University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada
May 2020 – May 2021
Research Fellow
CreaTures – Creative Practices for Transformational Futures
University of Sussex
Department of Engineering & Design, Brighton, UK
May 2020 – February 2021
Research Fellow
ACE – Accessing Cultural Experiences in Isolation
King’s College London & Keio University Tokyo
Department of Culture, Media & Creative Industries, London, UK
Jan 2018 – Jan 2021
Visiting Lecturer/Researcher
King’s College London
Department of Digital Humanities, London UK
May 2019 – October 2019
Visiting Scholar
Transformations of Human-Environment Systems
Research Group: ‘Urban infrastructures and human-environment relations’
Humboldt-Universität, Berlin
Sept 2016 – March 2017
Visiting Lecturer, Course Co-Convener
Royal College of Art (RCA)
Department of Design Products, London UK
April 2013 – February 2015
Curation & Co-design Lead
Mozilla Foundation
London, UK & Vancouver, Canada
Sept 2011 - April 2013
International Community Manager
Open Knowledge Foundation
London, UK
Sept 2009 - Dec 2010
Online Communities Lead
Simon Fraser University Centre for Dialogue
Vancouver, Canada
May 2020 – May 2021
Research Fellow
‘CreaTures – Creative Practices for Transformational Futures’
Department of Engineering & Design
University of Sussex
May 2020 – February 2021
Research Fellow
‘ACE – Accessing Cultural Experiences in Isolation’
Department of Culture, Media & Creative Industries
King’s College London & Keio University Tokyo
2019
Co-investigator: Living Research II
British Council & Arts and Humanities Research Council
‘Makers, crafters and the circular economy in China’
Chengdu, China
2018
Delegate: Living Research I
British Council & Arts and Humanities Research Council
‘Exploring local ecosystems of creative practitioners, makerspaces and technology hubs’
Xi’an and Chengdu, China
2016
Recipient: Santander Mobility Fund Scholarship
Society for Histories of Technology
‘From mechanical arts to present maker movements: Forgotten genealogies of art, technology and science’
National University of Singapore
2014-2016
Team member: ‘Culture / Jam / Remix’
Taylor Digital Studio and Mozilla Foundation
Tate Britain, UK
2018-2020 Visiting Lecturer: Department of Digital Humanities, Courses: Making in the Connected World, Histories of Networked Technologies, King’s College London, UK
2016-2017 Visiting Lecturer, Course Co-convener: Department of Design Products, Courses: Food & Code, Royal College of Art (RCA), UK
(2021) Guest lecturer: ‘Digital spaces of resistance: Community histories of open source and the commons’
Digital Clinic for consortium funded by Arts Council Ireland
Create Ireland x Studio We & Us
(2021) Presentation: ‘Rethink the system, together: Makers and the circular economy in China’
Making Futures
Plymouth College of Art, UK
(2021) Invited Panelist: ‘New coalitions in socially engaged digital practice’
Beyond the Now track
Mozilla Festival, UK
(2021) Invited Panelist: ‘Museums in a virtual age’
Faculty of Arts & Humanities Open Day: ‘Local, global, virtual’
University College London
(2020) Presentation: ‘Public libraries & museums: Third spaces of knowledge transformation?’
Neue Kulturgeographien
Universität Bonn
Bonn, Germany
(2020) Guest Lecturer: ‘New digital platforms & resources’
Autumn School on Cultural Diversity and Collaborative Practice
Create Ireland: National Development Agency for Collaborative Arts
(2020) Guest Lecturer: ‘How to hack digital infrastructure to create meaningful learning environments?’
Seminar: Crisis Education / Critical Education
Module #2: Art practice otherwise – experimentation, digital/physical spaces
ArtEZ University, Netherlands
(2019) Public Lecture: 'Hacking the museum? Space and power at collections makerspaces in London cultural institutions'
Seminar Series 'Critical inquiry with and about the digital'
Department of Digital Humanities
King’s College London, UK
(2019) Invited Lecturer: 'Hacking the museum? Spatial organisation of museum makerspaces as a social production'
Geographisches Institut AG Wirtschaftsgeographie
Universität Bonn, Germany
(2019) Invited Lecturer: 'Hacking the museum?'
