Sarah Barns

Dr. Sarah Barns brings two decades of strategic policy, research, and creative practice to her work on the digital lives of cities and communities. A multi-disciplinary scholar-practitioner, Sarah champions the importance of cultural and political imaginaries as they shape emerging digital ecosystems and practices in urban settings, while being committed to industry and community-based collaborations that advance new civic capabilities and literacies.

In 2023 Sarah commenced a Vice Chancellor's Senior Research Fellowship at RMIT, exploring emerging organisational sensibilities and place strategies for platform civics in an era of climate vulnerability. She Co-Directs the creative practice ESEM Projects, founded STORYBOX.CO as Australia's first public space media platform, is a trusted adviser to government and industry, and is a champion of multi-disciplinary storytelling practices in building communities of connection.

Sarah's book Platform Urbanism was published in 2019 by Palgrave, and she is an International Contributing Editor of Urban Studies Journal. Over the past fifteen years she has has led over 30 creative, practice-based works incorporating sound design, creative digital storytelling and multi-sensory interpretation practices for a range of cultural and museum institutions and organisations, building on her PhD in urban sensory history and interpretation through the University of Technology, Sydney.