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Marsha Meskimmon

Professor Marsha Meskimmon reappointed as Director of the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS)

Initially appointed in August 2018, Professor Marsha Meskimmon will remain in her role as Director of the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) for a second 3-year term.

Under Marsha’s leadership, the IAS has gone from strength to strength, hosting 214 Fellows from 35 countries, and inspiring £7.5m in research grants and 58 publications.

The IAS aims to promote an outstanding, interdisciplinary research environment that supports collaborations with scholars from across the globe.

Colleagues from all career stages and Schools have engaged with the IAS, both through a vibrant Open Programme and through the IAS annual Themes. Themes focus on bringing international Visiting Fellows together with LU researchers from areas of established and emergent research excellence. The Theme in 2021/22 will be AI: Facts, Fictions, Futures.

In March 2019, the IAS gained a dedicated home with the opening of International House, and its own accommodation, a year later, for the new Residential Fellowship Scheme. During 2021-22, the IAS will host seven outstanding international scholars as Residential Fellows.

Marsha joined Loughborough in 1998 as the first academic appointment of the newly-formed School of Art and Design (LUSAD). She went on to become Director of the School (2006-11) and Associate Dean (Teaching) of the School of the Arts, English and Drama (2014-17).

Marsha’s research focuses on transnational feminisms and contemporary global art, on which she has published more than a dozen monographs and edited volumes, in addition to essays, articles and curatorial projects. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2016 and has been recognised by a number of international visiting Fellowships including at the Australian National University, the National Gallery in Washington, DC, and the Universities of Cape Town, Gothenburg and Stockholm.

On her reappointment, Marsha said: “I am delighted to have been re-appointed to lead the IAS for a further three years, and I am looking forward to the challenge of taking the Institute through the next phase of its journey towards establishing Loughborough as a truly innovative and dynamic international research destination.”

Steve Rothberg, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) added: “Building on the excellent foundations of her predecessors, Professor Mark Freeman of the School of Business and Economics and Professor David Deacon of the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Marsha has led the IAS on to another level, even in these most difficult of times. IAS has become a cornerstone of our strategy for international and interdisciplinary collaboration and I am so excited about its future.”

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Robert Allison commented: “The IAS has achieved so much in the past three years under Professor Meskimmon’s leadership and I am confident that it will continue to build on this success over the next three.”

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