Departments and staff

Employing around 35% of Birkbeck's full-time academic staff, the School of Arts unites five of Birkbeck's most dynamic and accomplished departments:

• Department of English and Humanities: the Department achieved notable success in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). Ninety per cent of its research was judged to be of internationally recognised quality in terms of originality, significance and rigour. Of this, 35% was declared ‘world-leading’.
• Department of Iberian and Latin American Studies: in the latest RAE, the Department maintained its status as one of the top five Iberian and Latin American studies departments in the country. Its work is distinguished by its innovative character, engagement with other disciplines and challenge to received ideas.
• Department of European Cultures and Languages: This Department brings together academics in French and German who are actively engaged in research at the highest levels. Their research adopts a range of cross-cultural and interdisciplinary approaches to the literature, thought, histories and visual cultures of the French- and German-speaking worlds, from the Renaissance to the twenty-first century. Members of the Department are also responsible for the College research centre: Birkbeck Research in Representations of Kinship and Community (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/brrkc/)
• Department of History of Art and Screen Media: this Department is noted for its strong research ethos, enhanced by the foundation of the AHRC Centre for British Film and Television Studies. This led to the creation of a purpose-built, award-winning Centre for Film and Visual Media Research. Research in the department extends from medieval art and architecture through to New Art practice. New areas of study include: the history of film and visual media; interdisciplinary work, especially in relation to art and music; museology and digital art and theory.
• Department of Media and Cultural Studies: this department is a vibrant new department within the School of Arts. Our research programme utilises an integrated approach of theory and creative practice across a range of disciplines. Our academic staff has a range of interdisciplinary research interests within the creative sector. We have experts in film and media, arts policy and management, museum studies, journalism, curating, performance, music, public art, cultural heritage, and visual arts, in addition to specialists in Japanese Cultural Studies.