Dr Kirsty Smith
Course Leader, BA Content Creation & Branding
Dr Kirsty Smith is Course Leader for BA Content Creation & Branding and BA Media Production at Falmouth University, a role she took up in June 2026. She holds a PhD from the Royal College of Art in Visual Communications, where her doctoral research focused on skateboarding media production and documentary methodology. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA).
Kirsty brings over two decades of industry experience to her teaching and research, having worked internationally as a fashion and sportswear photographer and creative director since 2000. Her editorial and advertising work spans clients including Nike, Adidas, Vans, Quicksilver, Calvin Klein, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, GQ, and the BBC, giving her a practitioner's grounding in media project management, visual storytelling, and brand communication that informs her approach to both curriculum design and scholarly inquiry.
Her research centres on documentary methodology and embodied media, with a particular interest in skateboarding as a lens for exploring participatory and practice research methods. Recent activities include a presentation at Form25 in LAAX Switzerland, where she co-developed a series of workshops exploring the the role of sports federations in bridging the gap between sport and culture, and participation at Connect Festival in Bordeaux, France, where she contributed both a panel discussion on co-creating skateboard media and a solo exhibition of photographic works examining embodied knowledge and collective experience within skate culture. Her work continues to bridge professional creative practice and academic research into visual communication and documentary representation.
Qualifications
Qualifications
| Year | Qualification | Awarding body |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Visual Communication: Documentary as Method - Embodied Knowledge, Skateboard Media Production | Royal College of Art |
| 2012 | Master of Fine Arts, Lens Based | Falmouth University |
| 2010 | Post Grad, Educational Psychology | The Open University |
| 2000 | PGCE, Art and Design: Photography | The Manchester Metropolitan University |
Honors and awards
| Year | Description |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Senior Fellow (SFHEA) |
| 2019 | Best presentation awards at the International Fashion and Textile Institutes 2019 Conference in Fashion: ID |
| 2017 | LDoc – London Doctoral Design Centre AHRC Funded PhD Studentship in Design Research |
| 2016 | Festival Interceltique de Lorient: Cornwall Artist Award |
| 2014 | The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention & Innovation Fellowship, Smithsonian Institute |
| 2014 | Island Queen Issued by BAFTA nominated for the Best British Short Film by the EE British Academy Film Awards |
Research Interests
Research interests and expertise
Visual culture, media studies, documentary practice, embodied knowledge, cultural studies, skateboarding, creative methodologies, practice research, visual representation, creative labour, contemporary cultural practices.
Externally funded research grants
LDoc – London Doctoral Design Centre AHRC Funded PhD Studentship in Design Research
- Issued by AHRC · Sep 2017
The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention & Innovation Fellowship
- Issued by Smithsonian Institute · Jul 2014
