Nominations for the ELIA Representative Board

We are delighted to have ten nominations for three vacancies on the ELIA Representative Board. It is wonderful to see such a diverse list of institutions, disciplines and countries represented. The elections will take place at ELIA’s General Assembly on 24 November, 2020.

Here is a summary of the nominations for the ELIA Representative Board:

Manuel José Carvalho de Almeida Damásio Head of the Film and Media Arts Department Film and Media Arts Department, Universidade Lusófona, Portugal

Manuel José Damásio is a Professor at Lusófona University in Lisbon Portugal where he leads the Film and Media Arts Department (DCAM) besides participating in the management board of CICANT – Center for Research in Applied Communication, Arts and Information technologies. Manuel José Damásio holds a PhD in Communication and Multimedia Systems by Universidade Nova de Lisboa. He is the Chair of GEECT – the European Association of Film and Media Schools and a member of the board of CILECT Executive Committee (International Association of Film and Media Schools).

Alexander Damianisch Director of the Research Focus Centre and Head of Support Art and Research University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria

Alexander Damianisch is the director of the Zentrum Fokus Forschung, its purpose is to develop advanced artistic and scientific practice, research and teaching (incl. the Artistic Research PhD Programme). He is also head of the project support department of the University of Applied Arts Vienna. He aims to support change via organisational development based on creativity and insight driven activities and the moderation of relevant activities. These are also the areas of his curiosity driven work and his publications, currently he is one of the initiators of a SAR special interest group on Artistic Research and Literature, and a newly appointed member of the ELIA working group about the development of sustainable careers in the field of arts.

Vít Havránek Vice-Rector for International Relations Academy of Fine Arts Prague, Czech Republic

Vít Havránek, Ph.D. is an art historian with an interest in the creation and history of artistic exchanges between the First, Second and Third Worlds after the Second World War. Havránek spent many years as the director of the tranzit.cz art centre, which is part of a network of organizations active in five countries in Central and Eastern Europe. This experience gave him a unique overview of critical and innovative topics that bring together schools, museums, and art institutions in the former East Europe, Central Asia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and other countries where he has worked. He has curated many exhibitions of contemporary art. As Vice-Rector for International Relations at AVU, Havránek has promoted the school’s international development.

Úna Henry Head of Education, Master Institute of Visual Cultures, St. Joost School of Art & Design, Avans University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands

Úna Henry is a Northern Irish born curator, educator and researcher based in the Netherlands. Since March 2018 she is the Head of the Master Institute of Visual Cultures (MIVC), St. Joost School of Art & Design in Den Bosch (NL), which is part of Avans University of Applied Sciences. Since taking up her position, she has fully redesigned the master curriculum and developed a world class research culture to generate new ways of thinking and creative practice, integrated into a wider research enquiry tackling today’s urgencies. She currently advises the university on their master’s policy, and at a national level, has co-written the Professional Doctorate in the Arts pilot proposal. Úna received her doctorate in Fine Art in 2017 from the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford UK with her thesis, The Politics of Knowledge That Leads Elsewhere.

Claire Lockwood Head of Department, Visual Communications, Senior Fellow HAE School of Art & Design, Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom

Claire Lockwood has worked within Art & Design Higher Education for over twenty years. Most notable have been her roles as Head of Department for a multi discipline Art & Design Department at Sheffield Hallam University and her current role at Nottingham Trent University as Head of Department for Visual Communication. She has held several external examiner roles and has been invited to be an external panel member for periodic curriculum reviews within Art & Design at the University of the West of England, Bedfordshire University, Central St Martins and Kingston University, as well as international accreditations for the NCAAAA in Jeddah and most recently Dammam and welcome the opportunity to share practices.

Glenn Loughran Programme Co-ordinator BAVA / MAAE. Head of Artistic Research (GradCAM), Joint Research Co-ordinator (DSCA) School of Creative Arts, Technological University Dublin

Glenn Loughran is an artist and educator living and working in Dublin, Ireland. As an artist he has developed long term artistic research practices which explore arts education, the future of work, Island studies and environmental art in the Anthropocene. He has exhibited and presented on artistic research nationally and internationally at the Hugh Lane Gallery (Ireland, 2018), Media Lab (Barcelona, 2018) and the Research Pavilion (Venice, 2018). As an educator he is the programme co-ordinator of the BA in Visual Art (BAVA) on Sherkin Island, programme co-ordinator of the newly established MA Art and Environment (MAAE), Head of Artistic Research at the Graduate School of Creative Arts and Media (GradCAM) and joint research coordinator for the Dublin School of Creative Arts at TU Dublin (DSCA).

Dumitru D. Penteliuc‐Cotosman Associate Professor, Member of the Faculty's Council, President of the Faculty's Academic International Cooperation Commission Faculty of Arts and Design, West University of Timisoara, Romania

Dumitru’s personal and professional development over the last five years, both as a designer and a teacher, has been largely determined by his research in the field of web design which took shape in his PhD thesis The website as an art object. Creation, reception, communication (Contributions to a New Media Art Aesthetics ), subsequently published. This research has led him to the idea of an integrative approach to design, which combines multimedia elements in a global cultural product exploiting the potential of new technologies, but subject to aesthetic imperatives, which can be analyzed according to a specific grid. His goal is to create bridges between art and design, to find ways to apply the principles of generative art in design, to promote through his work and his teaching new ways to create art using code.

Pratap Rughani Professor of Documentary Film, UK National Teaching Fellow, Head of Research London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, United Kingdom

For the last three years as Head of Research at the London College of Communication (LCC), University of the Arts, London, Pratap leads arts teaching and research innovation, integrating practice-based teaching and research to develop creative arts pedagogy. As a Professor on the teaching pathway he grounds this approach in his experience of directing films for the UK’s Channel 4; BBC TV and international broadcasting and cinema/festival exhibition, e.g. London’s Short Film Festival & International Human Rights Film Festival. He is a trustee of development and environmental charities the Karuna Trust and Pragya since 1996. This gives him valuable experience in organisational strategic development and community service that resonates at his College with a strong commitment to our communities and social justice, locally and internationally.

Ana Telles Dean of the School of the Arts School of the Arts, University of Évora, Portugal

Embracing Higher Arts Education in a threefold perspective (2015-2020)

The past five years have been the most challenging of her entire life. This period was shaped by her dedication to the leadership of the School of the Arts of the University of Évora, first as President of its Board of Representatives (2015-2017), and from then on as Dean of the School. In her mind, leadership in Higher Arts Education should whenever possible be exercised alongside the enduring pursuit of one’s artistic practice, pedagogic responsibilities, and research. Notwithstanding the heightened workload that leadership positions entail, she thus continued an active artistic career as a pianist, developed significant research endeavours, and maintained her teaching functions. Doing so sharpened her focus and working capacity, widened her emotional and intellectual horizons, and taught her that no challenge is too big if one is sincerely committed to a cause.

Kamini Vellodi Senior Lecturer / REF Coordinator, Unit 32 Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Kamini Vellodi is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, Theory and History of Art at Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh, with broad-ranging experience as an educator and researcher across Fine Art, Visual Culture, Art History, Critical Theory and Philosophy. She received Undergraduate and Postgraduate degrees in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art London, and the Royal College of Art, London, and a PhD in Philosophy from the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, Kingston University. She is the author of 23 refereed publications in top-ranked journals/presses including Art History, Parrhesia, Deleuze Studies and Word & Image. She has taught across numerous UK HEI including University of Exeter, Goldsmiths, Central Saint Martins, Kingston University and has held external examiner positions both nationally and internationally.