Nina Willment

Cultural economic geographer with broad interests in digital work, the creative economy, affective and aesthetic labour, gig work and the platform economy. In particular, I have a passion for exploring the lived experiences of workers within emerging sectors of the digital, creative industries. I am an experienced qualitative researcher with an interest in online research methods such as netnography.

Currently, I am a Research Associate at XR Stories. XR Stories supports research and development for companies working on cutting-edge digital technologies in the Yorkshire and Humber region. They do this through a programme of funding, research collaboration and industry engagement. I am currently working on a project which explores the geographies of virtual production - examining how virtual production workflows may change the traditional production geographies of the film and TV industry.

I recently completed a PhD which focused on exploring the work-lives, work-spaces, career-building strategies, and livelihoods of freelance gig workers in the creative economy, through the case study of travel bloggers from the UK immediately prior to COVID lockdown. Prior to this, my previous research has focused on the aesthetic labour of individuals within the grime music scene as a means to investigate the wider politics of the grime aesthetic.

Alongside this, I have also worked as a freelance research assistant working on projects including just transitions to decarbonisation in Australia and the use of VR in music concerts. I have also been PI on a project which explored business resilience through innovation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.