Research Degrees Leader, Reader in Architectural & Design History

  • Academic, Doctoral College
  • Research
Dr Jessica  Kelly

Dr Jessica Kelly is Research Degrees Leader at UCA and a Reader in Architectural & Design History.

Dr Jessica  Kelly

Bio

Jessica Kelly is a historian of design and architecture. She studied for her BA in History at Sheffield University, MA in Design History at the Royal College of Art and the V&A Museum and for her PhD at Middlesex University. Before joining UCA in 2013 she taught design history and theory in fashion, visual communication, design and architecture at the University of Hertfordshire, London Metropolitan University and London South Bank University.

Jessica’s research sits at the intersections of architectural and design history and has been published internationally in peer reviewed journals, book chapters, edited volumes and a monograph. She is a managing editor of Architecture and Culture Journal and hosts The Architectural History Podcast with the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain.

Research statement

Jessica’s research is in the expanded field of architecture beyond buildings, her work interrogates mediation, criticism and public audiences. Her forthcoming monograph titled No More Giants: J.M. Richards, modernism and The Architectural Review, is a study of architectural criticism and media in modern architecture. This will be published by Manchester University Press in 2022.

Jessica is interested in interdisciplinary research which broadens perspectives, narratives, voices and audiences in design and architectural history.

Research supervision

Completed Research Students:

  • Ania Djermouli, Architecture and culture in post-independence Algeria: the case of urban dwellings. Completed 2019

Current Research Students:

  • Guy Marshall Brown, Can Contemporary Ruins be Fabricated?
  • Laura Lee, Post-Rock Composition and Performance Practice Authenticity, Liveness, Creativity & Technology.
  • Amy Etherington, Establishing a politics of graphic design produced by artificial intelligence to achieve a post-work world.
  • Charles Lambert, Pandemics and Prose. An examination of the facts and fiction in news and media coverage of the COVID 19 pandemic between 2019-2021.

Professional Membership, Affiliation and Consultancy

  • Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain
    Podcast Officer, Digital Content and Communications Committee

  • Higher Education Academy
    Fellow
    Accredited Supervisor

 

  • External Examiner, KLC School of Design, Interior Design BA Dissertation Unit, 2019-2022

  • Design History Society Publication Grant, January 2021
  • Paul Mellon Education Event Grant, January 2020
  • Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, Publication Grant, May 2015
  • Paul Getty Research Institute Library Research Grant, April 2011