Nicola Foster

Nicola Foster serves as a Senior Research Fellow in Visual Arts at Solent University's Department of Art and Music, where she has worked since August 2017 developing the PhD programme in Visual Arts with emphasis on practice-based research.

Her research spans multiple critical areas of contemporary visual culture:

• How visual art practices question perceptions of cultural, social, political, and natural worlds
• The role of visual works, curatorial practices, and art institutions in constructing value within contexts of gender, race, and cultural identity
• Impact of digital/virtual technologies on art practices and institutional frameworks
• Socially constructed emotions in art production and value systems

Foster supervises PhD students on diverse topics including contemporary art interventions in Natural History Museums, East Asian art perceptions, visualizing illness, digital culture, and postcolonial narratives.

Her academic service includes:

• Member of AHRC College Peer Review (2007-2017)
• Trustee of Association for Art History (2011-2017)
• Editorial Board member of Women's Philosophy Review (1998-2004)
• Editorial Board member of European Journal of Artistic Research (2011-2016)

Her academic background combines art practice (Goldsmiths College), Continental philosophy and art history (Essex University). She has taught at University of the Arts London, Cardiff University, Arts University Bournemouth, Arts University Norwich, The Open University, and University of Suffolk.