Professor Paul Ward

Postgraduate Course Leader MA Animation Production and Post‑Graduate Subject Leader (Moving Image)BA, PGCE, MA, PhD

Overview

I have a background in Film and Media Studies, branching into my specialist interest in Animation in the mid-1990s. I have worked at the AUB since 2006, currently as Professor of Animation Studies. I served as President of the Society for Animation Studies (for five years, from 2010-2014); a member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council Peer Review College (2009-2016); was the inaugural Festival Fellow of the Holland Animation Film Festival (2012); and a Visiting Professor in the School of Design, Politecnico di Milano, Italy (2013).

Qualifications

PhD (Animation Studies/Education) (University of London)
MA Media Studies (University of London)
BA (Hons) Film Studies (Polytechnic of North London)

Teaching Qualification

Postgraduate Certificate in Education (University of London)
Centre for Learning and Teaching in Art and Design – Research Degree Supervision (University of the Arts, London)

Teaching

I currently teach on the MA Animation Production course, as well as supervising PhD students.
I previously taught on the BA (Hons) Animation Production course at AUB.
Prior to this, I taught Film Studies and Media Studies at the University of North London, University of London Institute of Education, and Brunel University

Courses

Research

Research Interests and Projects

My main research aim is to explore the interface between animation production cultures and a broad range of other cultural practices (including videogames, documentary/non-fiction filmmaking, computer-generated imagery, art and design); to investigate the convergence/dialectic between ‘animated’ and ‘live action’ media; to examine the history and theory of documentary practices, old and new.

My published work includes articles for the journals ‘animation: an interdisciplinary journal’, ‘Animation Journal’, and the ‘Historical Journal for Film, Radio and Television’, as well as numerous anthology essays. I am the Series Co-Editor (with Dr Caroline Ruddell, Brunel University) for Palgrave Animation, a major series of books dealing with animation theory and history.

Research Supervision

I am interested in supervising PhD students in any area of animation, including:

Animated documentary forms
Animation production cultures
Historical studies of animation/animators
Animation and pedagogy

I am also interested in supervising practice-based students in these fields or those who want to explore the changing role of technologies, communities of practice or theory-practice relationships.

My training as a Film and Media historian means I am also interested in proposals relating to film and media historiography more generally.

Supervision of PhD students

Completions

Second (external) Supervisor for Fatemeh Hosseini-Shakib (Aardman Animation and realism), UCA, Farnham – awarded Spring 2009
First (external) Supervisor for Wynn Gerald Hamonic (Paul Terry’s animation studio business practices), Brunel University – awarded Summer 2011
Director of Studies (DoS) for Joe Sheehan (phenomenology and stop motion animation), AUB – awarded Spring 2016
DoS for Fran Norton (drawing), AUB – awarded Autumn 2018
Second Supervisor for Kate Hall (research in Museum of Design in Plastics), AUB – awarded Autumn 2019
DoS for Carla Mackinnon (production cultures of animated documentary in the UK), AUB – awarded Spring 2022
DoS for Marc Bosward (nonfictional collage), AUB – projected completion date, Summer 2022
DoS for Ben Oakley (iterative/’entropic’ processes for understanding animation production pipelines), AUB – projected completion date, Winter 2023
DoS for Laura Blake (critical pedagogy and performance), AUB - projected completion date, 2027
DoS for Stuart Messinger (animation and performance), AUB - projected completion date, 2028

Postgraduate Research Student examining:

MPhil internal examiner (2005) for Sarah Lo, Brunel University (Hong Kong cinema)
MPhil external examiner (Summer 2010) for Wang Zhe, City University of Hong Kong (digital puppetry)
PhD external examiner (August 2012) for Van Norris, Portsmouth University (British television comedy animation)
PhD external examiner (January 2013) for Eirini Konstantinidou, Brunel University (practice-based film project on false memories)
PhD external examiner (February 2013) for Inge Ejbye Sørensen, University of Copenhagen (documentary in a multiplatform context)
PhD external examiner (March 2013) for Malcolm Cook, Birkbeck College, University of London (animation and British music hall, 1880-1928)
PhD external examiner (February 2014) for Britta Pollmuller, Insitute of Education, University of London (animation, education, machinima)
PhD external examiner (December 2014) for Nea Ehrlich, University of Edinburgh (animation and documentary)
PhD external examiner (Summer 2014) for Sam Moore, Loughborough University (animation, documentary and brain states)
PhD external examiner (Autumn 2016) for Andrew Buchanan, RMIT University, Melbourne (metamorphosis in CG animation)
PhD external examiner (November 2018) for Henry Melki, Ulster University (VFX and creation of believable characters)
PhD external examiner (March 2019) for Tran Ngoc Viet Tu, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (animation adaptation, digital books)
PhD external examiner (August 2020) for Seymour Lavine, Loughborough University