Arts Faculty News

Ruth Ntumba (BA History, 2021) has spent her first 18 months since graduating helping drive engagement and culture at one of the world’s leading media corporations, Warner Brothers Discovery. Ruth shares why you should go at your own pace and trust your gut instinct when searching for your next role.

A veteran of the City of London, Chris Wheeler (MA Modern History, 2021) spent more than 40 years in banking, working, and travelling across the globe. But he swapped investment banking for US antebellum history and Irish diaspora and fulfilled his childhood dream when he began furthering his education journey, first studying History at the University of Oxford before completing an MA in Modern History at Warwick. Chris embarked on his PhD at the University of Edinburgh in September 2022.

TV screenwriter and English alumna, Mika Watkins, gives a personal insight into forging a career in this fast-paced, exciting sector.

BA English and Theatre Studies alumna Vinitaraj Aulak may have only graduated in 2021, but she wasted no time chasing her dreams and securing a radio presenter role on BBC Asian Network. Here she shares how her undergraduate degree taught her to break the mould and follow her passions.

Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons premiered at Warwick Arts Centre in 2015 and won three Judges' Awards at the National Student Drama Festival, before appearing at Latitude Festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Camden People's Theatre, London.

The play is now on in London's West End at the Harold Pinter Theatre.

The playright, Sam Steiner, is an alumnus of Warwick University (English Literature 2014) and gave an interview to our alumni team about his experience of breaking into playwriting for stage and screen.

The Department of History hosted some very different visitors in the Faculty of Arts Building. Students and staff were delighted to see three alpacas visiting the building. They took the lift to the 3rd floor departmental space for a meet and greet with the staff and student community.

One of the key foci of research and research-informed teaching at the Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Studies has been ‘creativity’ – who decides whether it is important and in what forms it takes, who gets to develop it and how, where it can be accessed and what kinds of creativity drive success and economic growth. So, we are delighted to see Dr Heidi Ashton’s research on arts education and culture in England, which she says has witnessed the emergence of two ‘systems’ of investment, appearing in The Guardian this week.

Originally studying languages to progress his scientific career, Tim Heenan (BA European Studies, 2015; MA French Studies, 2020) didn’t know those lessons would pay dividends for years to come. At 71, Tim’s putting his research skills to good use in supporting his local community.

Named as one of Powerful Media's 2022/23 Future Leaders and a semi-finalist in targetjobs Black Heritage Undergraduate of the Year Awards, Nosa Charles-Novia (BA Film and Literature, 2022) is studying for an MA in Writing and working as a film-critic intern. Here she tells us about her Warwick experience so far and why that little voice in your head is your most powerful weapon.

The Digital Humanities for Postgraduate Researchers certificate, which ran for the first time in 2022, saw the development and submission of an exciting range of digital research and teaching projects. Raad Khair Allah, a PhD candidate in the Department of English and Comparative Literary, used Miro to explore the "Marginalization of Arab Women and Revolutionising Patriarchy”. In this project she demonstrated how Arab women challenge patriarchal notions of gender in Arab Society through writing, film and visual arts. Her digital project is now reaching an international audience, having been a candidate for the Paula Svonkin creative art Award, and subsequently being published on the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA) Arts matter 2022 website.