The Centre for Art and Travel has been successfully awarded funding for two Collaborative Doctoral Studentships by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), one in 2008 and another in 2009. The research of these doctoral students will help to unlock the rich potential of the NMM's art and travel collections.

Charlotte Mullins

(Started PhD in October 2008)

Jointly supervised by Jenny Gaschke, NMM and Geoff Quilley, University of Sussex.

Using the NMM’s substantial collection of historic photographs Charlotte's thesis ‘The World on a Plate: the impact of photography on travel imagery and its dissemination in Britain, 1839–88’ will explore how photography initially contributed to and subsequently transformed travel imagery during the 50 years following its invention.

Charlotte's background

Charlotte has written several books on contemporary art including a narrative on figuration, Painting People (London: Thames & Hudson, 2006), and a monograph on sculptor Rachel Whiteread (London: Tate Publishing, 2004). She has lectured on contemporary art at the Ruskin School of Art (Oxford University), Sotheby’s Institute (University of Manchester) and various national art galleries and museums including the V&A and Tate Britain. A former editor of Art Review and V&A Magazine, Charlotte Mullins has written on art for national British newspapers and specialist magazines such as Art in America and Modern Painters, as well as regularly contributing to BBC Radio and television programmes. She is one of this year’s judges for the BP Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Between 1991 and 1996 she studied art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London (BA Hons, first class) and at Sotheby’s Institute (affiliated to the University of Manchester) (MA, distinction).

Geoff Snell

(Starting PhD in 2009)

Jointly supervised by Jenny Gaschke, NMM and Geoff Quilley, University of Sussex.

Geoff’s thesis will focus on a rich but under-researched aspect of the NMM’s collections: the visual imagery relating to the River Thames during the 18th and early-19th centuries (working title: 'Thames Rising: Representations of the River Thames in 18th-Century Culture'). Focusing on a period when the Thames became a centre for British commerce and a respectable subject for art in its own right, Geoff’s research will explore the significance of river imagery, particularly of the lower ‘commercial’ reaches below London Bridge, and how the cultural representation of the Thames can be placed within an integrated history of British art, empire and travel.

Geoff’s background

Geoff studied art history at Birkbeck College, London and graduated in 2008 (MA, distinction). Specialising in 18th-century British Art, he researched representations of Covent Garden during the early-Georgian period for his MA dissertation: 'Garden Of Earthly Delights'. Geoff has been studying art history at London City University since 2000 which he combined with a career in Events and Facilities Management, most recently working with the GLA at City Hall. Geoff lives by the Thames on the Isle of Dogs.