SRU Oceania People
Heather Donoghue
- Heather DonoghuePhD Candidate
- Emailh.donoghue@uea.ac.uk
- Region of Interest Oceania
- Research Interests Art and anthropology of Melanesia and the Pacific more generally; history of collections; museum ethnography.
- PhD Thesis Material Biographies: Agency, Identity and Meanings in the Collections from the Cooke Daniels Ethnographical Expedition to British New Guinea 1903-4.
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Steven Hooper
- Steven HooperSRU Director, Professor of Visual Arts
- Emails.hooper@uea.ac.uk
- Tel0044 (0)1603 593022
- Academic Background PhD Social Anthropology, Cambridge
- General Research Interests Arts of the Pacific region, Fiji, North America
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Katrina Igglesden
- Katrina IgglesdenPostdoctoral Research Associate
- EmailK.Igglesden@uea.ac.uk
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Karen Jacobs
- Karen JacobsSenior Lecturer in the Arts of the Pacific
- EmailK.Jacobs@uea.ac.uk
- Tel0044 (0)1603 592747
- Academic Background BA (1996); MA Art history (non-western art) (1998), University of Ghent, Belgium; MA ‘Advanced studies in the arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas’ (2000), Sainsbury Research Unit, University of East Anglia; PhD Art and Anthropology (2004), University of East Anglia; Post-doctoral research associate, University of East Anglia (2005-2009)
- General Research Interests Collecting and history of collections, representation and museum ethnography, auctions and the art market, cultural festivals, politics of clothing, contemporary Pacific art
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Gréine Jordan
- Gréine JordanPhD Candidate
- EmailG.Jordan@uea.ac.uk
- Region of Interest Oceania/Africa
- Research Interests Missionaries, Education, children, history of collections, museums, propaganda, The British Empire, colonialism, nationalism, religion, Imagination, Adventure writing, Maritime history
- PhD Thesis Voyagers All? The Historic Role of Missionary Societies in Shaping Children’s Understandings of Britain’s Place in The World
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Amelie Roussillon
- Amelie RoussillonPhD Candidate
- EmailA.Roussillon@uea.ac.uk
- Region of Interest Oceania
- Research Interests Arts and anthropology of Oceania; history of collections; museum ethnography; archives; museum practice
- PhD Thesis From Papua New Guinea to European museums: revaluation of the trajectories of Abelam collections (working title)
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Rachel Smith
- Rachel SmithResearch Student
- Emailr.mcnairsmith@uea.ac.uk
- Region of Interest Oceania
- Research Interests Oceanic art and material culture, especially Papua New Guinea and Australia, and body adornment, museum anthropology, collecting and history of collections, representation and contemporary Pacific art
- PhD Thesis Collecting south-east New Guinea: 'ornaments' and body adornments in UK museums
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Sarah Tamashiro
- Sarah TamashiroResearch Student
- Emails.tamashiro@uea.ac.uk
- Region of Interest Oceania
- Research Interest Museum collections and archives, Hawaiian language archives, maritime trade, ninteenth-century Hawaiʻi, barkcloth (kapa), fashion studies
- PhD Thesis Kapukapu: Self-fashioning and Creativity in Nineteenth-century Hawaiʻi
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Caroline van-Santen
- Caroline van-SantenPhD Candidate
- Emailc.van-santen@uea.ac.uk
- Region of Interest Oceania
- Research Interests Polynesian history and cultures, contact history, ethnohistory, material culture studies, museum ethnography, object histories, present-day artisans and artists
- PhD Thesis Dutch visitors on Nuku Hiva, 1825: a contact history and material culture study
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Selected Oceanic objects in the Sainsbury Centre

Ceremonial shield. Melanesia, Solomon Islands, central region. Early/mid 19th century. h. 87.5 cm. UEA 632
Male figure ('Fishermen's god'). Polynesia, Cook Islands, Rarotonga. Late 18th/early 19th century.h. 40.7 cm. UEA 189
SRU Oceania News & Events
Funding Deadlines
Summary of deadlines for 2021 scholarships
Robert Sainsbury Scholarship
The Robert Sainsbury Scholarship is available for students commencing PhD study at the SRU in 2021.
PhD expressions of interest deadline
Students wishing to apply for CHASE funding need to submit expressions of interest to potential supervisors by Tuesday 1st December.
Autumn Visiting Fellow
Dr Olivia Barnett-Naghshineh joins the SRU as the Autumn visiting fellow.
New British Academy funded Fijian project
(Re)Defining Culture: Engaging urban Fijian youth
Conferences and Projects
Urban Pathways Fiji
[(Re)Defining Culture: Engaging urban Fijian youth in sustainable employment opportunities in the cultural heritage sector]
In 2020, Dr Karen Jacobs was awarded a research grant designed with...
Fijian Art Research Project
Researching collections of Fijian art in museums in the UK and abroad
Fabricating Fashion?
Three related workshops organised by the Fijian Art Research Project which brought together Pacific textile and fibre artists with curators, conservators, academics and enthusiasts.
Exhibiting Concepts, Experiencing Meanings
Current and future curatorial challenges
Convenors: Aristoteles Barcelos Neto and Steven Hooper
This international symposium celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Sainsbury Research...
Appropriating the Exotic
This symposium provided the first comprehensive, cross-disciplinary study of the appropriation of the exotic in art and material culture as a cultural and material practice.