RCA announces new Professorships and Readerships

The RCA’s annual call for applications for Professorship and Readership for eligible academic staff of the College took place earlier this year. The Professorial Board, which includes external academic members as well as senior academics from the RCA, met in the summer and the outcomes have now been shared with applicants.

Those awarded Professorship in Academic Year 2025/26 are:

Professor Gem Barton - Professor of Futures & Design Pedagogy

Professor Jonathan Boyd - Professor of Applied Art and Material Poetics

Professor Sina Sareh - Professor of Robotics and Design Intelligence

Professor Tom Simmons - Professor of Digital Arts

Professor Joanne Tatham - Professor of Contemporary Art

Those awarded Readership in Academic Year 2025/26 are:

Dr Josephine Berry - Reader in Environmental Art History

Dr David Burns - Reader in Architecture and Media Studies

Dr Emily Candela - Reader in Experimental Humanities

Dr Melanie Jackson - Reader in Sculpture and the Fourth Dimension

Dr Adam Jovanović Kaasa - Reader in Public Arts

Dr Artur Grisanti Mausbach - Reader in Automotive Design

Jeremy Millar - Reader in Writing and Contemporary Art

Dr Gareth Polmeer - Reader in the Philosophy of Art

Māh Rana - Reader in Creative Health

The award of Professorship recognises significant and sustained academic and leadership achievements, and the award of Readership recognises staff with an actively developing track record of excellence in both teaching and research.

The scheme affirms the College’s commitment to supporting and celebrating academic career progression and achievement in academic leadership, research and scholarship, and learning and teaching. These newly awarded academic titles are recognised indicators of esteem within the RCA and in our sector more broadly.