Prof Katy Shaw is university director of cultural partnerships at Northumbria University and Director of Creative Communities for UKRI/AHRC. Her research interests include contemporary literature, especially working class literature, cultural representations of the North and culture in the levelling up agenda. Katy is the author of five monographs, three edited collections and more than 20 journal articles on these subjects. Most recently, she is the author of the Case for Culture: the APPG Northern Culture inquiry report into post-covid cultural recovery and is researcher in residence on the Michael Sheen, Mirror, New Statesman and Joseph Rowntree project, A Writing Chance. Alongside her academic work, Katy is a journalist, public intellectual, literary festival host, media presenter and Twitterer. She has been a spokesperson for IWD for several years through national media campaigns and role modelling work to break down boundaries for women in Higher Education leadership.