About me
Nigel Wood joined the University in 1995 as a Senior Lecturer and became a full research professor in the ceramics department in 2003. He retired from Westminster in 2009 and in 2010 was appointed as an Emeritus Professor to the University. In 2000 he was awarded a Senior Research Fellowship by the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust, and from 1997 to 2004 worked as a researcher and author for the Needham Research Institute in Cambridge. In 1997, and in parallel with his research and teaching at Westminster, Nigel served as a non-stipendiary Visiting Research Fellow at Oxford University. He is now an Honorary Research Associate at Oxford’s School of Archaeology, where he continues to research, and teach, as well as advising and examining a small number of doctoral students. He has also acted as an external PhD examiner for London University (UCL) and for Nottingham University.
Teaching
From 1995 until 2009 Nigel taught on the BA Ceramics Honours course at the Harrow campus of the University of Westminster. Over this time, he was able to use his experiences as a working potter (1973-1984), his knowledge of ceramic history and ceramic technology, and his practical skills in the design, building and firing of kilns. His teaching activities beyond Westminster included a role as a visiting lecturer to the Ceramics and Glass department of the Royal College of Art (1989 to 2009), where he also supervised MPhil and doctoral students. He also lectured occasionally at Christie’s Education in London.
Research
Nigel's primary research interests have been the history and technology of East Asian and Middle Eastern ceramics, working regularly with national museums in the UK and in China, mainly on excavated material. He has a particular interest in exploring how the geological history of East Asia influenced the development of ceramic and bronze production in the region. His earlier background as a full-time maker of ceramics has proved essential in exploring the practical production of medieval Chinese, Korean and Iraqi ceramics. He has lectured world-wide on these topics and has also published papers on the materials and techniques used by leading 20th C British studio potters.
Prof. Wood's two major books to date are Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China Vol. V part 12, 2004, co-written with Ms Rose Kerr, (Cambridge University Press, 918 pp), and Chinese Glazes ; their Chemistry, Origins and Re-creation in 1999 (A& C Black and Pennsylvania University Press). He has also published some 110 research papers and articles, mainly for international journals, and as conference papers in China and Korea.