Sarah Barns (she/her)

Dr. Sarah Barns is a champion of civic innovation and storytelling, and long-term advocate of public investment in creativity and digital culture. Sarah has led over 40 immersive, experiential and multiplatform digital placemaking and storytelling programs in partnership with museums, local governments and community groups through her design practice Studio ESEM, and has previously led large-scale digital transformation programs and policies in her previous roles across the ABC, Australia Council (now Creative Australia) and CSIRO. A lifelong scholar and researcher fascinated by technology's changing role in shaping human-habitat connections, in 2023 she was also appointed an RMIT Vice Chancellor's Senior Research Fellow.