The King's College London Faculty of Arts & Humanities is one of the nine academic Faculties of Study of

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. It is situated on the Strand in the heart of central

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, in the vicinity of many renowned cultural institutions with which the Faculty has close links including the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, Shakespeare's Globe, the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...

and the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

. , the

Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

comparison of world-class universities ranked it amongst the top twenty arts and humanities faculties in the world. The Faculty of Arts & Humanities offers study at undergraduate and graduate level in a wide range of subject areas. Many of the departments and programmes offer joint undergraduate degrees, including some with the Departments of Geography and

War Studies War studies, sometimes called polemology, is the multi-disciplinary study of war. It pertains to the military, diplomatic, philosophical, social, political, psychological or economic dimensions of human conflict. The word ''polemology'' derives ...

, in the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy and with Mathematics in the Faculty of Natural & Mathematical Sciences. As a member of the

Russell Group The Russell Group is a self-selected association of twenty-four public university, public research university, research universities in the United Kingdom. The group is headquartered in Cambridge and was established in 1994 to represent its memb ...

and the

Golden triangle Golden Triangle may refer to: Places Asia * Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia), named for its opium production * Golden Triangle (Yangtze), China, named for its rapid economic development * Golden Triangle (India), comprising the popular tourist ...

, the Faculty receives a high number of applications. A highlight of the academic calendar is the Faculty's Arts & Humanities Festival when, as one of Britain's pre-eminent centres of research in the Arts and Humanities, the Faculty opens its doors for a fortnight of debate and exploration about a topic and its reverberation in a range of cultural forms, from fiction and theatre to art. The Festival includes a series of lectures by King's academics, exhibitions, round-table discussions and workshops. The Faculty is a member of The Council of University Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (DASSH UK), and of London Citizens. The current Executive Dean of Faculty is Professor Marion Thain, who took over from Professor Russell Goulbourne in December 2018.

History

Departments like English and German are among England's oldest and were founded in the 19th century. King's College London's Faculty of Arts merged with the Faculties of Music and Theology as the School of Humanities in the late 1980s and took on the name of the School of Arts & Humanities in 2009. The original Arts departments such as War Studies and Geography formed part of the School of Social Science & Public Policy in 2001, while the Arts & Humanities expanded from its 'classical' humanities roots. Over the past few years, the School has established interdisciplinary programmes such as Comparative Literature and a new BA in Liberal Arts launched in 2012. It has led new developments in teaching and research, for instance through the Department of Digital Humanities, Department of Culture, Media & Creative Industries, and the Modern Language Centre. The School of Arts & Humanities became the Faculty of Arts & Humanities in 2014.

Departments

The following departments and centres can be found in the Faculty of Arts & Humanities: *

Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

* Culture, Media & Creative Industries * Digital Humanities * English * Film Studies * History * Languages, Literatures and Cultures * Liberal Arts * King's Digital Lab * Music *

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

* Theology & Religious Studies Auto-icon of Virginia Woolf at King's College London

Research Centres include: * Centre for Hellenic Studies (incorporating Byzantine & Modern Greek Studies) * Camões Centre for Portuguese Language & Culture * Centre for Enlightenment Studies @ King's * Centre for Hellenic Studies * Centre for the Humanities & Health * Centre for Late Antique & Medieval Studies * Centre for Language Acts and World Making * Centre for Life Writing * Centre for Modern Literature and Culture * Centre for Philosophy and Visual Culture * Shakespeare Centre London * Queer@King’s * Centre for Language, Discourse and Communication (with the Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy)

Notable people

Current academic staff

Roderick Beaton Roderick Macleod Beaton, FBA, FKC (born 1951) is a retired academic. He was Koraes Professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature at King's College London from 1988 to 2018. Education Born in 1951, Beaton was educa ...

, Koraes Professor of Modern Greek & Byzantine History, Language & Literature * George Benjamin, Henry Purcell Professor of Composition * Francisco Bethencourt, Charles Boxer Professor * Catherine Boyle, Professor of Latin American Cultural Studies * David Carpenter, Professor of Medieval History * Richard Drayton, Rhodes Professor of Imperial History *

Richard Dyer Richard Dyer (born 1945) is an English academic who held a professorship in the Department of Film Studies at King's College London. Specialising in cinema (particularly Italian cinema), queer theory, and the relationship between entertainment ...

, Professor of Film Studies * Simon Gaunt, Professor of French Literature * Paul Gilroy, Professor of American & English Literature *

Edith Hall Edith Hall, (born 1959) is a British scholar of classics, specialising in ancient Greek literature and cultural history, and professor in the Department of Classics and Centre for Hellenic Studies at King's College, London. She is a Fellow o ...

, Professor of Classics * Brian Hurwitz, D'Oyly Carte Professor of Medicine & the Arts *

Paul Joyce Paul Joyce (born 1940, or 1941 or 1944) is a British photographer and filmmaker. His portraits of artists are held in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London and his Welsh landscape photographs are held in the collection of Amgued ...

, Samuel Davidson Professor of Old Testament/Hebrew Bible * Roger Parker, Thurston Dart Professor of Music *

Martin Stokes Martin Stokes is a British ethnomusicologist and King Edward Professor of Music at the King's College London. He has special research interests in ethnomusicology and anthropology, as well as Middle Eastern popular music. Stokes obtained his DPh ...

, King Edward Professor of Music *

Joan E. Taylor Joan E. Taylor is a New Zealand writer and historian of Jesus, the Bible, early Christianity, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Second Temple Judaism, with special expertise in archaeology, and women's and gender studies. Taylor is the Professor of Chri ...

, Professor of Christian Origins and Second Temple Judaism * Patrick Wright, Professor of Literature and Visual & Material Culture

Former academic staff

* Harrison Birtwistle, British contemporary composer * Averil Cameron, Warden of

Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to th ...

, Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine History in the University of Oxford, and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

* A. G. Dickens (1910-2001), historian, former Director of the Institute of Historical Research * John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor * John Elliott, historian * F. J. C. Hearnshaw (1869-1946), historian *

Judith Herrin Judith Herrin (; born 1942) is a British archaeologist, byzantinist, and historian of Late Antiquity. She was a Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine Studies and Constantine Leventis Senior Research Fellow at King's College London (now emeri ...

, Emeritus Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine Studies * Efraim Karsh, Founding Director and Emeritus Professor of Middle East and Mediterranean Studies *

Mario Vargas Llosa Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (born 28 March 1936), more commonly known as Mario Vargas Llosa (, ), is a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and former politician, who also holds Spanish citizenship. Vargas Ll ...

, Peruvian writer, politician, journalist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate *

P. J. Marshall Peter James Marshall (born 1933 in Calcutta) is a British historian known for his work on the British Empire, particularly the activities of British East India Company servants in 18th-century Bengal, and also the history of British involvemen ...

, Emeritus Rhodes Professor of Imperial History, President of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...

from 1997-2001 *

Janet Nelson Dame Janet Laughland Nelson (born 1942), also known as Jinty Nelson, is a British historian. She is Emerita Professor of Medieval History at King's College London. Early life Born on 28 March 1942 in Blackpool, Nelson was educated at Keswick S ...

, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History, President of the Royal Historical Society from 2001 to 2005 *

Richard Overy Richard James Overy (born 23 December 1947) is a British historian who has published on the history of World War II and Nazi Germany. In 2007, as ''The Times'' editor of ''Complete History of the World'', he chose the 50 key dates of world his ...

, historian * Curtis Price, Warden of

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

David Profumo David John Profumo, FRSL (born 20 October 1955), is an English novelist. Profumo was born in London, the son of former British government minister John Profumo, and his wife, actress Valerie Hobson. The Profumo family is of Italian origin. Biogr ...

