Head of Programme, Photography

The Royal College of Art is the UK’s only entirely postgraduate institution of art and design, dedicated to teaching, research and knowledge exchange with industry. The RCA has been ranked the number one university-level institution for art & design, internationally, for the eighth consecutive year according to the QS World University Rankings by Subject, 2021.

The largest of the RCA’s four academic schools, the School of Arts & Humanities brings together taught programmes, research and industry partnerships, creating a unique concentration of writers, curators, historians, fine and applied artists under one roof.

The Photography programme at the RCA aims to provide a critical and educational environment in which students can develop as artists with photography at the core of their practice. We have a fluid approach to image making: whether still or moving, analogue or digital, the photographic image is, for us, a visual form that aims to be thoughtful as well as playful: an allegorical and thoroughly visual form. The programme understands photography as a discourse that encompasses multiple practices. This disregard for a fixed essence is photography’s strength: no aesthetic purity but a range of rhetorical forms used for the creation of fact, fiction and fantasy. Equally the boundary between the still and the moving image is now fluid and porous, enabling new forms of image making to be created. An informed practice of photography acknowledges the heterogeneous traditions of fine art and visual culture. It engages with practices of reading and writing about the image. On our course, theory and practice inform each other and this dialogue characterises committed study at postgraduate level.

We are seeking a Head of Programme for Photography, a leading role in contributing to the design of cross-School and/or cross-College academic provision as the College develops its academic framework to facilitate new academic initiatives and flexible modes of learning.

As a member of the School Leadership Team of the School of Arts & Humanities, the new Head of Programme will be expected to engage in personal research aligned to the School and College strategies, which is eligible for submission to the REF and subsequent research assessment exercises at 3* or 4* levels. It is expected that the post-holder will be or have the capacity to become a Principal Investigator, able to generate and lead major research grants. It is also expected that the Head of Programme will have experience in supervision of PhDs.

You will be intellectually curious and committed to seeking out interdisciplinary opportunities both within the RCA and among other cultural, scientific or educational organisations nationally and internationally. You will be accomplished in delivering outstanding teaching and student experience, internationally excellent research, and networks on an international scale. Ideally, you will be able to play a leading role in contributing to the design of cross-School and/or cross-College academic provision as the College develops its academic framework to facilitate new academic initiatives and flexible modes of learning.

For more information on the role please see the Info Pack. 

The Head of Programme, Photography will be appointed by a selection panel chaired by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor. 

Applications should consist of a full academic CV and a covering letter with narrative text describing the nature and achievements in your research, pedagogical innovation, knowledge exchange, and wider leadership or managerial responsibilities held and achievements therein.

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