News - Falmouth Confers Professorship
University College Falmouth press release
University College Falmouth has announced the conferment of a professorship on Emilyn Claid in recognition of her work in the field of choreography.
Professor Claid is Associate Director and Senior Lecturer in Choreography at the College's Dartington Campus and was part of its recent successful RAE08 submission in the discipline.
With several internationally-acclaimed publications to her name, including a seminal work in choreography derived from her PhD - Yes? No! Maybe. Seductive Ambiguity in Dance (2006 London, New York: Routledge) - Professor Claid continues to push the boundaries of academic discourse and is currently undertaking an MSc in Gestalt Psychotherapy which is informing her choreographic research as it moves in new directions.
Professor Claid is also a highly-respected practitioner and was awarded an Arts & Humanities Research Council grant for her work with Valerie Briginshaw, entitled Embodying Ambiguities, from which three choreographies emerged: Shiver Rococo, No Bodies Baby and Remember to Forget. This major project followed earlier works which attracted funding from the Arts Council, Merseyside Arts, South East Arts & the University of Surrey, Yorkshire Arts Council and Dance Umbrella.
In addition, Professor Claid has an impressive portfolio of commissions to her credit from companies including the DooCot Theatre Company, Phoenix Dance Company, Ludus Dance Company, CandoCo Dance Company, Northern School of Contemporary Dance and Hong Kong Contemporary Dance Company.
"I thank University College Falmouth for the conferment of a professorship for my work as a choreographer," commented Professor Claid. "My life has been a continuous re-invention of creative endeavour, travelling a journey from performer, to choreographer, to academic and researcher, where one practice enhances and becomes another," she added. "At this moment I find myself poised for a new adventure, drawing Gestalt tools and choreographic practice into a new relational methodology for performance making. Then there is the Cornish coastline to explore."
"The conferment of this professorship is in recognition of the significant academic achievements and international standing of Professor Claid, and she is to be warmly congratulated," commented UCF's Rector, Professor Alan Livingston. "This public declaration of academic excellence sends out a clear signal that we reward staff who enhance the institution's international reputation and emphasises our determination to create a vibrant research culture as we progress towards Arts University Cornwall in 2012."
Professor Claid will deliver an inaugural professorial lecture as part of UCF's new Professorial Lecture Series in the coming months. Details will be posted to the events page of the College's website as soon as confirmed.
For further information about University College Falmouth, visit http://www.falmouth.ac.uk, email admissions@falmouth.ac.uk or telephone Admissions on 01326 213730.
University College Falmouth is the only independent Higher Education institution in Cornwall with the powers to award degrees in its own name. It has two campuses in Cornwall - at Woodlane in Falmouth and Tremough in Penryn (which it owns, and jointly manages with the University of Exeter) - and a third campus at Totnes in Devon, following its merger with Dartington College of Arts in 2008.
This merger created a new institution focusing on the expansion of Falmouth's expertise in Art, Design and Media and Dartington's expertise in Choreography, Music, Theatre, Art and Writing. The Devon-based courses will relocate to a new, high-specification Performance Centre at Tremough in 2010, paving the way for a new specialist Arts University in Cornwall by 2012 that will be unique to the South West.
The College is a founding partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique initiative to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded mainly by the European Union, the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall County Council.