School of Performing & Digital Arts
Roberta Mock joined Royal Holloway, University of London in March 2022 as Executive Dean for the School of Performing & Digital Arts.
She was previously Professor of Performance Studies (from 2009) and Director of the Doctoral College (from 2016) at the University of Plymouth, where she had also been founding Director of the Arts Institute (2015-2016), Associate Dean Research (2007-2009) and Associate Dean Graduate Affairs (2005-2007) for the Faculty of Arts.
Roberta completed her PhD at the University of Exeter, an MA (focusing on lighting design and new circus) at the University of Leeds, and a BA in French Drama by Independent Study at the Polytechnic of East London. She has a PGCert in Teaching & Learning in Higher Education and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA). She served for two terms on the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)'s Peer Review College and is a current member of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Talent Peer Review College. She has acted as chair for two, and has been a member of an additional five, research grant panels for the AHRC.
Roberta is the Principal Investigator of a project entitled “Transitioning to Sustainable Production Across the UK Theatre Sector” (co-commissioned by the Cultural Industries Policy and Evidence Centre and Arts Council England), working with the Theatre Green Book, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Theatre Alibi and National Theatre of Scotland. In addition to a commitment to "green" theatre practices, her research tends to focus on gender, sexuality and bodies, with a specific interest in live art and stand-up comedy by Jewish women. She is the author or editor of five books, and the immediate past Chair of the Theatre and Performance Research Association (TaPRA).
Championing and celebrating embodied knowledge at all stages of a research career, Roberta has written and spoken about and led workshops across the UK, in Canada and in Europe on practice-research methodologies. She was the founding co-Director of the AHRC-funded 3D3 Centre for Doctoral Training, which supported only practice-led research projects in digital art, design, culture and performance. She has supervised over 25 PhDs and research masters to successful completion, many of which have been located at the disciplinary boundaries of performance.
Between 1996 and 2006, most of her practice-research and creative practice took place through Lusty Juventus, a theatre company she co-founded. For Lusty Juventus, she directed and/or performed in five productions which were funded by Arts Council England and EU Culture Programmes. Roberta now makes occasional solo performances that methodologically combine – and are also about – familial, aesthetic and cultural histories and genealogies.
