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The Sainsbury Research Unit is a research department at the
University of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...
The Sainsbury Research Unit (SRU) had its origins in 1984, when Sir
Robert Sainsbury
Sir Robert James Sainsbury (24 October 19062 April 2000), was the son of John Benjamin Sainsbury (the eldest son of John James Sainsbury, the founder of Sainsbury's supermarkets) and along with his wife Lisa began the collection of modern and ...
and Lady Lisa Sainsbury had the idea of creating a department in the
Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts
The Sainsbury Centre is an art gallery and museum located on the campus of the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England. The building, which contains a collection of world art, was one of the first major public buildings to be designed by ...
to be an academic complement to the
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
n,
Oceanic
Oceanic may refer to:
*Of or relating to the ocean
*Of or relating to Oceania
**Oceanic climate
**Oceanic languages
**Oceanic person or people, also called "Pacific Islander(s)"
Places
* Oceanic, British Columbia, a settlement on Smith Island, ...
and American material in their collection.
The SRU began operations in 1988 with two faculty, two library/support staff and three MA students. By 2011 there were six faculty, six library/support staff, eight MAs, fifteen research students, visiting fellows, research associates and many dozens of alumni contributing to its fields of study.
The SRU host symposiaworkshops an research projects and has a dedicate library also housed in the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts.