Public Engagement Fellow (The Victorian Hand Project)

Contract: Fixed Term - 36 months

Hours: Full time - 35 hours per week

Location: Hybrid – LCF East Bank Stratford/Home

This is an opportunity to play a key role in the delivery of an exciting public engagement programme for the Victorian Hand Project.

The Victorian Hand Project is a major externally-funded research study, in collaboration with Lancaster University, having received £846,900 of Standard Research Grant funding from the AHRC to enable an extensive programme of both historical research and public and professional engagement.

The project, which will run until late 2028, explores the emotional and embodied history of the hand in Victorian Britain. Our research aims to uncover how hands shaped racial, gender, sexual, and class identities in an increasingly complex and globalised world, influencing the way we relate to our bodies and their labour today.

You will work with the Victorian Hand Project team and be responsible for the conception, planning, and delivery of the project’s public engagement programme, ranging from workshops and exhibitions, to film screenings and content creation for the project’s website and social media. 

Collaborating with diverse stakeholders ranging from surgical professionals and hand-crafters, to artists and students, you will plan, organise, and facilitate workshops with key partners including the Royal College of Surgeons of England, London, and the Quilters’ Guild, York, and students at London College of Fashion, UAL, and Lancaster University.

You will also work with contracted artists, filmmakers, and project partners to organise and produce content for the project’s website and social media accounts, as well as curate and oversee the installation and de-installation of the project’s exhibition at the Festival of Quilts, NEC, Birmingham, and the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons.

There will also be the opportunity for you to write a sole-authored research article derived from your work on the project, as well as collaborate on the exhibition catalogue.

About you

You will need a postgraduate degree level qualification or equivalent professional expertise in one or more of the following areas: History; Galleries, Archives, Libraries, and Museums, such as experience of academic research and/or creative practice in one of these fields.

You will also need experience of community and public engagement, events organisation, and cultural programming.

We are UAL

University of the Arts London (UAL) generates and inspires the creativity the world needs for a better future. Since 1842, our colleges have been defining creative education. With curiosity, imagination and intent we make work which creates lasting change for people and our planet. London is core to who we are, a place where we meet and share ideas with people from different backgrounds and cultures.

For further details and to apply please click the apply button.

Closing date: 24 June 2025 23:55. 

UAL is committed to creating diverse and inclusive environments for all staff and students to work and learn – a university where we can be ourselves and reach our full potential. We offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements and Staff Support Networks. We welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds, including race, disability, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion and belief, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, and caring responsibility.

Advert information