Dr Catherine Speight

Position: Research Lead (Parental Leave)

About

Dr Catherine Speight is an experienced museum professional, trained curator, and social scientist. Throughout her career, she has worked at the intersection of museums and higher education, specialising in building collaborative partnerships and supporting student learning across disciplines—from art and design to STEM.  

From 2016 to 2018, she led the academic research and teaching programme at the Museum of London. 

Between 2019 and 2023, Catherine held a four-year fellowship at the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Research Institute (VARI), funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. During this time, she worked on the project Encounters on the Shop Floor: Embodiment and the Knowledge of the Maker, which investigated the role of tacit and embodied knowledge across the arts, humanities, and sciences. Her work culminated in a forthcoming co-edited volume with Dr Marta Ajmar titled Making and Hands-On Learning: Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Embodied Learning. 

Most recently, Catherine served as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the National Trust, contributing to its 'Looking After' strategic research pillar. There, she played a key role in establishing a successful partnership with UCL and helped develop two cross-organisational research groups focused on critical challenges in heritage conservation and sustainability. 

Catherine holds an AHRC-funded collaborative PhD from the University of Brighton and the V&A, awarded in 2020. Her doctoral research examined the complex dynamics of disciplinary and professional learning among higher education ceramics students at the V&A.  

Her current research interests are about the role of making as a form of embodied knowledge – a way of understanding the world through physical engagement and creative practice. Catherine’s work explores how learning-through-making approaches can be used to place this form of knowledge at the centre of education. She is particularly interested in multimodal pedagogies that integrate tactile, visual, and spatial forms of learning alongside more traditional academic methods. 

She is currently serving as Research Lead (Parental Leave Cover for Dr Laura Tompkins) until April 2026. 

Select publications

Vlachou-Mogire, C., Danskin, J., Gilchrist, J.R., and Hallett, K., ‘Mapping Materials and Dyes on Historic Tapestries Using Hyperspectral Imaging’, Heritage, 6 (2023), pp. 3159-82.

Vlachou-Mogire C., Bertolotti, G., Hallett, K., and Frame, K., ‘Developing “Smart” Solutions for Light Management for Historic Collections’, Studies in Conservation, 65 (2020), pp. 333-41.

Vlachou-Mogire C., P. Moretti, L. Monico, A. Chieli, M. Iwanicka, P. Targowski, V. Detalle, E. Bourguignon, K. Laclavetine, F. Mirambet, Tong Tong, and S. Pinchin, ‘A non-invasive multi-technique investigation of Banqueting House Whitehall Rubens ceiling paintings’, Microchemical Journal, 156 (2020).