Jonathan Shaw

Jonathan has been an active interdisciplinary practitioner and academic leader with Higher Education for nearly 20 years. Over the past 10 years he has been instrumental in driving innovation within curricula design, envisioning next generation learning spaces and leading the implementation of cutting edge educational technology initiatives.

He co-founded and now Directs the Disruptive Media Learning Lab at Coventry University, which prompted by the radical, profound and systematic changes affecting Higher Education in a digital era, seeks to challenge the existing status quo, by opening up education to provide a safe space for students and staff to re-model existing teaching and learning practices in new and disruptive technological spaces.

His work has published alongside photographic pioneers such as Eadweard Muybridge and Harold Edgerton and can be seen as part of a long tradition of experimentation whereby the camera becomes both an instrument of scientific record and a tool for aesthetic exploration. He has been described as being part of an early generation of artists responsible for the emergence of a new school of photography which blurs the boundaries between the still and moving image. He has four publications: NEWFOTOSCAPES (2014) featured in Lens Culture’s 2014 best photo book list, Crash (2009), (re)collect (2006) and Time|Motion (2003).

He is also a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Excellence in Media Practice (CEMP) at Bournemouth University, the outgoing Chair of the Association for Photography in Higher Education (APHE). As an Adobe Education Leader, Jonathan forms part of their worldwide community championing creativity in education. He was awarded a Direct Fellowship of Royal Photographic Society (RPS), and a Fellowship of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), in recognition for his achievements in Photography and innovative educational practices.

Jonathan also works in an advisory capacity as Chair of the Board of Directors for Birmingham Open Media (BOM) UK, International Academic Board member for Photography Studies College, Melbourne, Australia and as a Trustee for The Photographers’ Gallery, London.

I am inspired by the scale of invention at photography’s genesis, the desire to create transformative experiences, and energised by exploration and innovation. My research seeks to challenge a number of assumptions and open up new horizons surrounding photography and photography education, with a particular focus upon technology and open education as drivers for reformed practices.