Leverhulme Trust PhD Studentship - Object lessons: Understanding and augmenting the role of reproductions in museums
About the Project
The Oxford Internet Institute, working with Goldsmiths, University of London and Oxford University Museums, is awarding a fully funded Leverhulme Trust doctoral studentship to focus on ‘Understanding and augmenting the role of reproductions in museums’, under the supervision of Prof. Kathryn Eccles. This studentship will investigate the role of reproductions (digital scans, 3D prints, augmented reality) on the experiences of visitors to Oxford University Museum sites.
The student will be based in Oxford at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), undertaking the DPhil in Information, Communication and the Social Sciences (full-time) but will closely collaborate with Goldsmiths, University of London and Oxford University Museums.
Project details
Existing theory suggests that original artworks and artefacts held in museums and galleries have a special quality, an ‘aura’ or ‘essence’ arising from their unique history (Benjamin, 1935). Essentialism has previously been shown to undermine the value ascribed to reproductions (Newman & Bloom, 2012). Nevertheless, technologies for reproducing objects in museum collections through digital imaging and 3D printing are fast advancing.
The DPhil studentship will focus on how object copies – digital and 3D printed – are being used by heritage professionals working across a range of cultural heritage institutions, and developing a set of in-situ experiments in which different object types will be used with visitors in museums, including the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford’s Museum of Natural History, and the Ashmolean Museum. The project will investigate how experiences of cultural objects are influenced by the mode of reproduction, what object is being reproduced, and how visitors interact with and are informed about the object. The DPhil student will help to develop a toolkit for museums based on the research findings.
The studentship forms part of an interdisciplinary project funded by the Leverhulme Trust and will therefore involve working closely with a PhD student specialising in psychological methods based in the School of Mind, Body and Society at Goldsmiths, University of London.
The project will be supervised by Prof Kathryn Eccles (Associate Professor, Oxford Internet Institute) with supervisory support from Dr Rebecca Chamberlain (Reader, School of Mind, Body and Society, Goldsmiths).
Award details and eligibility
The award covers course fees in full and a stipend for three years of at least £23,460 per annum. The studentship cannot be undertaken part-time.
Please note that only Home fee status students are eligible to apply.
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