Call for Participation
We are calling for participants for a two-day workshop on multi-disciplinary Arctic sea ice research and knowledge to be held at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, on February 19-20, 2026.
Deadline for abstracts: Monday 15th September, 2025
The Art History staff at Aberdeen have a wide and thriving range of research interests, ranging across different periods, geographies and media, including: late medieval art and architecture, early modern British and European art, art theory and historiography, contemporary art and visual culture, the history of collecting and exhibitions from medieval and early modern art through art theory to contemporary visual culture. Art historical research in Aberdeen benefits from an exceptional archive and museum at the University, whilst at the same time, members of staff foster strong links with researchers worldwide.
In recent years, the Department has spearheaded a range of major, funded initiatives, including the “Buildings of Scotland” Project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, and the creation of the St Vigeans Museum, funded by Historic Scotland. Recent competitively funded projects include, among others, 'Fundaments of Knowledge: Art History in Britain: c. 1940-1970'. Further details regarding ongoing projects can be found in the menu.
The Department co-hosts two centres: The George Washington Wilson Centre for Art and Visual Culture, bringing together scholars from across the University with an interest in the visual; and The Centre for the North. We also host an annual Research Seminar Series, which brings a range of national and international speakers to Aberdeen to share their cutting-edge research, as well as allowing members of the department to give papers on work in progress.
Postgraduate Studies
We are interested in hearing from students wishing to undertake postgraduate level work in Art history at the MLitt or doctoral level. Please contact one of the supervisors below if you are thinking about applying for an MLitt or PhD in their subject area. We are also keen to hear from postdoctoral researchers who are interested in developing their projects at Aberdeen.
- Staff Expertise
-
Dr Joanne Anderson: Supervision is offered in the history of late-medieval and Early Modern art and visual culture, particularly in the Alpine countries and Italy; Art and Religion; and the history of exhibitions.
Dr Isabelle Gapp: Supervision is offered in modern & contemporary art history (19th century to the present) with a focus on art and environment, the Arctic and Circumpolar North, settler colonial and Indigenous art histories, and interdisciplinary environmental humanities. Isabelle is Co-Director of The Centre for the North.
Dr Hans C. Hönes: Supervision is offered in the history of European art and visual culture of the 18th and 19th centuries; art historiography and art theory; and the intersections of Art and Ecology.
Dr Karl Kinsella: Supervision is offered on the history of architecture, especially during the medieval period; medieval manuscripts, Christianity and art; as well as exegetical practices in the 11th-15th centuries.
Dr Catriona McAra: Supervision is offered across modern and contemporary art history (20th and 21st centuries) with particular interests in international surrealism, feminist art, curating and Scottish contemporary art. Catriona is Co-Director of The George Washington Wilson Centre for Art and Visual Culture.
Dr Helen Pierce: Supervision is offered in the history of Early Modern British and Scottish Art; Print Culture in Early Modern Europe; and the history of collecting.
- Current PhD Students
-
The Art History department offers research supervision to PhD and research MLitt students. We also offer a PhD by Distance Learning which is suitable for students who cannot come to campus regularly.
Our research students are embedded in a thriving and close-knit research community, benefitting from regular seminars and training opportunities. Current PhD students are affiliated with the George Washington Wilson Centre for Art and Visual Culture, the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, the Interdisciplinary Institute, and RIISS.
We have a growing cohort of part-time and full-time PhD students, you can learn more about their work below:
Haley Turner: "The Beauty of Purity: Saint Catherine of Alexandria as the Ideal Woman in the Art and Visual Culture of Late Medieval France and England"
Freya Juul Jensen: "Queer Time and Visualising a Sapphic Genealogy: Depictions of Female-Female Love and Desire in Nineteenth- and Twentieth Century Britain and France"
Genevieve Strong: Title forthcoming.
Maria Nordvall: "Indigenising visual narratives: The use of Sámi dwellings in art as an embodiment of Sámi identity" (co-supervised by David Anderson, Isabelle Gapp, Nancy Wachowich and Gro Ween)
Michael Partington: "Paper-Kingdoms: the illustrated books of John Ogilby and the early modern world" (supervised by Helen Pierce)
Leilani Alontaga-Caithness: Title forthcoming.
Emily Metcalf-Corrison: "Queering the Archangels: Representation and Engagement in Late Medieval England" (supervised by Karl Kinsella)
Laura Mccloskey: Title forthcoming.
Alexander Ryland: "Visualising princely patriarchy: hegemonic masculinity and the legitimisation of monarchy in the visual culture of the three Stuart kingdoms, 1660-1714" (supervised by Helen Pierce)
Kristin Morris: Title forthcoming.
Yuchen Lu: Title forthcoming. (supervised by Hans C. Hones)
Alison Clark: "A Visual History of Charles Lyell's Notebooks" (supervised by Isabelle Gapp and John Underhill)
Rebecca Crate: "The Creator’s Canvas: Exploring Visual Art in a Reformed Landscape" (supervised by Joanne Anderson)
- Past PhD Students
-
Kirsty Haslam, "An Investigation into the social context and cultural impact of warfare in late medieval and early modern Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire", co-supervised by Helen Pierce with Dr Alastair Macdonald, AHRC funded, 2019-2022.
Wendy McGlashan, "'A new species of liberty': John Kay’s Edinburgh portraits, 1781-1822", co-supervised by Helen Pierce and John Morrison, Carnegie Trust funded, 2016-2019.