Applied Cultural Studies Programme Offering New Museum Studies Courses

In the new academic year, HSE’s Master’s Programme in Applied Cultural Studies is offering three new courses developed together with the Polytechnic Museum, Reinwardt Academie (Amsterdam, Netherlands), and the University of Leicester's School of Museum Studies (Leicester, Great Britain). The courses are called ‘Museology,’ ‘Museums in the Digital Age,’ and ‘Curating in the Modern Museum’.

The courses will see the participation of instructors from Reinwardt Academie, which is the main partner of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) in the development of educational programmes for museum specialists. Reinwardt Academie also conducts its educational programmes in various countries around the world – from Austria and Belgium to China and Indonesia. These instructors include Ruben Smit, who worked for the Netherlands Museum Association and the Netherlands Institute for Heritage before starting on the project, ‘Inspiring Learning for All’; Gerdie Borghuis, who specializes in information management at museums, and is also a partner of the European Museums’ Information Institute (EMII) and a member of the documentation committee ICOM-CIDOC; and Peter Davis, who is Professor of Museology at Newcastle University and the author of the book Ecomuseums: A Sense of Place.

The University of Leicester's School of Museum Studies has over a 40-year history with museum technology studies. The school received considerable fame around the world thanks to its advanced distance learning programmes. The School’s director, Susan Macleod, Ph.D., is taking direct participation in advising for the courses. Macleod, who specializes in researching museum space, is the author of numerous books, such asMuseum Architecture: A New Biography,Museum Revolutions, and others.

An important part of the course will be meetings and discussions with Russian museum professionals. Experts from museums around the world will also be invited to the master classes. Such museums include the Fryderyk Chopin Museum (Warsaw, Poland), Tate (London, UK), and Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam, Netherlands).