Becky Shaw’s PhD, completed in 1998, was rooted in nursing research exploring sculpture as a ‘significant occupation’ for patients in palliative care. Through this collaborative work with occupational therapists, nurses and patients, Becky considered aspects such as the value of time spent with others on creative activity and the permanence of personal identity as carried through objects when the creator is no longer present. After further research on death and dying, Becky returned to working as an artist in social contexts and under Blair's government was busy with commissions. She later refocussed on teaching, having built a relationship with Sheffield Hallam, which Becky describes as seeing itself as an applied university where art design as a research method and interdisciplinarity are taken for granted. As well as continuing her art practice, Becky currently leads the PhD cohort in the Art and Design Research Centre – bringing together her interests in how arts practice meets the academy.
https://www.shu.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/staff-profiles/becky-shaw