Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies
MA Alumni...Serena Dyer
"Studying for an MA at CECS was perhaps my most academically and personally rewarding year I have experienced. From the first week, I was quickly integrated into a diverse, yet connected, community of academics and students, who eagerly encouraged me to pursue my ideas and interests. My supervisors and tutors always made me feel that my contributions were valid and exciting, and my fellow students were mutually supportive, and admiring, of each other's work. Coming from a History and Art History background, the interdisciplinary culture was ideal for me, and I have since been very much an advocate of this mode of study. The topic of my MA dissertation has since grown and developed into the backbone of my PhD thesis (fully funded by the ESRC and a Chancellor's Scholarship at the University of Warwick).
Aside from my academic development, being an MA student at CECS also allowed me to explore my wider interests. In June 2012 I organised a highly successful day conference, entitled 'Desiring Fashion: The Consumption and Dissemination of Dress, 1750-1850'. This experience allowed me to network and make contacts with a wide array of academics and museum professionals in my specialist area, which has led to offers of work, and collaboration on publications. While at CECS, I also spent time working with Fairfax House in York, where I assisted with the 'Revolutionary Fashion' exhibition, giving me invaluable experience that has contributed to my continuing career in museums. I am now Assistant Curator at the National Portrait Gallery, a position I would not have been able to secure were it not for the encouragement, academic and personal confidence, and myriad of opportunities provided to me by my time at CECS."