We are delighted to invite you to the Courtauld Institute51²è¹Ý¶ù annual Postgraduate Symposium 2025/2026. Researchers in the final stages of their doctoral degrees will deliver papers emerging out of their research projects. In past years, the event has been a moment for faculty, students and the public to celebrate innovative research.
Organised by Alison Braybrooks and Smaranda Ciubotaru, PhD students at the Courtauld.Ìý
Schedule
Programme Day One
16.00â16.30 Registration opens
16.30â16.40 Opening remarks and introduction
Alison Braybrooks, Smaranda Ciubotaru, PhD students and symposium organisers
16.40â18.20 Panel 1 â Text, Material Dialogue and Ritual
âTransience and Permanence: The Effigy of Wolfhard of Roth (d. 1302) and the Material Paradox of Death in Metalâ
Isabella Maoz (Schwarzer)
ââWith such colour and embroidery as shall be agreed upon by the entire fellowshipâ: The Parureboek and Ceremonial Dress in Brugesâ Confraternity of the Holy Bloodâ
Leylim Erenel
ââin order that their fervent devotion may be kindled and God in his creation glorified more oftenâ: The Chantry Chapel of Henry V in Westminster Abbeyâ
Sophia Dumoulin
âKeeping it Short (Breviculum): A Pre-History of Comic Stripsâ
Ricardo Mandelbaum Balla
18.20â19.30 Drinks Reception
Open to all
Programme Day Two
9.00â9.30 Registration opens
9.30â9.40 Opening remarks and introduction
Alison Braybrooks, Smaranda Ciubotaru, PhD students and symposium organisers
9.40â11.20 Panel 2 â Under the Lens
âRevisiting Varnish Removal: âGreenerâ Cleaning Methods for Aged Synthetic Varnishes on Acrylic Emulsion Paint Filmsâ
Beatrice Menegaldo
âFrom Materiality to Meaning: An Investigation into the Painting Materials and Techniques of Joan Miró during his Artistic Period in Mallorca (1956-1983)â
Mar Gomez
âInterconnected Identities: Applying Machine Learning Analysis to Small-Scale 16th c. Paintingsâ
Tanya Klowden
âUnseen Disegno: The Use of Cartoons in Renaissance Veniceâ
Emma P. Holter
11.20 â 11.40 Refreshment Break
Tea and coffee provided
11.40 â 13.00 Panel 3 â Architectural Identities
âArchitectural Ambition: Jacopo deâ Pazzi at Santa Croce, Palazzo Pazzi, and the Florentine Badiaâ
Emma Iadanza
âBuilding a âCompositional Kitâ: Records, Copies, and Collaboration in Andrea Palladio51²è¹Ý¶ù Workshopâ
Alexis Nanavaty
âRelease the Angels: The Use of Stucco in Immersive Religious Spaces in Rome around 1600â
Alison Braybrooks
13.00â13.40 Lunch break
Provided for participants and organisers
13.40â15.00 Panel 4 â Subversive Collectives
âFree Unions Locked Up: The Paradox of Resistance and the Special Branch Confiscation of a British Surrealist Journalâ
Christina Childs
ââLe streghe son tornateâ: Anti-Institutional Feminists Reimagining Women in 1970s Italyâ
Veronica Orlandi
âMaud Sulter51²è¹Ý¶ù Early Years: From the Blackwomen51²è¹Ý¶ù Creativity Project to Passion,1982-1990â
Zoe Bromberg-McCarthy
15.00â16.20 Panel 5 â Nations, Peripheries and Localities
âThird Cultures: Late Soviet Samizdat in the Practice of Serge Segay and Rea Nikonovaâ
Rada Georgieva
âA Blackface Knight: The Arthurian Legends, Minstrelsy, and Trans-Atlantic Cultural Exchange, 1860 â 1918â
Zoe Mercer-Golden
âThe Geological Stripe: Ethel Mairet and the Landscape of Sussexâ
Alice Dodds
16.20â16.40 Refreshment Break
Tea and Coffee Provided
16.40â18.00 Panel 6 â Embodied Approaches
âThe Architectonics of Spirit: Galka Scheyer51²è¹Ý¶ù Home-Gallery by Richard Neutra and Gregory Ain, 1934-6â
Rachel Denniston
âResistant Skins: Material Agency in Feminist Paintingâ
Tatjana Schaefer
âPlaying with Matches: Exhibiting Èerbana DrÄgoescu51²è¹Ý¶ù Intermedial Game Across the Iron Curtainâ
Smaranda Ciubotaru
18.00â18.10 Closing Remarks
Klara Kemp-Welch, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History
and Head of Research Degrees Programme, The Courtauld
18.10â19.00 Drinks Reception
Open to all