Institut für Musikwissenschaft-Medienwissenschaft
Humboldt-Universität, Germany
(2019) Guest Lecturer: ‘Maker cultures of the commons’
STEAMhouse Public Talks
Birmingham, UK
(2019) Presentation: ‘Future perspectives: Maker culture in 2030?’
Sustainable Innovation Conference
London, UK
(2018) Invited Panelist: ‘Makers as a market?’
Making It?! Conference
Liverpool, UK
(2018) Invited Lecture: ‘Temporary shared machines: An open discussion with Tate, hacked’
Plenary: Interdisciplinary Art/Tech
EVA – Electronic Visualisation and the Arts
BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT
London, UK
(2018) Invited Panelist: ‘Those who make the world’
中英创客生态分享会 Maker Exchange
British Council x ALLAB
Chengdu, China
(2017) Presentation: ‘Power geometries in new territories: Introducing the ‘collections makerspace’ at cultural institutions in London’
Panel: Location & networked creativity in gamer, hacker and maker publics
Association for Internet Researchers (AoIR)
Tartu, Estonia
(2017) Invited Lecturer: ‘Building a new framework of efficacy for collections makerspaces’
PhD Forum: New Research & Policy
Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU)
University of Sussex, UK
(2016) Invited Lecturer: 'Critical approaches to making, culture, and sustainability'
Exploring Emergent Futures series
Department of Design Products
Royal College of Art (RCA), London
(2016) Invited Panelist: ‘Who’s the digital revolution for?’
Brighton Digital Festival, UK
(2016) Presentation: ‘Hacking the museum?’
Track: ‘Digital fabrications amongst hackers, makers and manufacturers: whose 'industrial revolution?’
4S/EASST – Science and Technology by Other Means
Barcelona, ES
(2016) Invited Panelist: ‘Speculative making: New contexts and futures’
Maker Assembly
Farset Labs, Ireland
(2016) Presentation: ‘Technologies and performative play: Re-creation and subversion of institutionalised cultures”
Panel: ‘From mechanical arts - forgotten genealogies of art, technology and science’
Society for the History of Technology
National University of Singapore
(2015) Invited Lecturer: 'Open source methods at the Tate Gallery'
Department of Design Futures
University of the Arts (UAL), London
(2015) Invited Lecturer: 'Hack the gallery! Moving GLAMs from consumption to creation'
Department of Anthropology
University of Victoria (UVic), Canada
(2013) Invited Keynote: ‘Seven faces of open design’
LibreGraphics Conference
Madrid, Spain
(2013) Invited Panelist: ‘Get more women on board’
Theme: Digital participation of women in EU politics
Campus Party Europe
Berlin, Germany
(2012) Invited Keynote: ‘The world’s first open knowledge festival’
FREE CITY, Vaba Linn
Tallinn, Estonia
(2012) Invited Panelist: ‘Hacking open data for creative communities’
Re:Publica Konference
Berlin, Germany
(2011) Presentation: ‘She-hackers’
Chaos Communication Camp
Chaos Computer Club
Finowfurt, Germany
Edited volumes
Braybrooke, K. & Smith, A. (eds) 2018, Special Issue 12: Makerspaces and institutions, Journal of Peer Production.
Braybrooke, K. & Nissilä, J. & Vuorikivi, T. (eds) 2013, The Open Book: A publication about open knowledge,Finnish Institute, London.
Refereed articles
Braybrooke, K (Dec 2021), ‘Creative commons/ open access/ free and open source software’, In H. Callan (ed), International Encyclopedia of Anthropology, John Wiley & Sons, London.
Braybrooke, K. & Huckfield, S. & Thomas, N. ‘Rethink the system, together: Articulating a circular economy with maker communities in China’. In Distributed Design Platform (eds), This is Distributed Design. Fab Lab Barcelona.
Braybrooke, K. & Janes, S. & Sato, C. 2021, ‘Care-full design sprints, online? Addressing gaps in cultural access and inclusion during Covid-19 with vulnerable communities in London and Tokyo’, In C&T ’21: 10th International Conference on Communities & Technologies, Seattle, USA.
