Located in the University's new world-class £80 million Grove building, the Art and Design Research Institute (ADRI) is the home to world-leading research, engagement and knowledge transfer. Our practice- and text-based researchers engage with a wide range of disciplines and agencies within and beyond art and design. We seek to understand and teach rigorous interrogative practice, connecting our investigations to students and to other users in society.
Our research attracts funding from major grant-awarding bodies, including the Arts and Humanities Research Council, The Leverhulme Trust, and the Paul Mellon Foundation. In the most recent Research Assessment Exercise (2008), 25 per cent of our research in art and design, and over 50 per cent of our research in the history of art and design, was graded 'world leading' or 'internationally excellent'.
Our principal research areas, that include both practice and theory, are:
Visual Arts: Fine Arts; Curatorial Practice; Photography; Animation; Graphic Design; Electronic Film and Computer Arts
Text-led Visual Culture: History of Art, including art writing; History and Theory of Photography; History of Design.
Fashion and Interiors: Interior Architecture and Interior Design; History of Architecture and Interior Design; Urban Design, Fashion Design and Consultancy and Creative Industries.
ADRI is also home to important collections of computer arts (John Lansdown Project) and animation materials (The Dick Arnall Collection) as well as collections related to home decoration and furnishing (the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture (MoDA). The critical history of ADRI reaches back through several decades of ground-breaking cultural criticism exemplified by the BLOCK journal.
If you would like to undertake a research degree with us, you will join a vibrant community of 40 research degree students pursuing a range of projects in the history, practice and theory of art and design. Students are encouraged to work collaboratively, and we currently have projects with the ICA, MODA, National Maritime Museum, Sir John Soane's Museum and Tate.
You can find out more about our research, engagement and knowledge transfer, including studying with us, our PhD Programmes and current projects on the dedicated ADRI website.
