News and Events
1 September 2025
MA and PhD Applications 2026 - Now Open
Applications for 2026 entry to the MA and PhD programmes at the Sainsbury Research Unit are now open.
To find out more, please visit MA or PhD, or contact sru.enquiries@uea.ac.uk
To apply for the MA, please follow the link Apply for a Postgraduate Taught Master's Course
To apply for the PhD, please follow the link Apply for a Postgraduate Research Programme
22 July 2025
Professor George Lau elected Fellow of the British Academy
George Lau, Professor of Art and Archaeology of the Americas at the Sainsbury Research Unit (SRU), University of East Anglia, has been elected Fellow of the British Academy – one of the highest honours in the humanities and social sciences.
Prof Lau is internationally recognised for his research into the ancient cultures of the high Andes, with a particular focus on the arts, social complexity, and indigenous institutions and belief systems. His archaeological fieldwork and community outreach in Peru’s north highlands have shed new light on a mountainous region where many distinctive Andean cultural developments flourished long before the rise of the Inca Empire.
In addition to his fieldwork, Prof Lau is a leading voice in the academic study of global art histories. He co-founded the journal World Art in 2011 and has served as its Editor since 2017, helping to shape critical conversations in the field.
Reflecting on his election to the British Academy, Prof Lau said:
“It’s hard not to be elated by the Academy’s recognition, and it means a lot to me, since it attests to peer appreciation of past work, accomplished individually and collaboratively here at SRU, UEA and beyond that continues to resonate – I am delighted.”
Prof Lau joins a distinguished cohort of 92 new Fellows elected in 2025, recognised for their outstanding contributions to the humanities and social sciences.
A total of 58 new Fellows have been elected from 25 universities across the United Kingdom, alongside 30 International Fellows from universities in the United States, Ireland, South Africa, Singapore, China, Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, and Cyprus. Four Honorary Fellows have also been elected in recognition of their exceptional achievements in music, art, journalism and librarianship.
Prof Susan J Smith PBA, new President of the British Academy, said: “One of my first acts as the incoming President of the British Academy is to welcome this year’s newly elected Fellows. What a line-up!
“With specialisms ranging from the neuroscience of memory to the power of music and the structural causes of poverty, they represent the very best of the humanities and social sciences. They bring years of experience, evidence-based arguments and innovative thinking to the profound challenges of our age: managing the economy, enabling democracy, and securing the quality of human life.
“This year, we have increased the number of new Fellows by nearly ten percent to cover some spaces between disciplines. Champions of research excellence, every new Fellow enlarges our capacity to interpret the past, understand the present, and shape resilient, sustainable futures. It is a privilege to extend my warmest congratulations to them all.”
15 July 2025
New Faculty Appointments
The Sainsbury Research Unit is pleased to announce the appointment of two new members of faculty who will be joining us in early September. We will be extending a warm welcome to Dr Laura De Becker as Lecturer in the Arts of Africa and Dr Jacopo Baron as Lecturer in the Arts of Oceania.
Dr de Becker will be taking up an Africa post after the departure of Professor Anne Haour to a Professorship in African Archaeology at the University of Cologne in Germany. Laura is an alumna of the SRU, having done both her MA (2007-08) and PhD (2008-12) with us, the latter, Remembering Rwanda: the commemoration of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda’s National Museums and Memorials, under the primary supervision of Professor John Mack. She has since worked as a Mellon Curatorial Fellow at the Wits Art Museum, at the University of Witswatersrand in South Africa (2013-15), and then as Curator for African Art (2015-) and Chief Curator (2020-) at the University of Michigan Museum of Art at Anne Arbour – one of the biggest university museums in the USA. She is currently working with the National Museum of Ghana on an exhibition and research project, Ghana 1957: African Art after Independence, which will continue from her new SRU base.
Dr Baron will be taking up a new post generously funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. He completed his PhD at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris (2016-20), with a thesis entitled Gardens of the Mind: a study on Vanuatu sand-drawing. He recently held a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship (2021-23) at the Cambridge University Department of Social Anthropology, sponsored by the Fyssen Foundation; in Spring 2025 he was a Visiting Research Fellow at the SRU. He is currently the Spokesman in Europe for the Vanuatu Cultural Centre and is finalising a monograph on his Vanuatu research. Among his responsibilities at the SRU will be helping develop a distance learning programme, especially for those unable to travel to the UK for a full year’s MA course or fellowship.
14 July 2025
Masters Students’ 2025 Exhibition
Piecing the Past: Nasca Pottery, Symbol, and Survival in Ancient Peru
This years Masters Students exhibition, explores the rich visual culture and ceremonial life of the Nasca people through their intricately decorated ceramics. The exhibition delves into the iconographic language of Nasca pottery, highlighting recurring motifs such as mythical beings, animals, and plants that reflect complex cosmological beliefs, social identity, and ritual practice. Many vessels served not only as containers but as symbolic objects used in religious ceremonies and funerary rites, often buried with the dead. Their forms and painted imagery reveal a society deeply engaged with the spiritual world and the cycles of life and death.
A distinctive feature of the exhibition is its focus on the fragmentation and conservation of Nasca ceramics. Ancient vessels often bear drill holes, evidence of intentional reassembly using natural materials—possibly for ritual purposes or as part of funerary traditions. These ancient repair practices offer insight into how the Nasca valued and maintained the ritual power of objects. In parallel, modern conservation efforts are showcased, demonstrating how archaeologists and conservators work today to piece together these fragile remnants while preserving their cultural integrity. Together, these themes illuminate how Nasca pottery served as both sacred art and enduring symbol of survival.
