***Apologies for cross-posting***

Please note revised deadline – applications should be made using the “Making an application” link below.

PHOTOGRAPHY, ART AND MOTILITY
Eligibility: UK/EU
Award Details: Bursary plus tuition fees
Duration: Full Time - 3 years to 3 years 6 months Fixed Term
Application deadline: June 30th (4pm) (Starting September 2017)

Informal enquiries are essential before application; contact Professor Damian Sutton ([log in to unmask]) to discuss this opportunity.

As an ambitious and innovative University, we’re investing an initial £100m into our new research strategy, ‘Excellence with Impact’ ( http://www.coventry.ac.uk/research/about-research-at-coventry/ ). Through original approaches from world-leading experts, we’re aiming for our research to make a tangible difference to the way we live. As a research student you are an integral part of Coventry’s lively and diverse research community and contribute to our reputation for excellence. With our exceptional facilities and superb support mechanisms ( http://www.coventry.ac.uk/research/research-students/research-studentships/research-studentships-the-benefits/?id=98267 ) you are afforded every opportunity for academic success.

THE PROJECT
This PhD will explore the conceptual framework of motility, and how this can be used in the study of fine art photography practice, theory and culture. Motility is a concept drawn from mobilities research in human geography and sociology that attempts to express the hierarchical nature of movement as ordered through gender, race, class and wealth (Kaufmann, Bergman and Joye 2004; Kaufmann 2011; Sheller 2014). Practices of photography that rely on a high degree of motility include humanist portraiture or street photography in contemporary art, landscape and environmental photography, as well as the professional and commercial practices from which they sometimes derive, such as photojournalism, editorial photography and travel photography. All of these can trace a twin ancestry in both photography’s mobile history in early tourism and in the romanticized concept of the artist’s vision that grew from photography’s adoption into the art institution.

We invite applications that will take this concept to the historical, cultural or practice-led study of photography as an art form, in order to understand its impact on contemporary practices. Suggested subject areas and themes include (but are not limited to):
•       Differential mobility in fine art photography practice in terms of gender, race and/or disability
•       Mobility and photography in an international, global context
•       Photography and the representation of mobility
•       Photography and philosophies of nomadism
•       The road trip and its significance in photography
•       Fine art photography as a critique of travel and tourism
•       Photography and placehacking, urban exploration and thanatourism.

ABOUT THE CENTRES/DEPARTMENTS
Visual Arts Research, led by Professor Juliet Simpson (Professor of Art History), is one of the largest areas of academic research growth in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, with a range of outstanding international strengths and partnerships. It encompasses internationally-recognized historians and theorists of art and design, fine art and visual art practitioners; architectural designers; historians of culture and heritage; curatorial experts and interdisciplinary research in contemporary media, graphic art, fashion, film practices; word-image studies and a vibrant PhD cohort. Particular research strengths include: modern and contemporary visual art practices and theories of design; European histories of art and cultural identity, 1850 to the present; transnationalism in modern and contemporary visual cultures; contemporary fine art education; sculpture and visual cultures of the body; image-text studies; drawing; art and art languages; critical curation, histories and practices; cultural heritage and experimental film and digital cultures. Visual Arts Research is a pivotal area for new interdisciplinary research and research-led teaching in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. It is a major focus of the University’s REF strengths in Art and Design: History, Theory and Practice.  There are 3 possible themes:

Art, Transnationalism and Cultural Memory
Body Object and Space
Health and Arts Wellbeing

VAR has outstanding international research and exhibitions networks developed with world-leading university, museum and arts-sector partners. We have established and new collaborations, including with: The National Gallery, London; the Royal College of Art; the Universities of York, Warwick, Loughborough and Amsterdam; Compton Verney Museum; The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry; the National Finnish Gallery of Art/Ateneum Art Gallery, Helsinki; Ghent University and the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. Our research attracts international acclaim via funded awards, most recently, from the RCUK, the AHRC and The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. In addition, Visual Arts showcases cutting-edge research through its vibrant progamme of international conferences, symposia, exhibitions (Faculty-based and external) and dedicated research seminar series on ‘Visions of Art’. Featuring visiting academics and Professors, the seminar provides a vehicle for research at the forefront of the three areas of VAR research expertise. It complements our research programme of symposia, exhibitions, curatorial interventions and PhD internships with the internationally-renowned art collections at Compton Verney Museum: VAR’s established museum partner.

SUCCESSFUL APPLICANTS

Successful applicants will have:
•       a taught Masters degree in a relevant discipline, involving a dissertation of standard length written in English in the relevant subject area with a minimum of a merit profile: 60% overall module average and a minimum of a 60% dissertation mark
•       the potential to engage in innovative research and to complete the PhD within a three-year period of study
•       a minimum of English language proficiency (IELTS overall minimum score of 7.0 with a minimum of 6.5 in each component)
Additionally:
•       knowledge and/or experience in the subject.

ELIGIBILITY & APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Application Procedure:
Application information can be found in our how to apply section. Before completing the application please contact Professor Damian Sutton ( [log in to unmask] ) for an initial informal discussion about the opportunity.

Eligibility:
All UK/EU/International students are eligible to apply that meet the academic requirements, the eligibility criteria can be found making an application page ( http://www.coventry.ac.uk/research/research-students/making-an-application/ ).

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