People
Meet the team in Art History and Cultural Practices.
We, the staff of Art History and Cultural Practices at The University of Manchester, abhor racism and are committed to redressing the issues of discrimination and racialised disadvantage within our disciplines and our own teaching and research practice, and to decolonising our curriculum.
We are determined to produce a departmental culture that welcomes and supports BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and disabled students and staff, and where everyone is equally recognised and can flourish.
We attract the very best talent, and our staff are both international and internationally recognised.
Our inspiring academics can give our students first-hand access to cutting-edge research and real-world knowledge to take with them after graduation.
Head of Art History and Cultural Practices
Staff - Art History
-
Dr Ilaria Bernocchi - Lecturer in Renaissance Art History (Assessment Officer)
Ilaria specialises in early modern portraiture and cultural history. She obtained her degrees at the University of Pavia, The Warburg Institute in London, and the University of Cambridge and has previously taught at the University of Cambridge and the University of Warwick. She is currently co-editing a volume on the relationship between Petrarchism and sixteenth-century portraiture, publishing on a portrait by Bartolomeo Passerotti and preparing several articles from her PhD dissertation on ‘Italian Heroic Portraits in the Sixteenth Century’
View research profile
-
Dr Anthony Gerbino - Senior Lecturer in Art History
Anthony is a historian of early modern architecture in France and England. He received his PhD from Columbia University and has held teaching and research posts at Wesleyan University, Vassar College, and Oxford University. His research focuses on architectural design and its relation to scientific and technical knowledge. He is currently pursuing two projects, one on cartography and landscape and the other on the Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns.
View research profile
-
Dr Anne Kirkham - Honorary Research Fellow in Medieval Art
Anne studied art history at Manchester for her BA, MA and PhD (2007). Her PhD on the discourses underpinning European medieval art has prompted research in several directions including interdisciplinary collaborations on medieval medicine in Europe and a main focus on images in manuscripts, especially the visually rich European medieval manuscripts in the John Rylands Library where she is thrilled to be able to teach some of her undergraduate classes.
Email Anne
-
Dr Charlie F B Miller - Lecturer in Art History and Theory (Undergraduate Programme Director)
Charlie writes about the history and theory of modern and contemporary art. His book Radical Picasso: The Use Value of Genius (University of California Press, 2021) deconstructs the Picasso myth, refigures cubism and surrealism, and as such rethinks the history of modernism. He has published widely on surrealism, including most recently ‘Surrealism’s Homophobia’, October 173, 2020. His current research deals with the problem of magic in modern and contemporary art.
View research profile
-
Dr Niccola Shearman - Lecturer in Twentieth-Century German Art and Cultural History
Niccola specializes in German and Austrian art of the twentieth century. Coming from a background in German Studies, she completed a PhD at the Courtauld Institute of Art in 2018, on the modernist woodcut print in the aftermath of the First World War. In addition to a focus on print histories, her research interests include art and emotion and the psychology of vision; especially the work of Gestalt scientists in 1920s Berlin. She previously held a lectureship at UoM for the academic year 2019/20, when responsibilities included the Art History Field Trip to Vienna.
Email Niccola
-
Dr Luke Skrebowski - Lecturer in Contemporary Art
Luke’s research and teaching focus on the history and theory of late 20th and early 21st-century art in the UK, Europe, the USA and Brazil, specialising in postconceptual contemporary art and its historical genealogy. His other research interests include: art theory and philosophical aesthetics, critical theory and the history and theory of photography (with a focus on photoconceptualism and its legacies). He holds a BA from the University of Cambridge and an MA and PhD from Middlesex University (Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy/History of Art and Design).
View research profile
-
Dr Emilia Terracciano - Lecturer in Modern Art History (Web and Social Media Officer)
Emilia is a specialist in modern and contemporary art, with an emphasis on South Asian artists and their diaspora, and on critical ecologies. Her research addresses questions of abstraction, materialisms, feminism, ecocriticism, and postcolonialism. She is writing two book projects: the first concerns plants, humans and futurities in art; the second is about artist Simryn Gill. She is the author of Art and Emergency: Modernism in Twentieth Century India (IB Tauris, 2018).
View research profile
-
Dr Colin Trodd - Senior Lecturer in Art History (Admissions Officer)
Colin took his MA and PhD in Art History and Cultural Theory at the University of Sussex. His main research interests include European Romanticism, nineteenth-century British art and art theory, Ruskinian theory and The Arts and Crafts Movement, and the introduction and development of public art galleries, art spaces and systems of cultural management.
View research profile
-
Dr Edward Wouk - Reader in Art History
Edward is active as a scholar, teacher, and curator of early modern art. At Manchester, he lectures at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels on a wide range of course units, from an introductory survey entitled Ice Age to Baroque to a set of Renaissance course units devoted to Northern, Italian and global perspectives, as well as seminars on topics including the history of printmaking, seventeenth-century Dutch painting, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and artistic theory.
View research profile
Staff - Institute for Cultural Practices
-
Dr Kostas Arvanitis - Senior Lecturer in Museology and ICP Director
Kostas has a MA and PhD in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester and a first degree in History and Archaeology from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. His research interests cross the fields of museology, archaeology, cultural heritage, and digital media. His expertise lies in the area of Digital Heritage that includes the theory and practice of digital technology in museums, galleries and heritage sites.
View research profile
-
Dr Jenna Ashton - Lecturer in Heritage Studies
Jenna is an experienced curator and producer, working in the areas of heritage, arts, participation, public space, social movements and activism. She is passionate about embedding inclusive practices and co-production methods in the arts and heritage sectors. She has an MA and PhD in Art History and Visual Studies from The University of Manchester. Jenna is also the Founder and Creative Director of Digital Women's Archive North – a Manchester-based feminist arts and heritage organisation addressing social inequalities through creative archiving and documentation.
View research profile
-
Dr Victoria Barker - Research Associate - Creative Economy
Victoria’s research focuses on the creative and cultural industries, place and community, and related policy and support. This draws on cultural policy and practice, entrepreneurship and economic geography. Victoria’s PhD from Coventry University explored the creative ecosystem and micro-enterprises, and she has an MA in Creative and Media Enterprises from the University of Warwick. Her research draws on this background, alongside her experience in public sector management and arts evaluation.
Email Victoria
-
Dr Andrew Hardman - Lecturer in Cultural Practices
Andrew has worked in the creative industries for over twenty years. His research explores the representation, theory and practice of creative production. During his PhD (in art history and visual cultures at Manchester) he formed a production company with two fellow researchers. Their filmmaking, for cultural organisations across the UK, specialises in archival research, documenting cultural practices, and co-producing film as a means of developing audiences and participation with collections and places.
Email Andrew
-
Dr Abigail Gilmore - Senior Lecturer in Arts Management
Abigail established the MA Arts Management, Policy and Practice at University of Manchester and works with colleagues in the Institute on other taught and research programmes. Her background is in sociological research on cultural policy, beginning with a PhD in Popular Culture and Society at the University of Leicester. Her research now focuses on local cultural management, participation and the different forms of knowledge and evidence used to measure and understand cultural value.
View research profile
-
Dr Emma Martin - Lecturer in Museology
Emma has worked as a curator of ethnography and decorative arts for nearly 20 years, specialising in South Asia, the Himalaya and Tibet. She is leading a new research network called Object Lessons from Tibet and the Himalaya, which aims to bring researchers and museums from across Europe together with members of the Tibetan diaspora for the purpose of sharing and collaborating on Tibet and Himalaya collections-based research.
View research profile
-
Dr Simon Parry - Lecturer in Drama and Arts Management
Simon has managed and evaluated a number of arts and education projects across the UK and Europe. He has a BA in Modern Languages (Nottingham), MA in Text and Performance Studies (King’s College London / Royal Academy of Dramatic Art), and a PhD in Drama (Royal Holloway University of London). His research interests include the arts in education, engagements between contemporary science and the arts, activist performance and approaches to arts evaluation.
View research profile
-
Dr Catherine Roberts - Lecturer in Cultural Practices
Catherine has a MA in English Literary Culture and a PhD in Tourism Studies from the University of Central Lancashire. A practitioner in regional and national museum learning programmes for over 15 years, Catherine has undertaken project consultancy for UK and European heritage and education projects. Her research interests and practice relate to experiential learning, placemaking and psychologised readings of visitor experience in dissonant/difficult heritage environments.
