Research Activities

The V&A Research Institute is responsible for leading the V&A’s research activities, academic programmes and partnerships. We co-deliver the world’s leading postgraduate programme in the history of design and material culture and host a thriving community of PhD students, early career and established researchers. In addition, we collaborate closely with colleagues across the V&A who are engaged in research, including curators, conservators, scientists, learning and digital specialists and many more. Our research expertise spans the fields of art, design and performance; conservation and collections management; and object-led, museum-based learning.

Overview of our Research Activities:

• collaborative research projects

• research-led undergraduate and postgraduate teaching

• conferences, workshops, seminars and other events

• fellowships, doctoral placements and other research affiliations

• research-led publishing and digital research outputs, including an open-access co-publishing programme with UCL Press and the V&A Journal, which we are in the process of relaunching

We are also the national coordination team for the Collaborative Doctoral Partnership consortium and a pilot programme of Early Career Research Fellowships in Cultural and Heritage Institutions, both supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Cover image: Research in action at the V&A Research Institute (VARI) photograph by Eileen Budd