, an English novelist, 6th Baron Profumo *

Conrad Russell, 5th Earl Russell Conrad Sebastian Robert Russell, 5th Earl Russell, (15 April 1937 – 14 October 2004), was a British historian and politician. His parents were the philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell and his third wife Patricia Russell. He was al ...

(1937-2004), 5th Earl Russell * Richard Sorabji, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy * Susan Stebbing (1885-1943), Lecturer in Philosophy

Deans of Faculty

* Barry Ife (Spanish): August 1989 - July 1997 * Linda Newson (Geography): August 1997 - July 2000 * Michael Knibb (Theology): August 2000 - July 2001 * David Ricks (CHS/CompLit): August 2001 - July 2004 * Ann Thompson (English): August 2004 - December 2007 * Jan Palmowski (German): January 2008 - December 2012 * Simon Gaunt (French): January 2013 - December 2013 * Russell Goulbourne (French): January 2014 - August 2018 * Jo Malt (French): September 2018 - December 2018 (Interim) * Marion Thain (English): December 2018 -

Notable alumni

File:Archbishop george carey1.jpg, Lord Carey File:Alain de Botton.jpg,

Alain de Botton Alain de Botton (; born 20 December 1969) is a Swiss-born British author and philosopher. His books discuss various contemporary subjects and themes, emphasizing philosophy's relevance to everyday life. He published ''Essays in Love'' (1993), w ...

File:Anne Dudley on March 30, 2014.jpg, Anne Dudley File:John Eliot Gardiner at rehearsal in Wroclaw cropped portrait.jpeg, John Eliot Gardiner File:Greer Garson-publicity.JPG, Greer Garson File:Gilbert-GS-Big.JPG, W. S. Gilbert File:Thomas Hardy (1923 portrait).jpg,

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

File:Michael Morpurgo 20090315 Salon du livre 1.jpg,

Michael Morpurgo Sir Michael Andrew Bridge Morpurgo (''né'' Bridge; 5 October 1943) is an English book author, poet, playwright, and librettist who is known best for children's novels such as ''War Horse'' (1982). His work is noted for its "magical storytellin ...

File:Michael Nyman.jpg,

Michael Nyman Michael Laurence Nyman, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, libretto, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film soundtrack, scores (many written during his length ...

File:John Ruskin 1863.jpg,

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...

File:Sirjonathansacks.jpg,

Jonathan Sacks Jonathan Henry Sacks, Baron Sacks ( he, יונתן הנרי זקס, translit=Yona'tan Henry Zaks; 8 March 19487 November 2020) was an English Orthodox rabbi, philosopher, theologian, and author. Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United He ...

File:Davidtang.jpg, David Tang File:Desmond Tutu 2013-10-23 001.jpg,

Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop ...

File:George Charles Beresford - Virginia Woolf in 1902 - Restoration.jpg,

Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...

Summer School

The Faculty also offers well recognised Summer School courses as part of the King's College London Summer School. Courses are intensive and use the Faculty’s links with external cultural institutions and make 'London a classroom’. Courses on offer showcase work done in research centres such as Queer@Kings or the Centre for Humanities & Health.

Publications

Many academic staff at King's are editors and contributors to many standard editions such as the Arden Shakespeare series. The Faculty of Arts & Humanities houses several publication series, from monographs produced in conjunction with other publishing houses such as Ashgate to small in-house series. The current list of series includes * Modern Poetry in Translation (Second Series) * Plain Text Series * Centre for Hellenic Studies Publications * Institute of Advanced Musical Studies: Study Texts * Adam Archive Publications * Centre for Twentieth-Century Studies Publications * King’s College London Medieval Series * King’s College London Hispanic Series * Office for Humanities Communication Series * Mediterranean Studies Monographs

References

External links

King's College London Faculty of Arts & Humanities
homepage
Arts & Humanities Festival
website
King's College London Summer School
homepage
The Council of University Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities
website {{Authority control

Arts and Humanities The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

Educational institutions established in 1829 1829 establishments in England