Research Activities

We collaborate with a range of partners, including academics at universities and colleagues from peer IROs and heritage organisations, to develop funding proposals for projects spanning history, history of art, biography, conservation, access, education, and artistic and museological practice. Research partnerships can vary in scale from individual doctoral studentships to institutional collaborations, such as our work with the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. We also regularly engage in sector-wide research, participating in broad interdisciplinary projects and leading the Subject Specialist Network: Understanding British Portraits.  

Much of our research is made possible through the generous support of funders, including UKRI, the Getty Foundation, the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and numerous trusts, foundations and individual donors. As well as informing our practice, our research is disseminated through exhibitions, displays, publications and the Gallery’s public programme of lectures, conferences and seminars.

Cover image: Examination of cross-sections in the Painting Conservation Studio © National Portrait Gallery, London