SRU 2025 MA Students, from left to right: Shahba Rasheed, Tomi Olukosi, Hamsha Hussain, Séverine Toyon, Hope Noakes, Ifunanya Madufor, Umar Musa
Photo credits: Clementine Debrosse
23 June 2025
On 18 June 2025, the Sainsbury Research Unit hosted the Pacific Arts Association Europe Conference, for three days of collaborative engagement and knowledge sharing via insightful panel discussions and inspiring research presentations.
A heartfelt thank you to all our speakers, guests, the volunteers and organizers who made this event a success.
One of the most unforgettable moments was the rich conversation and exchange of ideas between Professor Steven Hooper (first from left), and artists Jimmy Ma'ia'i (centre) and George Nuku (first from right). It was an absolute privilege to witness such an inspiring event.
June 2025
We are delighted to announce that two former MA students at the Sainsbury Research Unit, Cristina Fernandes and Liam Deary, have been awarded CHASE Studentships
The CHASE (Consortium for the Humanities and the Arts South-East England) Studentship is a highly prestigious award that supports outstanding doctoral researchers. It provides full or part-time funding to cover tuition fees and living expenses, along with generous support for research costs, training, and professional development opportunities.
This recognition marks a significant achievement and reflects the exceptional promise and academic excellence of our graduates. Their doctoral research will contribute original knowledge to their fields, supported by CHASE’s vibrant cross-institutional and cross-disciplinary research networks.
Please join us in congratulating Cristina Fernandes and Liam Deary on this exciting next step in their academic journeys. We look forward to seeing the impact of their research in the years to come.
June 2025
Professor Anne Haour, Chief Onigegeara of the Apa Kingdom, Nigeria
In the Apa Kingdom of Nigeria, Professor Anne Haour, has been honoured with the distinguished title of Chief Onigegeara, meaning 'A Wonderful Writer,' for her exceptional contributions to African archaeology and history. The recognition comes from His Royal Majesty Oba Dr. Oyekan Adekanmi Possi III, the First Class King of the Apa Kingdom (Alapa of Apa) and Chairman of All Titleholders in Badagry, Nigeria. With deep appreciation, His Majesty acknowledges Professor Haour’s outstanding work and lasting impact in uncovering and preserving the rich cultural heritage of the region.
March 2025
An Ocean of Connection: Oceanic art, artists and museums
Wednesday 18 June – Friday 20 June 2025
Since the 1980s, Oceanic scholars such as Wendt 1982, Hau‘ofa 1994, and Teaiwa 2014, have responded to the tendency resulting from colonialism and developmentalism, for Oceania to be divided into clearly delineated and distinct areas, by reminding Islanders and non-Islanders alike that the Pacific Ocean is a linking pathway rather than a separating boundary. They emphasised the connection to the ocean for many people living in the region; a place defined by the seascape as much as the landscape. This discourse continues to resonate and inspire scholars, curators, artists and practitioners in the region and beyond.
The main conference theme is related to the Sainsbury Centre’s exhibition season Can the Seas Survive Us? The exhibition includes Oceanic contemporary art and community responses to the issues that the Pacific region faces, particularly in Yuki Kihara’s Paradise Camp. The conference will explore the Pacific Ocean as a relational entity, as a powerful metaphor for connection, as a pathway that is reclaimed by Oceanic people today by celebrating the impressive navigational skills of their ancestors when settling the islands, as well as a pathway used by collectors who shipped artefacts to museums
For enquiries please contact the Pacific Arts Association Europe at the Sainsbury Research Unit
To register and to purchase tickets please visit PAA Europe 2025 : An Ocean of Connection: Oceanic art, artists and museums | University of East Anglia Online Store
Accommodation
UEA campus: Broadview Lodge.
Norwich City Centre: Travelodge and Premier Inn hotels; the Georgian Townhouse; apartments at No 82 or Golden Triangle Townhouse.
February 2025
Visual Pasts, Material Presents, Archival Futures: Postcolonial Temporalities in the Making - Graduate Conference 2025
This conference aims to bring together current research on visual, material and archival collections and explore the ways in which their materiality is shaped by time and place. Held in museums and archives, objects, natural specimens, human remains, photographs, films, sounds, drawings, documents and more embody the disruption created by missionaries, militaries, colonial officers, scientists, explorers or humble travellers in territories which endured colonisation. Through the act of collecting, classifying, storing and exhibiting, museums, anthropology and imperial politics shaped an ethnographic present in order to dominate colonised peoples, whose own temporalities had no space to exist.
Read more →
13 March 2025
Everything is Everything
Ronnie Archer-Morgan Seminar at the SRU
On Thursday 13 March 2025, Ronnie Archer-Morgan, collector, antique dealer, renowned expert on ethnic, tribal and folk art, and BBC Antiques Roadshow specialist, delivered a seminar that was nothing short of mesmerizing. His passion for the subject was evident as he captivated the audience with his vast knowledge, presenting objects as if they were alive, rich with history and untold stories. He painted vivid pictures of both ancient artifacts and modern creations, highlighting their role as expressions of human ingenuity and revealing the profound connections between the things we create and the way they shape our lives.
An unforgettable experience, which left the audience with a renewed reverence for the simple, everyday objects that hold so much profound meaning.
March 2025
MA and PhD applications
Applications for 2025/26 MAs and PhDs at the Sainsbury Research Unit are now closed.
To register your interest for 2026/27 entry, please contact sru.enquiries@uea.ac.uk for further information.