Email Catherine
-
Dr Leandro Valiati - Lecturer in Arts and Cultural Management
Leandro started his career in Brazil as a professor and policy advisor in Creative Industries and Economy of Culture, creating and leading the most representative policy-oriented academic centre on CCIs. In the past years, he has been working in academic positions and as board member in policy institutions in Spain, France and the UK. His research interests are Culture and Socioeconomic Development, Cultural Policy and Multidimensional Impact of Arts.
View research profile
-
Dr Biyun Zhu - Lecturer in Arts and Cultural Management
Biyun has a PhD in Cultural Policy and Arts Management from The Ohio State University and a MA in Public Policy from King’s College London. Her research draws on knowledge from multiple disciplines including public policy, international relations, history, and management. She uses cultural policy as a lens to investigate issues in broader fields such as arts organisation governance, creative industries, cultural diplomacy, and soft power.
View research profile
Staff - Digital Humanities
-
Dr Luca Scholz - Lecturer in Digital Humanities (Digital and European History)
Luca is a digital historian who applies computational methods to the study of European history. He holds PhD in History from the European University Institute in Florence, having previously studied at Heidelberg and Paris. Before moving to Manchester, where he directs the Digital Humanities Programme, Luca spent three years at Stanford University. He is particularly interested in geospatial analysis, historical data visualisation, and distant reading.
View research profile
-
Dr Claire Reddleman - Lecturer in Digital Humanities (Contemporary Art and Digital Culture)
Claire teaches in the areas of Digital Humanities and Art History, and is interested in digital cultural heritage, visual methods, mapping, contemporary art and ‘ways of seeing’ using new technologies. Claire previously taught at King’s College London, and carried out postdoctoral research using visual research methods to engage with the history of France’s penal colonies. She gained her phd in Cultural Studies from Goldsmiths and is also a digital artist.
Email Claire
Honorary professors
-
Dr Maria Balshaw CBE – Director of Tate (formerly Director of the Whitworth, University of Manchester and Manchester City Galleries)
Maria succeeded Sir Nicholas Serota as Director of Tate in June 2017. Previously, as Director of The Whitworth and Manchester City Galleries, she was responsible for the artistic and strategic vision for each gallery. Maria was also Director of Culture for Manchester City Council. In 2014 Maria was appointed as a board member of Arts Council England and in June 2015 she was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours for services to the arts.
View Maria's page
-
Alistair Hudson - Director of the Whitworth and Manchester Art Gallery and Honorary Professor of Useful Art
Alistair was appointed Director of The Whitworth and Manchester Art Galleries in February 2018. He was educated at Goldsmiths’ College, London and has previously worked at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Grizedale Arts, The Government Art Collection and Anthony d’Offay Gallery London. He is co-director of the Asociación de Arte Útil with Tania Bruguera, an expanding international project and online archive that promotes art as a tool for social change.
Visit the Whitworth's website
-
Dr Nick Merriman - Director of the Horniman Museum and Gardens
Nick was appointed Director of the Manchester Museum in March 2006. He has focused the Manchester Museum mission on promoting understanding between cultures and working towards a sustainable world and has overseen the refurbishment of most of the Museum’s permanent galleries. He led the Museum’s major capital project to build a new temporary exhibition space and a permanent gallery on South Asia in partnership with the British Museum. In 2018 Nick was appointed Director of the Horniman Museum and Gardens.
View Nick's page
-
Esme Ward - Director of The Manchester Museum and Honorary Professor of Heritage Futures
Esme was appointed Director of Manchester Museum in April 2018 and is the first woman to hold that position in its 127-year history. Prior to this, she was Head of Learning and Engagement at Manchester Museum and the Whitworth. She holds an MA in French Revolutionary Culture and Theory. In 2016-17 she was a Fellow on the Clore Cultural Leadership programme. Esme is the Strategic Lead (culture) for Age-Friendly Manchester and the Greater Manchester Ageing Hub. She is co-curator of the Arts, Health and Social change programme the World Health Congress 2019-20.
View Esme's profile on the Manchester Museum website
Emeriti
- Prof Helen Rees Leahy - Professor in Museology
- Prof Roger Ling - Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology
- Prof David Lomas - Professor of Art History
- Prof Carol Mavor - Professor of Art History
- Mr David O'Connor - Lecturer in Art History
- Dr Tom Rasmussen - Senior Lecturer in Art History
- Prof Marcia Pointon - Professor Emerita in History of Art