Sarah Thomas

Sarah Thomas is a Senior Lecturer at Birkbeck's School of Historical Studies and Director of the Centre for Museum Cultures. She holds a PhD from the University of Sydney (2013) and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2018). Her academic career includes extensive lecturing in the UK and Australia, with previous positions at Kingston University and UCL.

Dr. Thomas specializes in the intersections of art, slavery, and colonial history, with research spanning:

• Visual cultures of slavery and abolition
• Museological representations of empire
• Decolonization of cultural institutions
• Caribbean and Australian colonial art

Her publications focus on re-examining colonial narratives through art historical lenses, with recurring themes of power dynamics in representation, provenance research of slave-connected artworks, and decolonial curation practices. The research demonstrates consistent engagement with under-represented historical perspectives.

Honors include:

• Centenary Medal for Services to Australian Art and Society (Australian Government)
• Paul Mellon Centre Senior Fellowship
• Leverhulme Research Fellowship

She supervises doctoral researchers on topics including colonial visual culture and National Gallery histories. As inaugural director of Birkbeck's Centre for Museum Cultures, she leads interdisciplinary initiatives examining museums as sites of cultural negotiation.