The Department of Art History at Sussex is a dynamic, friendly group of students, faculty and support staff. We have a long-standing reputation for innovative and interdisciplinary research and we offer a range of courses that aim to challenge you, lead you to think critically, and engage you with the primary medium of our discipline: the object of art.
We believe that art history matters because in studying the art of a culture, you study all the aspects of that place and time, from its social life and history to its technologies and skills, economics and beliefs. Understanding how images work is central to understanding how the world is portrayed and so perceived.
Research and teaching in the department ranges from 700 to the present. We believe strongly in concentrating on the object as the first focus of study. Our work encompasses photography and the decorative arts, as well as painting, sculpture and architecture. We enjoy strong relationships with local and national museums and galleries, and modules in each year of the BA degree involve you in studying objects of art in situ and in gallery settings, often with the input of a museum professional.
The art history lab is the centre of the department. It provides a space for undergraduates and postgraduates to consult catalogues, scan images and work both together and individually on projects. We also have a lively group of doctoral students who work on a range of topics.
The Department is highly-rated and well-respected internationally and nationally, in terms of both our research and our teaching. In the latest National Student Survey (NSS) our students rated our teaching first among the Russell and 94 Groups of universities. Art History at Sussex was rated in 3rd in the UK in the 2008 Research and Assessment Exercise (RAE); we ranked 2nd in the UK in 4* world-leading research.
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The James Henry Green PhD scholarship
The James Henry Green PhD scholarship is available to students wishing to pursue doctoral research within the Department of Art History at the University of Sussex. The three-year scholarship covers Home University tuition fees and an annual book award of £1000.
The scholarship is offered by the James Henry Green Charitable Trust through the James Green Centre for World Art at Royal Pavilion & Museums (RP&M), Brighton & Hove. The purpose of the award is to build and share knowledge about RP&M’s rich holdings of material and visual culture from Africa, Asia, the Pacific and Americas. For this reason the main requirement of the award is that the proposed doctoral research project considers some aspect of the World Art collection. For more information look under the Research tab.
Download: Application form and Scholarship details
