Sculpture research programme
The Henry Moore Institute’s sculpture research programme places sculpture at the centre of current art historical scholarship and actively encourages new research.
At the Henry Moore Institute, we pride ourselves on being a hub of contact and exchange, generating and supporting research networks that extend beyond the confines of academia.
Our sculpture research programme operates across disciplines and art forms, engaging with performance, drawing, photography or architecture, or with wider fields such as politics or anthropology.
Research seasons
Each year our research programme is organised into specific areas of enquiry, explored through themed Research Seasons. Each season includes a range of research events, conferences, lectures, film screenings and discussions, designed to showcase new thinking on different aspects of sculpture.
Bradford 2025: The Power of Public Sculpture
Autumn 2025
This research season presents a series of events supported by Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.
Together we are celebrating Bradford and Britain’s rich sculptural, architectural and political history and looking to the future for the region and its artists.
Explore our previous research seasons, and watch recordings of talks, conferences and performances.
See all previous research seasons
Autumn 2024 – Spring 2025:
Beyond the Visual: Blindness and Expanded Sculpture
Upcoming conferences and events
Guided tour
Free exhibition tours: Fragment and Form
14:30–15:00
Film screening
Jeremy Deller’s The Battle of Orgreave
18:00–19:00
Book your free ticket
Symposium
Power for the People: Art, Protest, and the Archives of Activism
10:00–18:00
Book your free ticket
Symposium
Photographic Objecthood: Construction, Presence, and the Sculptural Encounter
10:00–18:00
Book your free ticket
Research opportunities
Find out how you can get involved with our research programme.
Visiting research fellowships
Our fellowships enable artists and researchers to develop their work, spending a month in Leeds using our resources.
Applications for 2025/26 fellowship projects are now closed. The next round of fellowships will open in spring 2026.
Calls for participation
We regularly invite submissions for conferences and symposiums on a range of sculpture topics.
Our events take place at the Institute in Leeds, Studios & Gardens in Hertfordshire, and with external partner venues.
We do not currently have any active calls for participation. When opportunities arise, they will be advertised here.
Dissertation Prize
Open to BA and MA students of all disciplines, each year we award two prizes for outstanding writing on contemporary, modern or historical sculpture.
Applications are now open for our 2025 prize.
Deadline: Friday 12 December 2025.
Find out more and submit your essay
Our research facilities
We encourage researchers at all levels to seek our advice and make use of our world-class archive, library and sculpture collections in Leeds.
Sculpture Research Library
With more than 30,000 books, exhibition catalogues, journals and audio-visual items, the library is an outstanding resource for studying sculpture.
Archive of Sculptors’ Papers
The working lives of hundreds of sculptors are captured in their photographs, letters, drawings and sketchbooks, alongside film, digital records and even tools and costume.
Leeds sculpture collection
We oversee the development of Leeds Museums and Galleries’ sculpture collections, a partnership that has built one of the strongest collections of British sculpture in the country.
Online research resources
Collaboration is at the heart of our research programme.
We have jointly funded and collaborated in a number of initiatives intended to consolidate primary resources for the study of sculpture.
Essays on Sculpture
Essays on Sculpture is the journal of the Henry Moore Institute, tacking a diverse range of subjects, disciplines and styles to investigate the important role that sculpture plays in the world at large.
Visit us
Henry Moore Institute
74 The Headrow
Leeds
LS1 3AH
United Kingdom
T: 01132 467 467
E: institute@henry-moore.org
