Lecturer, Programme Director of PhD Research Studies

+44 (0) 116 252 3975

vmg4@le.ac.uk

Career history

I joined the School of Museum Studies in January 2002 following a varied career in London: organising formal education provision at the Horniman Museum (1992-2002) and art and design courses for further education(1980-1992). During this time I was also an active visiting lecturer at a number of Universities internationally as well as external examiner for MA Art and Design students at the Manchester Metropolitan University.

Professional liaisons at Horniman include: 'Musical traditions from around the world', with Music Village; 'Emancipation day' and 'Re-writing the Museum' workshops with Goldsmiths College, Caribbean Centre; 'Multi-cultural Musical Traditions', with Trinity College of Music; 'My Africa, Your Africa' with artists; ‘Inspiration Africa’ with the Cloth of Gold arts organisation (DfEE) and 'Horniman Outreach'  for local school and community venues.

Responsibilities

As Programme Director for PhD studies, I hold responsibility for PhD admissions. I am responsible for ensuring the quality and smooth operation of individual PhD journeys as well as developing the wider PhD community, including the organization of the bi-monthly Research Seminar Series, the annual PhD Research Week and the individual annual reviews of progress. I work with all of the staff here in the School and a range of international academics and museum professionals to ensure that PhD students are provided with diverse and stimulating research opportunities.

I am pleased to note here some PhD achievements, which include editing the annual Journal Museological Review and the organization of conferences, most recently the PhD conference Curioser and Curioser (2011); Materiality and Intangibility: Contested Zones (2009). The next conference Museum Utopias is scheduled for 27-28 March  2011. See the PhD Research Museological Review or the The Attic (the Museum Studies blog) for more details. 

Teaching

As lecturer, I contribute sessions on museum communication, learning, text writing and evaluation to the Core Curriculum. I am responsible for the Education, Communication and Interpretation Special Option as well as the Education and Communication Module of the Masters by Distance Learning. I also act as Academic Tutor to a group of full-time students and am involved in marking and assessment.

In addition to my Leicester teaching I contribute sessions on Communication and Learning to the MA course at the University of Goteburg, which is attached to Museion, The Museum of World Culture, Goteburg, Sweden.

Supervised and Examined Projects

I am currently supervising seven PhD projects and one visiting PhD student project on themes broadly related to learning, multisensory knowledge, diversity, communities, creativity, antisexism and anti-racism in museums.

PhD Supervision

Laurel Brierly Empathy and Emotional Learning in Musuems (USA)

Afshan Heuer The Impact of Travelling Exhibitions (Switzerland)

Mette Houlberg Adult Meaning Making in the Art Gallery (Denmark)

Elee Kirk Is it Real? Young Childrens' experience of natural history in musuems (UK)

Donna McFarlene Empowering Citizens in Musuems (Jamaica)

Margarida Melo Musuems and Adult Community Learning (Portugal)

Stephania Savva Developing Multiliteracies in Musuems (Cyprus)

Co-supervision

In addition I co-supervise six PhD projects on disability rights, challenging heteronormativity, and the themes above.

Visiting PhD Supervision

Patriza Schettino Immersive Technology for Cultural Heritage: Designers and Visitors Making Meaning, visiting from the University of Lugano, Switzerland

PhD Examination

I have examined PhD thesis for SOAS, UCL, Newcastle and Bergen Univerisites

Research Interests

Publications