Julie Samuels is an accomplished educator with extensive experience in teaching and leading degree-level courses in digital media and the creative arts. She has also delivered corporate training for clients such as FDM Group PLC and the BBC Academy. Julie was an interactive television developer for the world's first digital terrestrial television network pay-TV service, ITV Digital. Her career has always been in the creative sector, but it has often taken her on a non-practice-based artistic path. Her passion lies in that area. Her first true love, making art, has been rekindled through every opportunity, whether for personal enjoyment or public sharing.
Her research is within the field of social sciences, and she has presented her work at national and international conferences. Julie is the author of Adoption in the Digital Age: Opportunities and Challenges for the 21st Century (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018). She holds a BA Hons in Visual and Performing Arts, an MA in Fine Art, a Postgraduate Diploma in European Digital Media, a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning, and an MPhil in Film and Media.
Julie is a fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce (RSA) and serves as an Area Fellows Councillor for the RSA's central region (voluntary). Julie is the co-lead of the Augmented Society Network, an RSA Fellows Thematic Network (based in the US) that explores the intersection of technology, creativity, and society.
She is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Lincoln, International Business, UK.
She holds a voluntary position as Head of Research for Special Guardians and Adopters Together. This peer-led campaigning group aims to create awareness and achieve dialogue about systemic problems within the UK permanence through a lived experience research-based approach.
As a full-time carer to her disabled child, Julie balances her artistic exploration and scholarly pursuits around this central responsibility. Her child’s strength, courage, resilience, and unique perspective shape her life and work. Inspired by their shared journey, she explores the challenges, beauty of difference, discrimination, and unconditional love in her creations. Through her art, Julie amplifies underrepresented voices, encouraging others to embrace growth, identity, and the transformative power of human connection.