Biography
Simon Olding has had a varied career in the arts and museums sectors since starting his career at Glasgow Museums and Art Gallery in 1979. He joined the University for the Creative Arts as Director of the Crafts Study Centre in 2002 and was appointed Professor of Modern Crafts in 2003.
His previous career includes working as a specialist ceramics curator, as a museum director (Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth) as well as periods in agency and advisory work (London Museums Officer and Assistant Director, Area Museums Service for South Eastern England) and as Director of Policy and Research for the Heritage Lottery Fund. After graduating from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, he received his PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 1980 for a study on ‘The English short story in the 1890s’.
- Fellow of the Museums Association, Royal Society of Arts and the Tourism Society
- Member of the editorial boards of The Journal of Modern Craft and Craft Research
- Peer reviews for Bloomsbury, Berg Publishers, Design Journal, Craft Research, Journal of Modern Craft
- Artistic assessor for Arts Council England
- Acting Chair, The Leach Pottery
- President, Walford Mill Crafts
- Patron, SIT Select
- External member, Advisory Committee, Aberystwyth University, School of Art Museum
- Honorary Fellow of the Arts University Bournemouth