Head of Department

**1740122FH**
**Shape the culture, practices and thinking of a new Art School department**

Winchester School of Art is proud to be one of the UK’s leading art Schools and part of the world-renowned University of Southampton, a founder member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. The new Department of Art & Media Technology brings together research, education, and practice in (and across) contemporary art, curation, media art, game art, creative computing, and arts and new media policy and leadership. Our research-intensive environment and international student body provide a rich ground for interdisciplinary thinking and making at the nexus of art, science, technology, and culture.
**The role**

Working closely with the Head of Winchester School of Art and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities’ Associate Deans, you will develop the vision and strategy for this new department. Providing strong academic leadership and operational management, you will set high standards for learning and teaching quality, research productivity, and cross-disciplinary innovation. You will also foster a highly collaborative, people focussed environment, engaging across university disciplines, academia, and the relevant industrial and professional practice contexts.

The post is offered on a tenured basis initially for a period of three years, which is extendible upon mutual agreement. At the end of this tenure, you will return to a substantive position within the department.
**About you**

This is a great opportunity for an ambitious academic with substantial experience of leading staff and students. You’ll bring a strong and credible track-record of academic excellence in teaching and research (scholarly and/or practice-based), and an inclusive and compassionate approach to management and leading colleagues. An in-depth understanding of the relationships between contemporary art, technology, and culture is important. The ability to work influentially with our other departments, across the faculty, and with external partners will be key to success, and you’ll have proven skills in delivering funded, externally facing programmes of education, research, or enterprise.
**What we can offer you**

The University of Southampton is placed in the top 1% of universities worldwide, currently ranking in the global top 100 (QS World Rankings). Based at our Winchester campus, right in the heart of this historic city and nestled in green parkland, one hour from London, Winchester School of Art (WSA) is a dynamic centre of art and design research and enterprise that currently educates over 1500 students across undergraduate, taught post-graduate, and doctoral programmes. Take a look at our beautiful campus here.

WSA has an established history of over 150 years of creative education, research, and professional practice, and stands as one of the UK’s oldest art schools. The school comprises three cognate academic departments; _Art & Media Technology_, _Design_, and _Fashion & Textiles_, across which cuts an inclusive and well supported research and enterprise infrastructure, and an exceptionally resourced team of technical specialists and instructors who run a range of accessible, high-specification workshops, labs and studios.

Committed to supporting our teaching and research community we are open to hybrid working models. We afford full consideration to applicants who wish to work flexibly including part-time and those who have taken a career break. Proud to be a founding signatory of the Athena Swan gender equality charter we hold an institutional Silver award.

As a university we aim to create an inclusive environment that attracts, supports, and retains exceptional students and staff from diverse backgrounds and experiences from across the world. We are proactive in fostering a culture of inclusion, respect, and equality of opportunity. We believe that we can only truly meet our objectives if we are reflective of society, so we are passionate about creating an environment in which you are free to bring your whole self to work.

As well as additional benefits that will make your life easier, such as a generous holiday allowance and additional university closure days. We will support your long-term future too, with access to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS)*, subsidised health and fitness facilities and a range of discounts.
**How to apply**

**Further details**:

- Job Description and Person Specification