Professor Marian Ursu
Professor in Interactive Media

Profile

Biography

I have a background in Computer Science (MEng, University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania) and Artificial Intelligence (PhD, Brunel University, UK), but for most of my academic career I have been involved in interdisciplinary research and teaching in areas that lie at the intersection of Computer Sciences, Media, Communications, Art, Design and Psychology.

I joined the University of York in September 2013, as Chair in Interactive Media in the School of Arts and Creative Technologies. Prior to this, I was in the Department of Computing at Goldsmiths, University of London, as Lecturer (1998), Reader in Computing (2008) and then Research Professor of Intelligent Media (2013), position which I jointly held with the Chair at York until the end of 2014.

At Goldsmiths, I was fortunate to be able to play a pivotal role in the establishment of the department as a leading place in the UK for the study of Creative Computing, an area resulting from linking Creative Industries subjects with Computer Sciences. I led the research in large collaborative international projects totalling over 30 Million Pounds, through which I secured 2.5 Million Pounds of external funding for my research group (Narrative Interactive Media). I led the development of new undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programmes, such as the BSc/BA Computing and Interaction Design and MSc/MA Arts Computing, and held key department managerial positions, including Director of Studies (2001-2007), Deputy Head of Department (2007-2011) and Director of Research (2011-2013).  

At York, I joined the School of Arts and Creative Technologies with the same agenda, but with transposed roles for subjects, namely to develop Computer Sciences within subjects related to the Creative Industries, an interdisciplinary area which we currently label as Interactive Media. I am the Head of the Interactive Media subject group in the School.

I am also Co-Director of the Digital Creativity Labs (with Peter Cowling, in Computer Science). The Digital Creativity Labs is an interdisciplinary centre for impact-driven research in digital games, interactive media and the rich space in which they converge, built on a major (£18 million) investment by three UK research councils, four universities and over 80 collaborative partner organisations.