Braybrooke, K & Smith A 2021, ‘Makerspaces and peer production: spaces of possibility, tension, post-automation, or liberation?’ In M. O’Neil, C. Pentzold, & S. Toupin (eds), The Handbook of Peer Production, Wiley Handbooks in Media & Communication, Wiley, London.
Braybrooke, K 2020, ‘Together we dance alone: Building a toolkit for creatives in a pandemic’, Interactions 27 (4): 68–71.
Braybrooke, K 2019, ‘Placeless making? Rearticulating the power-geometries of digital platforms in China through tactical co-creation’, In L. Bogers & L. Chiappini (eds), The Critical Makers Reader: (Un)Learning Technology, Institute of Network Cultures.
Braybrooke, K 2018, ‘Hacking the museum? Practices and power geometries at collections makerspaces in London’, Journal of Peer Production 12: 40-59.
Braybrooke, K & Smith, A 2018, ‘Liberatory technologies for whom? Analysing a new generation of makerspaces defined by institutional encounters’, Journal of Peer Production 12: 1-13.
Braybrooke, K, Damiani, L & Sage, J.P 2018, ‘Temporary techno-social gatherings? An open discussion (hacked)’, In J. P. Bowen, G. Diprose, & N. Lambert (eds), Proceedings of EVA London 2018, BCS Learning and Development Ltd, 263-271.
Braybrooke, K & Jordan, T 2017, ‘Genealogy, culture and technomyth: Decolonizing Western information technologies, from Open Source to the maker movement’, Digital Culture and Society 4.
Braybrooke, K & Jordan, T & Richterich, A & Wenz, K 2017, 'When does IRL matter? Location and networked creativity in gamer, hacker and maker publics', Selected Papers of Internet Research, Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR), Tartu.
Braybrooke, K 2016, ‘Power-geometries of space, community and (r)evolution in El Poblenou’, EASST Review 35 (4): 51-54.
Braybrooke, K 2014, ‘Open is the new digital: Curation, co-creation, design’, JISC Inform 37: 3-5.
Other publications
Braybrooke, K. 2021, ‘Thinking as a ‘we’ again: Building collective worlds of mutual aid and creativity between/across digital platforms’, Beyond the Now 1(2).
Braybrooke, K. 2020, ‘Creating in crisis? Turning collective precarity into socio-ecological transformation’, Material Futures Catalog, Central Saint Martins, London, pp. 26-27.
Houston, L., Light, A. & Braybrooke, K. 2020, ‘How are environmentally engaged arts and cultural organisations responding to the COVID-19 pandemic?’, Creative Practices for Transformational Futures: Rapid Response.
Braybrooke, K. 2018, ‘WeChat and makers in China: creativity, liberation, restriction’, British Council Creative Economy.
Braybrooke, K. & Flint, J. & Murphy, I. 2018, ‘China: Making as national transformation?’, British Council Creative Economy.
Braybrooke, K. & O’Sullivan, E. 2017, ‘Hunting the machine ghosts of Brighton’, Furtherfield.
Braybrooke, K. 2015, ‘Hacking Apple: Putting the power of tech back into our hands,’ The Guardian.
2021
New Scholars Fellowship Award, Bristol & Bath Creative Ecologies R&D, UK
2019
Living Research II, Research Grant – Co-I – British Council China
2018
Living Research I, Travel Fellowship – Delegate – British Council China
2017
AoIR Travel Scholarship, Association of Networked Researchers
‘Networked Publics’, Tartu, Estonia
2016
Sussex Humanities Lab Travel Grant, University of Sussex, UK
European Association for Study of Science & Technology
4S/EASST Student Travel Scholarship, ‘Science & technology by other means’
European Association for the Study of Science & Technology Conference, Barcelona
Santander Mobility Grant, University of Sussex, UK and National University of Singapore
2015
Collaborative Doctoral Partnership Scheme, Tate Gallery, UK
Digital Humanities Lab Scholarship, International PhD Full Funding, University of Sussex, UK
Co-founder, Art Tech Nature Culture network
Co-director, Studio We & Us
European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST)