Staff Profile | School of Arts and Cultures

Iain Wheeldon

Head of Scholarship (MCH)

Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 5283
Address: School of Arts and Cultures
Armstrong Building
Room 3.07

Background:

Iain is a graduate of the International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies Gallery Studies at Newcastle University (2001-2003).

Since his appointment he has held a number of senior management roles within the school including Acting Head of Media Culture & Heritage (2021) & Director of Postgraduate Taught/ Deputy DELT for the School of Arts and Cultures (2014 - 2021) and Head of Scholarship for Media Culture & Heritage (2022-present).

Prior to this, Iain has been Degree Programme Director for both On-Campus and E-learning versions of the MAs in Museum Studies, Art Museum & Gallery Studies & Heritage Studies Programme (2014-2017).

Between 2003 and 2019, Iain managed the placement provision for 3 PGT programmes in Museum, Gallery & Heritage in the School of Arts & Cultures, organising around 900 student placements (40, 30 & 12-day) with approximately 400 external partner organisations. The placement modules are a stepping stone between the courses and future employment and have led to direct student employment in partner venues.

Whilst teaching these modules, Iain identified a need to help students (and other early career professionals) make sense of the wide range of potential job families that were available to them upon graduation. In 2018/19 he devised an ongoing scholarship project that is designed to investigate the decision-making processes and career pathways of people working in a variety of different roles and at different stages of their careers. The result is the Cultural Peeps Careers Pathway Podcast: (https://soundcloud.com/culturalpeeps & https://culturalpeeps.wordpress.com/), which is an ongoing, public-facing and freely-downloadable resource (available via Spotify, Apple, Soundcloud etc.). The podcast currently has over 15,000 downloads/ streams in 48 countries, including listeners in North & South America, Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia.

The project outputs have been used as part of the 'MGH Futures' employability programme (a strand of activities designed to prepare students for life after university) and also featured as an example of good teaching practice in the 'Beyond Employability' Workbook.

In 2014-2015 he co-developed a new suite of postgraduate E-Learning Modules which launched in 2015. Alongside this project, Iain led the NUTELA E-Learning group. He has also sat on the ELSI group (E-Learning and Student Information sub-committee) and the University's VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) Steering group, contributing to the developing use of e-technologies and policy in the support of e-teaching/ e-learning across the wider University.

Between 2014 & 2020 Iain was the Academic lead for the University’s Mobile App and chaired the Mobile Users Group which was responsible for developing new pedagogical uses for Mobile technologies in the University. In 2016 the project won a University Innovation award to develop new features to improve Student Staff Committee Communication across the university through the development of direct contact tools, polling features and improved feedback streams within the app. The group has since worked closely across LTDS, NUITs and also with NUSU’s Representation & Democracy Coordinator & Education Office.

Between 2015 & 2017 Iain was a Faculty Programme Liaison Officer (FPLO) for the University's Educational Practice Scheme (Now NEPS). The function of this role was to support new members of University Staff/ PGRs through the various CASAP modules/ routes. This primarily involved being a regular point of contact for staff/ PGR participants, monitoring their general progress on the programme, providing advice on obtaining credit for prior learning a well as conducting appreciative observations of participant’s teaching. Iain was also tasked with providing mentoring, tutoring for specific assignments and assessing associated work as well as teaching on the core CASAP taught modules in September/ January and April each year.

Before returning to the International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies (Now Media, Culture & Heritage), Iain worked with the Education and Public Programme Team at BALTIC, the International Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead where he helped to set up and deliver the venue’s first year programme of educational activities. He also contributed to the development of BALTIC’s initial primary and secondary teaching resources: The B.CREATIVE and B.INFO books as well as assisting in the development of BALTIC’s newly opened Library and Archive, which is responsible for the documentation of BALTIC’s activities, residencies and arts programme.

Iain has also worked as a Curatorial Assistant at the Hatton Gallery, working both the permanent collection (which comprises of over 3,500 works - including paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings) and also with a wide range of temporary and touring exhibitions. He played a central role in the Hatton's collections management programme as well as assisting in the development of temporary and touring exhibitions for the gallery.

In 2005, Iain was the North East’s Manager for the en-quire gallery research programme, which is a national action-research programme with the aim of exploring, assessing and articulating the special learning benefits to young people of working with contemporary art and the gallery space.

The eighteen month programme aimed to identify key success factors that will build an evidence base to support the provision of more gallery education, contribute to policy, resources and good practice in the gallery sector.

The en-quire programme was funded jointly by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and the Department of Education and Skills as part of the Strategic Commissioning initiative. It was carried out through three clusters or consortia of galleries and higher education institutions across England. The three selected consortia were in the North East, East London and the South Coast. Led by BALTIC, which has education and public access at the heart of its mission, the North East consortia included the Laing Art Gallery, Isis Arts, the Hatton Gallery potentially working in partnership with the Gateshead and Newcastle Teachers networks.

Roles and Responsibilities:

Head of Scholarship (Media Culture & Heritage) (2022 - 2026)
Director of Postgraduate Taught/ Deputy DELT for the School of Arts and Cultures (2014 - 2021)
Acting Head Of Media Culture & Heritage (Jan 2021 - June 2021)
NUTELA/ UNITE (University Network for Information Technology and E-Learning) (Chair 2012-2014 & Steering Group 2020 - present)
Academic Lead/ Chair Mobile App Users Group 2014 - 2020)
External Examiner - Glasgow University (MSc in Museum Education - Online & MSc Museum Education – Campus 2017-2021).
Degree Programme Director: MA Museum Studies, MA Heritage Studies, MA Art Museum & Gallery Studies (2016 - 2017)
Degree Programme Director: Heritage Management & Tourism (PGT E-Learning) (2014 - 206)
Programme Leader: Art Museum & Gallery Studies (2012 - 2016)
Programme Leader: Art Museum &Gallery Studies (2007 - 2012)

Module Leadership:

Understanding Objects, Collections and Stories in Museums, Galleries & Heritage (2023 - present)
Communication & Learning in Museums, Galleries & Heritage (2019 - 2023)
Cultural Phenomena and the role of the Media, Digital & Social/ Media (2016 - 2020)
Research - Vocationally Orientated Project In Museum, Galleries & Heritage (2021 - 2023)
Dissertation (Museum Gallery & Heritage Studies) (2016 - 2017)
Museum, Gallery, Heritage Practice (2015 - 2019)
Placement Module ICS815 (Heritage, Education and Interpretation, Museum Studies & Gallery Studies) (2003 - 2015)
Art Curatorship 1 (2006-2007 & 2010 - 2012)
Art Curatorship 2 (2006-2007 & 2010 - 2012)
Art Museum & Gallery Education 1 (2007 - 2010)
Art Museum & Gallery Education 2 (2007 - 2010)
Issues & Ideas (E-Learning) (2014 - 2016)
Communication & Interpretation (E-Learning) (2014 - 2016)

Qualifications:

MA Gallery Studies (Distinction), International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies, University of Newcastle
BA (Hons) Fine Art (First Class Honours), Department of Fine Art, University of Newcastle
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Previous Positions:

Placement Manager: International Centre for Cultural & Heritage Studies, Newcastle University. Module Leader: Placement Module ICS 815 (Heritage, Education and Interpretation, Heritage Management Museum Studies, Art Museum & Gallery Education & Gallery Studies) (2003-2007)
North East En-quire Project Administrator/ Manager: Based at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, United Kingdom (2005)
Curatorial Assistant, Hatton Gallery, University of Newcastle, United Kingdom (2004- 2005)
Gallery Assistant, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, United Kingdom (2002 & 2003 -2004)
Education and Public Programme Team (Acting Officer), BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, United Kingdom (2002 -2003)