Dr Karen Shepherdson

Biography

Dr Karen Shepherdson is Reader and Programme Director for Photography at London College of Communication.

Karen is a recognised academic researcher and practitioner within the field of photography. Since 2016 she has been a member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council Peer Review College and in 2017 was appointed co-editor of the Journal for Photography and Culture (with special responsibility for Europe and the UK). She considers her roles as curator, writer, practising artist and academic researcher emphatically supporting of each other, with research underpinning practice and practice illuminating research and teaching.

Karen was founder director of SEAS Photography (an archive which provides new insights into commercial seaside photographic practice from 1850 onwards) and Co-Founder for The Centre for Research on Communities and Cultures. She has forged strong links with international practitioners and national institutions and has curated several exhibitions which have attracted national press attention, including the 2019 Seaside Photographed (co-curated with Val Williams) which is on national tour throughout 2020. Karen has recently co-authored - again with Val Williams - the 2019 monograph, Seaside Photographed (published by Thames and Hudson) and co-edited the four-volume major Routledge collection on Film Theory.

Prior to joining UAL Karen was Co-Director of the Centre for Research on Communities and Cultures and also Director of Postgraduate Studies at Canterbury Christ Church University’s School of Creative Arts and Industries. Karen has supervised and examined PhD and Masters by Research students and has designed learning materials specifically for practice-based postgraduate researchers. She has a continued interest in theory-practice interchange.