Category: Academic | Faculty/SMT Lead: College of Arts and Humanities | School/Department: College of Arts and Humanities | Team/Division: College of Arts and Humanities | Location: Brighton - Grand Parade | Post Type: Full Time | Closing Date: 25 Sep 2015 |
A high calibre, inspirational and self-motivated individual is sought to lead the future development of the College of Arts and Humanites where high quality leadership, communication and management skills, along with the ability to think and plan creatively and strategically, will support the delivery of the University of Brighton's Strategic Plan and further the development of impactful research, innovative curriculum and enhance staff and student experience across the school. A track record of international research, scholarship and professional achievement within a relevant field , experience of leadership at a senior level and a willingness to develop regional, national and international partnerships with other academic institutions, healthcare providers, industry and other stakeholders.
Heads of School are primarily responsible for the leadership and development of the academic disciplines and professions in their School and are the senior managers of both the human and physical resources. Responsible to the Dean for ensuring University policies are implemented within their school, they also contribute to the College leadership and each Head will have a cross-college portfolio and are expected to engage in wider university initiatives and positioning the university internationally. Supported by a School Administrative Manager, Heads are supported by a management sub-structure appropriate to the delivery of the School’s portfolio and its requisite academic and professional requirements.
The College of Arts and Humanities provides a scholarly and creative environment designed to stimulate new ways of exploring our knowledge and understanding of the human condition and what individuals and societies have the potential to be.
The College brings together practices and research that integrate the visual and performing arts, architecture, design and urbanism, media, music and film and humanities in Brighton and Hastings that contribute to the civic, social and cultural landscapes of the south east through a rich blend of active international and regional partnerships, Research Centres in Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics; Memory Narrative and Histories and 21st Century Writing, and research clusters that focusing on Internationalising Design History and Understanding Conflict: Forms and Legacies of Violence.
Our interdisciplinary research explores how creativity and play stimulate entrepreneurship, innovation and economic growth and how knowledge is formed, treasured and communicated through social design, design for well-being and through testing the potential of the arts with the humanities to invigorate lives by re-examining how we might know, listen and live better together in a changing world.
The college Centre for Research and Development is at the heart of our research community. It stimulates and promotes Arts and Humanities research within the University and internationally, providing support and profiling for researchers at all stages of their careers, and a scholarly home for visiting fellows, professors and our research student community. It includes our partnership with the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) and its regional network, the international Design Archive, the Screen Archive South East (SASE) and British Film Institute (BFI) Hub, Photoworks and the Brighton Photo Biennial, as well as special collections, and a number of galleries and public spaces where we work collaboratively with cultural and business partners across the region.
The following four themes seek to characterize our research priorities and to identify subject and thematic priorities although there are intentionally overlaps within the college and across the boundaries of the life, health, physical and social sciences.
Architecture, Design and Urbanism: Building on our work in Social Design with the V&A and on our AHRC Cabinet Office Fellowship we wish to extend our research and impact through examination of space, place and cultural landscapes, and how these are formed and informed through the practices of architecture and spatial design and by emerging technologies through working with colleagues across the Life, Health, Physical and Social Sciences. We aim to capitalize on current strengths in design thinking, design for wellbeing, ageing and sustainability and the development and application of intelligent materials and technologies to shape social, environmental and planning policies and strengthen civic and community resilience.
Media, Music and Film: Working with colleagues in business, applied computing, media, music and film cultures we wish to advance the work of the Brighton FUSE, the C2C LEP and the recently awarded £170m City Deal for Brighton and Hove. We aim to expand our research and impact across the region and building upon the city’s recent success in hosting of one of three regional ‘Digital Catapult Centres’ examining the ‘Internet of Place’. We are particularly focused on building capacity and capitalizing on the wealth of expertise of our CDIT communities within music, film, media and gaming and their influence on the creative and cultural economy.
Culture, Economy, Philosophy and Digital Humanities: Through the work of our existing research centres, clusters and archives and the integration of the arts with the humanities, we wish to extend our research leadership, impact and influence on social and cultural formation. Our research and practices aim to stimulate and interrogate contemporary political, ethical and philosophical debate; the making of histories, representations of the present and the past, and the production of forms of remembrance and commemoration, exploring in parallel the emergence and examination of new forms of narrative practice and methodological and theoretical genres spawned by new technologies and shifting economies.
Arts and Applied Arts: Bringing together practices and research through drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, performance and post-studio activity, with advances in contemporary craft and digital manufacture; we wish to expand our research leadership and impact, through the systematic examination of the cultures of making, by examining the dialogue, narratives and meanings embodied in visual and material objects, and through creative and curatorial interventions and the contemporary role of public spaces in our civic and cultural lives.
Further information regarding the College can be found at http://arts.brighton.ac.uk. If you would like an informal discussion about the role please email the Dean, Anne Boddington on A.Boddington@brighton.ac.uk. Interviews are likely to be held on 6 November.