Murray Smith shortlisted for Oustanding Research Supervisor of the Year award

Professor Murray Smith

The School of Arts is delighted to announce that Murray Smith, Professor of Film, has been shortlisted for Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year at the 2020 Times Higher Education Awards.

The Outstanding Research Supervisor of the Year award is given to the individual who has created the most supportive, stimulating and inspirational research environment for doctoral students.

Murray has been recognised for mentoring and helping several generations of doctoral students to flourish over a period of 25 years.Initially graduate students at Kent, many of them have become successful academics taking up positions in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Pakistan, Portugal, and the UK.

At Kent, these young researchers were members of and benefited from the Aesthetics Research Centre, an internationally recognised centre for the interdisciplinary study of the philosophy of art and aesthetics, founded and directed by Murray with colleagues in the School of Arts.

Murray has also been central to the emergence of cognitive film theory as a research programme, as a founding member and later president (2014-17) of the Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image. Although noted for the breadth of his interests and openness as a supervisor, the achievements of his supervisees have played a major role in making ‘cognitivism’ a success within film studies and philosophical aesthetics.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s award winners will be announced during a free virtual event. The virtual event will be held on 26 November 2020.

The full shortlists for each category can be found on the Times Higher Education‘s website, here:
www.timeshighereducation.com/news/times-higher-education-awards-2020-shortlist-announced