Professor Suzanne MacLeod

I joined the School in 1997 following a BA (History of Art and Architecture) and MA (Art Museum and Gallery Studies) at the University of Manchester. Before that I trained and worked as a graphic designer. I have undertaken numerous roles in the School including Head of School. I am currently Co-Director with Richard Sandell of the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries (RCMG) where we undertake collaborative research with cultural organisations committed to inclusive transformation. I teach across all the School’s programmes. On the Master’s programmes I co-teach a Module called Design for Creative Lives. Grounded in RCMG research and a complex understanding of the direct relationships between our spatial and social worlds the Module seeks to equip students with a socially-oriented museum imagination and to excite the museum makers and leaders of the future to share power, collaborate, research and experiment. I supervise PhDs related to museum making and visitor experience.

I have published widely on museum making including Museums and Design for Creative Lives (Routledge 2020), Museum Architecture: A New Biography (Routledge 2013) and am actively involved in collaborative research including a series of international conferences design workshops and publications.

In RCMG I undertake collaborative research with organisations such as the National Trust, Museum of London, Birmingham Museums Trust and National Museums Liverpool.

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• Thomas, M. and MacLeod, S. (2022) ‘Everyday life in a heritage village: film as a process of research and engagement’, in Penz and Schupp (eds) The Everyday in Visual Culture, Routledge.
• MacLeod, S. (2021) Museums and Design for Creative Lives (London: Routledge, 2021).
• MacLeod, S. (2020) Museumsarchitektur, soziale Nachhaltigkeit und Design für ein kreatives Leben in S. Gesser et al (eds.) Das Subjectiv Museum, 97-109.
• MacLeod, S., Thornhill, A., Dodd, J., Sandell, R., Plumb, S., Brouwer, C. and Cuzzola, C. (2020) Isolation and loneliness – opening up new stories and interpretive experiences at Calke Abbey. Online (PDF, 4.85mb)
• MacLeod, S., Dodd, J. and Plumb, S (2018) Isolation and loneliness – opening up new stories and interpretive experiences at Calke Abbey Research Report. Online (PDF, 5.3mb)
• MacLeod, S., Hale, J., Austin, T. and Ho, O. (eds.) The Future of Museum and Gallery Design (London: Routledge, 2017).
• MacLeod S., ‘An Ethical Future for Museum and Gallery Design: design as a force for good in a diverse cultural sector’, in MacLeod, S., Hale, J., Austin, T. and Ho, O. (eds.) The Future of Museum and Gallery Design (London: Routledge, 2017).
• MacLeod, S. ‘Image and Life: museum architecture, social sustainability and design for creative lives’ in S. Greub (ed.) New Museums: Intentions, Expectations, Challenges (Munich: Hirmer Verlag, 2017).
• Jones, P. and MacLeod, S. ‘Museum Architecture Matters’, Museum & Society, 14 (1), 2016, 207-219.
• MacLeod, S., Dodd, J., and Duncan, T., ‘New museum design cultures: harnessing the potential of design and ‘design thinking’ in museums’, Museum Management and Curatorship, In Press, Forthcoming 2015.
• MacLeod, S., Sandell, R., Dodd, J., Duncan, T., Jones, C. and Gaffikin, A., Prisoners, Punishment and Torture: Developing new approaches to interpretation at the Tower of London, RCMG/HRP, 2014.
• MacLeod, S., Dodd, J. and Duncan, T., Developing IWM North, RCMG/IWM, 2014.
• MacLeod, S. and Dodd, J., Establishing a Vision: New Walk Museum and the Story of Leicester, RCMG/LAMS, 2013.
• MacLeod, S., Museum Architecture: A New Biography, London: Routledge, 2013.
• MacLeod, S., Hanks, L., and Hale, J. (eds.) Museum Making: Narratives, Architectures, Exhibitions, London: Routledge, 2012.
• MacLeod, S., ‘This Magical Place: the making of Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the politics of landscape, art and narrative’, in MacLeod, S., Hanks, L., and Hale, J. (eds.), Museum Making: Narratives, Architectures, Exhibitions, London and New York: Routledge, 2012, pp. 48-62.
• Chang, Y. and MacLeod, S., (eds.) Building Identity: The Making of National Museums and Identity Politics, Taipei: National Museum of History, 2012.
• MacLeod, S.. ‘Significant Lives: telling stories of museum architecture’, in Hill, K. (ed.) Museums and Biographies, Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer Ltd, 2012.
• MacLeod, S., 'Towards an Ethics of Museum Architecture', in Marstine J. (ed.) Routledge Companion to Museum Ethics: Redefining Ethics for the Twenty-First Century Museum, London and New York: Routledge, 2011.
• MacLeod, S., ‘Out of Time and Place: The recent history and curious double life of the Sultanganj Buddha’, in Marshall, C. (ed.) Sculpture and the Museum, Aldershot: Ashgate/Henry Moore Institute, 2011.
• Knell, S., MacLeod, S. and Watson, S. (eds.) 2007. Museum Revolutions, London: Routledge.
• MacLeod, S. 2007. ‘Occupying the architecture of the gallery: spatial, social and professional change at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 1877-1933’, in Knell, S., MacLeod, S. and Watson, S. (eds.) Museum Revolutions, London: Routledge.
• MacLeod, S. 2007. ‘Civil disobedience and political agitation: the art museum as a site of protest in the early twentieth century’, Museum and Society, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 44-57
• MacLeod, S. (ed.) 2005. Reshaping Museum Space: architecture, design, exhibitions, London: Routledge.
• MacLeod, S. 2005. ‘Rethinking museum architecture: towards a site-specific history of production and use’, in MacLeod, S. (ed.) Reshaping Museum Space: architecture, design, exhibitions, London: Routledge.
• MacLeod, S. 2001. ‘Making museum studies: training, education, research and practice’, Journal of Museum Management and Curatorship, Vol. 19, No. 1., pp. 51-61.

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Museum space, architecture and design; organisational transformation; ethical interpretation; visitor experience.

Postgraduate Diploma/MA/MSc Museum Studies

Postgraduate Diploma/MA Art Museum and Gallery Studies

Postgraduate Diploma/MA/MSc Museum Studies by distance learning

Postgraduate Diploma/MA/MSc Socially Engaged practice in Museums and Galleries by distance learning

Postgraduate Diploma/MA/MSc Heritage and Interpretation by distance learning

Phd Museum Studies/PhD Museum Practice 

Museum architecture and design

Series Editor Routledge Museum Making Series