Dr Nicholas Ferguson
Associate Dean for Research,
Associate Professor of Research and Writing Methods
Contact:
Email: fergusn@richmond.ac.uk
School: School of Liberal Arts
Research centre: International Visual Arts and Cultures
Associate Dean for Research,
Associate Professor of Research and Writing Methods
Contact:
Email: fergusn@richmond.ac.uk
School: School of Liberal Arts
Research centre: International Visual Arts and Cultures
About
I am an artist, curator, and academic based in London. At Richmond I am the associate Dean for Research and I teach research methods, and arts and visual culture.
My research explores the relationship between art, space, and power. Recent and ongoing projects focus on London Heathrow, its neighbourhoods, and airspace. In 2019 I was awarded an Arts Council Project Grant to curate the group exhibition and public programme Air Matters. Learning from Heathrow, hosted at Watermans Arts, London, Oct. 2019 – Jan 2020. This research has opened onto further study of the relationship between art and the international airport under neoliberal regimes. I am currently scoping out a new collaborative project, The Museum of Environmental Justice, (MoEJ), which is a centre for the study of coexistence – human, natural and technological – in the neighbourhood of Heathrow Airport, London, UK. Its purpose is to advance understanding of the art, history, and politics of interdependence.
Research interests
Qualifications
Teaching & learning
My teaching spans the registers of art, visual culture, spatial politics and research methodology. I have written, taught and assessed across foundation, undergraduate, masters and PhD programmes in the UK. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and between 2016 and 2020 I served as external examiner for the Critical Studies component of BA Computer Games Art, University of the Creative Arts (UCA). At Richmond I have led on the design of Research and Writing Methods and Visual Thinking Courses. At the level of leadership in the field my contributions include mentoring colleagues, support with degree validations, and presentations within the faculty focused Centre for Learning and Teaching.
Three of the primary concerns in my praxis are reach, interdisciplinarity, and enquiry led approaches to knowledge. Between 2017 and 2020 I sought to develop a blueprint for community centred, practice led, pedagogy, one that would set agendas in the way the arts are made accessible and academic disciplines speak to one another. The project, Air Matters Learning from Heathrow, hosted at Watermans Arts, comprised an exhibition and public programme that brought together artists, academics and professionals from across multiple institutions and which spanned multiple worlds – acoustic science, geology, architectural history, political philosophy, history, transport policy. To this extent, it sought to take art out of the often-closed circuit of academy, gallery, and art markets, bringing it instead into conversation with wider fields of interest.
Research outputs
Conference contributions
Engagement and knowledge exchange
February 2018. Outreach event: Talk and Workshop. Orleans Park School VI Form, London Borough of Richmond
June 2018. Outreach event: Heathrow Sound Walk. Orleans Park School VI Form, London Borough of Richmond
October – December 2019. Curated Community Workshops. Watermans Arts, London Borough of Hounslow