Fine Art and Architecture

Supervisors: Dr Susan Barnet, Dr Jane Watt, Dr Matt Bowman

About The Projects

We invite PhD proposals that examine the expanded field of contemporary art through studio practice. These may address questions and concerns including installation, site-specificity, and engaged practice.

Approaches may consider the examination of contemporary art practice and its historical and contemporary contexts; uses of and relationships between analogue and/or digital media; questions of materiality/immateriality within the field of contemporary art; the impact of technology on contemporary art practices; installation and contemporary art practice; performance and contemporary art practice; social engagement within contemporary art practices; sculptural and spatial concerns in contemporary art practices; explorations of site and place; questions of spectatorship.

We are interested in trans-disciplinary projects facilitating new modes of expression that locate themselves where some of the above concerns may intersect. The School of EAST is a cross-disciplinary faculty embracing Business, Computing, Games, Life Sciences and the Arts (Architecture, Film Production, Fine Art, Graphic Design and Photography).

Candidate Requirements

Applicants should hold, or expect to receive, a First Class or good Upper Second Class Honours degree (or the equivalent). A master’s level qualification would also be advantageous but not essential.

Non-UK applicants must meet our English language entry requirement.

Enquiries and Applications

Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be directed to Dr Jane Watt (J.Watt@uos.ac.uk)

KEYWORDS

Contemporary Art Practice, Site – Specificity, Socially Engaged Practice, Trans-Disciplinary

Supervisor: Dr Marco Spada (m.spada@uos.ac.uk)

The Project

Background

The pollutants produced by large industrial areas, which are usually located close to densely populated areas, have a potentially devastating impact on both the ecological and environmental aspects of territories, and on the health of citizens. The processes of deindustrialisation have also made these phenomena clearer, with the reduction of investments in territorial safety and the progressive abandonment of socio-economic policies on the territory.

The location and size of the plants, and international differences in data collection, have made a coherent view of the phenomenon in a European panorama virtually impossible. The lack of a unified analysis in terms of air/water pollution, lifestyle, socioeconomic status and geographic components, therefore, shows how an integrated approach between human geography and clinical analysis is essential to understand the impacts of industrial facilities on entire parts of territories.

English cities such as Scunthorpe, Redcar, Skinningrove, and European cities such as Taranto, Ijmuiden, and Rybnik, have been dominated by an industry that - too big to fail - has defined the contours of the industrial landscape and the experiences of citizens, families and entire communities.

Project Aims

The aim of the project is to study different aspects of the management of reuse and land reclamation policies for areas close to large steel plants. The study will take place in the same period as the HORIZON Project (months 13-36), but not with the same funding, and will provide a set of techniques for drafting innovative analytical methods to study the impact of geographical components on public health.

The applicant will initially be working on the definition of data and datasets, and on the gathering of relevant data. After a period of assessment of methodologies and evaluation of existing data by foreign partners, missing data will be collected and processed. The data will cover geographical and physical components, lifestyle (according to QALY-surrogate individual scores), migration dynamics, the acquisition of narratives and biographies, and the analysis of public policies supporting local communities.

Candidate Requirements

Applicants should hold, or expect to receive, a First Class or good Upper Second Class Honours degree (or the equivalent). A master’s level qualification would also be advantageous but not essential. We also consider applicants from diverse background that have provided them with equally rich relevant experience and knowledge.

The applicant should demonstrate proficiency in both Python and R language, with a track record in geographical analysis, and a solid experience in paper-writing.

Applicant should have the following essential knowledge and skills:

• Strong programming skills (Python, R);
• Successful track record in scientific paper writing;
• Strong skills in data acquisition and management;
• Practical experience in field-work in diverse and complex environments;
• An understanding of contemporary issue of geography and urban planning;
• Experience with data visualization;
• Knowledge of self-supervised learning.

Applicant should have the following desirable knowledge and skills:

• Experience with working in European countries;
• Experience with dataset creation and data collection;
• Understanding of contemporary methods and methodology for the urban and built environment research;
• Organization of events skills;
• Strong skills in diverse team working.

Non-UK applicants must meet our English language entry requirement.

Enquiries and Applications

Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be directed to Dr Marco Spada at m.spada@uos.ac.uk

KEYWORDS

Geography, Architecture, Planning, Steel Mill, Creative Geographies, Data Acquisition, Pollution, Communities, Migrations.

Supervisors: Dr Matt Bowman, Dr Susan Barnet, Dr Jane Watt

About The Projects

We invite PhD proposals that examine histories and theories in the field of contemporary art history, particularly art practices from the 1960s onwards in North America and Europe.  

Candidates are invited to research and explore various topics and practices within this field: conceptual and post-conceptual modes of art production; the politics of aesthetics; the growth of poststructuralist and postcolonial theories informing artistic practice; transformations in art criticism and the relationship between artists and critics; art in the age of the Anthropocene; the significance of research and archival strategies within art; questions of judgment and philosophy in the framework of contemporary art and debates; the continuing but complex significance of mediums in a post-medium era; exhibition histories and the rise of the curator.  

These examples are ultimately indicative and art is understood in its fullest sense as encompassing a diverse range of procedures that came to define art from the 1960s onwards, whether it be “traditional” mediums such as painting, text-based works, photography in its art context, performance, installation and archive forms.  

Trans-disciplinary projects are welcome, especially as our practice-based faculty conjoins various courses in the arts (Fine Art, Architecture, Photography, Graphic Design/Illustration, and Film Production). As such, this is an exciting opportunity for art historians to study in a lively art school framework and for artists to produce an extended academic text from sustained research.   

Candidate Requirements

Applicants should hold, or expect to receive, a First Class or good Upper Second Class Honours degree (or the equivalent). A master’s level qualification would also be advantageous but not essential.

Non-UK applicants must meet our English language entry requirement.

Enquiries and Applications

Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be directed to Dr Matt Bowman (m.bowman@uos.ac.uk)