Stephanie Black

Dr. Stephanie Black is a Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader of the BA Illustration course at the University of the West of England's College of Arts, Technology and Environment. Her academic career focuses on positioning illustration as a critical and epistemological practice through practice-led research methodologies.

• PhD in Illustration (UWE Bristol, AHRC Doctoral Award)
• Postgraduate Certificate of Academic Practice (Plymouth University)
• MA by Project (Design) (UWE Bristol)
• BA Hons Visual Communication: Illustration (Glasgow School of Art)

Her research explores illustration as a tool for knowledge production, with a particular emphasis on reflective nostalgia, critical illustration practice, and the political affordances of visual media. Through projects like Colouring In and Illuminating the Non-Representable, she examines how illustration addresses global issues and abstract concepts. She was co-convenor of the cross-disciplinary drawing research initiative HATCH.

Dr. Black's practice-led work integrates drawing, collage, moving image, and artist's books, often blending analogue and digital techniques. Her projects, including Plume of Feathers and music video collaborations, investigate the performative and immersive potential of illustration across diverse contexts.

• Scientific Awards
  • AHRC Doctoral Award
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Her research has been disseminated through peer-reviewed journals, international conferences, exhibitions, and interdisciplinary collaborations. She maintains affiliations with global research initiatives and contributes to evolving discourses on illustration as a research practice.