We are delighted to announce the appointment of Rachel Dickson as Dean of Academic Programmes at Central Saint Martins.
Rachel will replace Anne Smith as Dean of Academic Programmes for the Fashion; Jewellery and Textiles; Product, Ceramic and Industrial Design and Spatial Practices programmes. Rachel joins us from Ulster University where she has been Associate Head at Belfast School of Art since 2014.
Rachel graduated from the Royal College of Art with an MA in Ceramics and Glass. As a maker, her focus is both personal and political; she is interested in the role of women, memory, the narrative of objects, and the space between art and craft. She has exhibited throughout the UK, Ireland and internationally. Recent works include a commission for the Northern Ireland Assembly, which was launched on International Women’s Day 2018 and examines the lack of female representation in Members of the Assembly (MLA), and At The Table, a thirty piece ceramic dinner service which visually explores the data surrounding the lack of female MLAs.
Rachel is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Director of the Board of Craft NI; a member of Irish Ceramics in Education and of the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland. Since 2015, she has been involved in the co-funded Creative Europe project Ceramics and Its Dimensions and is currently a judge of the international Future Lights ceramics competition. In 2016, she was a member of the review panel for the QAA Subject Benchmark Statement for Art and Design and has contributed to numerous conferences and publications on aspects of Art and Design.
Speaking on Rachel’s new role at Central Saint Martins, Head of College Professor Jeremy Till said:
We are delighted to appoint Rachel as Dean of Academic Programmes. She performed brilliantly throughout the selection process and impressed everyone with her direct intelligence, empathy, and creative acumen. She has all the qualities to work with what is a world-leading set of programmes. At the same time, I would like to celebrate the enormous contribution that Anne Smith has made to Central Saint Martins and University of the Arts London, after twenty-seven invaluable years at the University.”