Head of Curatorial

The Fitzwilliam Museum welcomes around 500,000 visitors a year and houses over half a million works of art and material culture spanning from 10,000BCE to the present day, principally from Europe, North Africa and Asia. This includes sculpture, ceramics and decorative arts, paintings, drawings, prints, illuminated manuscripts, money, literary and musical autographs and the archives of artists and others.

This role will lead, champion and manage the Curatorial Department – which brings together an interdisciplinary team of (currently) 17 permanent and fixed term curators – to support the key priorities identified in the Museum’s Mission and Business Plan. The role will lead a team in curatorial research and collections development, the curation of exhibitions and displays, and contributions to collections documentation, to support the Museum’s Vision and Mission, the Research & Impact Strategy and the Business Plan.

In addition, you will curate and lead significant research on a specific area of the collection, which could include displays, exhibitions, documentation and collections development. The Museum is seeking applications from individuals specialising in one of the following areas, particularly encouraging approaches that consider the present-day and global relevance of these collections, and how communities connect with these objects and artworks :

• Collections from the Islamic World incorporating the diversity of artistic & material production from those regions from the 7th century CE onwards : the collection is particularly strong in ceramics (Iran, Egypt and Turkey), paintings and manuscripts relating to different faith traditions (especially from Iran and northern India), and money; further collections include textiles and armour.
• European paintings and drawings : significant Italian paintings of the 13th to 18th centuries, 18th-early 20th century French and British paintings, and an internationally renowned collection of Italian, French and British drawings and watercolours.
• Mediterranean & Western Asian antiquities : major collections of Classical Greek and Roman sculpture, ceramics, bronzes, terracottas and jewellery, alongside prehistoric, Mycenean, Minoan and Etruscan material. This includes excavated material from Cyprus and Greece. Western Asian collections include ceramics, palace reliefs from Nineveh and sculptures from Yemen.

You will have a substantial track record in managing teams of specialists in a museum or other relevant context, and be recognised internationally for outstanding research that is excellent in terms of its originality, significance and rigour, and that addresses significant questions. You will have made an impactful contribution to exhibitions, displays and programming, and have secured major research grants with academic and / or other partners. You will be committed to developing new perspectives on the collection and challenging assumptions, embracing collaboration, innovation and participatory approaches to research, and ensuring the curatorial team plays an important role in the Museum’s EDI objectives.

This is a University Professorial appointment (established Academic) entitled to apply for research leave after being in post for three years, with entitlement of one academic term in every six, which can be accrued. The role holder, after one year in post, will be eligible for the University’s Academic Career Pathways promotion scheme.

In return we offer an encouraging and supportive environment both within the Museum and the wider University, generous holiday allowance, an attractive pension scheme and many employee benefits.

Once an offer of employment has been accepted, the successful candidate will be required to undergo a basic disclosure (criminal records check) check and a security check.

Please quote reference DA43449 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

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