Congratulations to Professor Rachel Moseley who takes up the role of Vice-Provost and Chair of the Faculty of Arts from 1 September 2022.

Professor Rachel Moseley is a film and television historian, and has published widely on questions of representation, identity and popular aesthetics. Her most recent books have looked at stop-frame animation in British children’s television of the 1960s and 1970s in Hand-Made Television, Palgrave, 2016, and at the politics of landscape and place on screen in Picturing Cornwall, University of Exeter Press, 2018. Public engagement and research impact have been significant aspects of her work in recent years, in the Midlands and in Cornwall. Rachel is in her fifth year as Head of Film and Television Studies at Warwick, where she completed her PhD in 2000, after graduating from University of East Anglia with an MA (with Distinction) in Film Studies, and before that from Warwick with a BA Joint Honours (First Class) in Film and Literature. She has been an active supporter for widening participation in arts education at Warwick and beyond, and is a Parent Governor at a state secondary school in Birmingham. She sits on Senate, Council, ARC and a number of other University Committees.

Researchers from the Department of History will be delivering a series of talks at Warwick Words History Festival. Now in its twentieth year, Warwick Words is a popular annual event, bringing internationally acclaimed historians to share stories from the past to venues around Warwick.

Since 2012, the University of Warwick has collaborated with the festival on a series titled Tea Time talks, where academics from the Department of History discuss their research. This year, topics are:

History and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine – Professor Christoph Mick and Dr Claire Shaw, Saturday 8 October

Picking up the Pieces: Gender and Romantic Failure in late 20th Century Britain – Dr Zoe Strimpel, Saturday 22 October

The Politics of Touch in the late 18th Century – Professor Mark Philp, Saturday 26 November

The programme also includes a play written by PhD student David Fletcher and performed by Loft Theatre company. Taking the Waters tells the story of a cholera epidemic that took place in Leamington Spa in 1849, and the medical and political conflicts that surrounded it.

Other speakers at the festival include Tracy Borman, Max Hastings, Dan Jones, Adam Rutherford, Charles Spencer and Alison Weir. Tickets are available from Warwick Words’ website: https://warwickwords.co.uk/ 

Promoting a protest at Warwick propelled Dr Andrew Whitehead (MA Social History, 1989; PhD History, 2013) towards a career in journalism. Having joined as a trainee at the BBC for just three months, Andrew went on to spend 35 years with BBC News. In his last role as Editor of BBC World Service News, Andrew was responsible for programming on the BBC's most widely listened to radio network, with a global weekly reach of about 100 million listeners.

Andrew returned to campus earlier this year, where he spoke at a Careers event for History students, and was interviewed by final year History student Enoch Mukungu (pictured left).

Determined to make a difference to the lives of children, Farah Williamson Still (BA French and History, 2006) co-founded Project Shelter Wakadogo while studying at Warwick. The nursery and primary school, located in a remote village in northern Uganda, now serves 450 children.

Farah has more than 15 years’ experience working across the international development, philanthropy and fundraising sectors. She is currently Director of Gulf & Strategic Partnerships at Plan International Canada, one of the world’s oldest and largest development and humanitarian organisations that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.

The Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence (WATE) celebrate and recognise the most successful educators in our our community.

Have a taste of what it is like to be a Faculty of Arts student through the video of the recent FAB Festival and opening of Warwick's new Arts Building.

Professor Tim Lockley from the Department of History is one of a trio of University of Warwick academics recognised in the 2021 Queens Birthday Honours List. The award was in recognition of his services to his local community in Harbury, where he serves as a Parish councillor, and with particular recognition of his work in his area during the COVID-19 pandemic. The image is of Tim with his MBE at the Queens garden party that was held on Tuesday 24 May 2022.

Students, staff and members of the local community are invited to the official opening of the Faculty of Arts Building (FAB) taking place at midday on Friday, 20 May. The opening ceremony, where a festive glass of fizz will be provided for all guests, will be followed by FAB Fest – a festival celebrating the arts at Warwick.

This Arts Easter ResidentialLink opens in a new window took place from the 20th to 22nd April. It was a fantastic event with 17 students who identified as being autistic, spending three days and two nights experiencing university life, with many being away from home for the first time.

They took part in academic taster sessions, life skills workshops, shopping, cooking and a mini group project. Many of the young people spoke about their renewed confidence as they look to move from school to a more independent future.

The Resonate FestivalLink opens in a new window is due to culminate in a multi-day festival on the University of Warwick campus from 19 - 21 April. Helen Wheatley, Festival Director and Arts very own Professor of Film & Television Studies, is inviting you to come and participate in an exciting programmeLink opens in a new window of activities and events. The FAB, Warwick's stunning new Faculty of Arts Building and the Warwick Arts CentreLink opens in a new window are at the very centre of these arts and cultural events, which include contributions from Arts colleagues as follows:

Classics and Ancient History

Michael Scott’s Was Fake News a Problem in Ancient Athens https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/was-fake-news-a-problem-in-ancient-athens

Paul Grigsby’s Roman Coventry Activity Day https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/roman-coventry-activity-day

Francesca Modini’s Roman Coventry and Music https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/roman-coventry-and-music

Cross Faculty Studies

Kirsten Harris’s Freedom in Utopia  https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/living-free-utopian-worlds

English and Comparative Literary Studies

Justin Tackett’s Make Some Noise https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/make-some-noise-exploding-the-poet-voice

History

Beat Kümin’s Rethinking Hospitality https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/rethinking-hospitality

David Lees’ Cooking up the Past https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/cooking-up-the-past

Martha McGill’s Invisible Worlds: Humans and the Supernatural Enlightenment in Britain https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/invisible-worlds-humans-and-the-supernatural

School of Creative Arts, Performance and Visual Cultures

Ronan Hatfull’s To Tell My Story: Remaking Hamlet – workshop on restaging Hamlet with Zoe Templeman Young and Devon Glover https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/remaking-hamlet

Michael Pigott’s Listening to our Environments workshop https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/listening-to-our-environment and Concrete Cinema installation https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/concrete-cinema

Vishalakshi Roy’s Coventry Made Me ­https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/coventry-made-me

School of Modern Languages and Cultures

James Hodkinson’s The Art of Visual Storytelling https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/the-art-of-visual-storytelling-voices-of-faith-and-migration

Alison Ribeiro de Menezes’s Rewind https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/rewind-with-ephemeral-ensemble

Kate Astbury’s Celebrating Languages https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/celebrating-language

Zhiyan Guo’s Chinese Culture in Words, Voices and Music https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/chinese-culture-in-words-voices-music

Mary Harrod’s Let’s Talk About Sex – https://www.resonatefestival.co.uk/campus-festival/lets-talk-about-sex