Rate My Professor Sarah Baker

Professor Sarah Baker is a Professor in Cultural Sociology in the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science within the Arts, Education and Law Group at Griffith University, Australia. She obtained her Doctor of Philosophy from the University of South Australia in 2003 and a Graduate Certificate of Higher Education from Griffith University in 2012. Her career includes prior research fellowships at The Open University and University of Leeds in the UK, and the University of South Australia. At Griffith University since 2008, she has held several leadership positions, including Deputy Head of School (Research), Deputy Director of the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research from 2016 to 2018, and Arts, Education and Law Group Higher Degree Research Programme Director. Professor Baker began her research career in popular music studies, girls' and youth studies, and has since expanded into critical heritage studies and creative labour.

Her research specializations include critical heritage studies, popular music heritage, youth cultures, and creative labour in cultural industries. She has led Australian Research Council projects such as ‘Popular Music and Cultural Memory: Localised Popular Music Histories and their Significance for National Music Industries’ (DP109210, 2010-2012) and ‘Do-it-Yourself Popular Music Archives: An International Comparative Study of Volunteer-Run Institutions that Preserve Popular Music’s Material Culture’ (DP130100317, 2013-2015). Major publications encompass books like "Creative Labour: Media Work in Three Cultural Industries" (Routledge, 2011, co-authored with David Hesmondhalgh), "Community Custodians of Popular Music's Past: A DIY Approach to Heritage" (Routledge, 2017), "Curating Pop: Exhibiting Popular Music in the Museum" (Bloomsbury, 2019, co-authored with Lauren Istvandity and Raphaël Nowak), and "Popular Music Heritage, Cultural Justice and the Deindustrialising City" (Cambridge University Press, 2023, co-edited with Zelmarie Cantillon, Ben Gallan, and Julia Bennett). Her scholarship has accumulated over 6,384 citations on Google Scholar. Awards include the Griffith University Vice-Chancellor’s Teacher of the Year Award (2012), Office for Learning and Teaching Citation (2013), International Association for the Study of Popular Music Rebecca Coyle Prize (2014), and Arts, Education and Law Group Award for Higher Degree Research supervision excellence (2019). She teaches sociology in the Bachelor of Arts and supervises higher degree research students.