Dr Christen Cornell is Research Fellow and Manager, Research Partnerships Creative Australia. In this position, she conducts and facilitates research to support the Australian arts sector, to advocate for the value of arts and culture and to advise the Australian government on arts and cultural policy. While working at Creative Australia, Christen has led a number of research projects into the benefits of arts engagement for mental health and wellbeing, significantly developing the agency’s networks, knowledge and capacity in this intersectional field. Before working at the Australia Council, Christen was a lecturer in the Department of Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney, conducting research in cultural studies, cultural policy, Inter-Asia cultural studies, and urban and housing studies. Christen is also a Chinese speaker, living in China intermittently between 2001-2011 and writing about the contemporary Chinese arts scene in those years.