Role
Marco Bohr is Associate Professor in Design and Digital Arts at Nottingham Trent University. An interdisciplinary scholar working across art and design, visual culture, media studies and the humanities, his research examines the role of images in shaping political, cultural and social life.
He leads the interdisciplinary research cluster Creative Practices, Methods and Analysis (CPMA), which sits within the Research Centre for the Creative Industries (RCCI). CPMA supports a community of more than 30 researchers across NTU, fostering a collaborative research culture that strengthens the university's commitment to creativity, innovation and real-world impact. The cluster supports researchers at all career stages, helping colleagues develop ambitious research projects, produce high-quality outputs and build interdisciplinary collaborations across the university.
Career overview
Marco has worked in higher education for more than twenty years across the UK, Japan, Australia and Canada. Before joining NTU, he served as Postgraduate Programme Director for the Arts at Loughborough University, providing academic leadership across three MA programmes and leading curriculum enhancement initiatives that significantly improved student satisfaction and postgraduate experience outcomes.
Throughout his career, Marco has worked across art and design, visual culture, media studies and the humanities, developing a strongly interdisciplinary perspective that informs his teaching, research supervision, curriculum development and academic review activities.
At NTU, Marco contributes to postgraduate teaching through the module Advancing Research Design, which introduces students from a wide variety of disciplinary backgrounds to methods and methodologies in art and design. The module prepares students for academic and practice-based inquiry, reflecting his commitment to developing future researchers and creative practitioners. More broadly, his work reflects longstanding interests in curriculum design, research education, interdisciplinary learning and academic standards within higher education.
Marco has supervised four PhDs to completion. He has examined doctoral candidates internationally as External Examiner and regularly serves as Internal Examiner and Independent Chair. Alongside his research and teaching activities, he contributes to programme validation, external examining and academic review processes across the UK higher education sector, drawing on extensive experience of curriculum development, assessment and quality enhancement.
He welcomes enquiries from prospective doctoral candidates and is particularly keen to discuss projects that align with his research interests, including photography, visual culture, political imagery, Japanese visual culture and interdisciplinary visual methodologies.
Research areas
Marco's research explores how images shape political, cultural and social life in contemporary society. His work sits at the intersection of art and design, visual culture, media studies and the humanities, reflecting a sustained interest in the social, political and cultural power of images. His research interests include:
- Photography and visual culture
- Visual propaganda and political communication
- Japanese visual culture
- Documentary and essay film
- Visual methodologies and image-based research
- Digital media, self-representation and online visual culture
Drawing on both scholarly and creative practice perspectives, his work frequently bridges academic research, public engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration. Alongside his academic publications, he has an established history as an exhibiting photographer, with work shown internationally at venues including Rencontres d'Arles, Musée de l'Elysée Lausanne, FoMu Antwerp, Art Tower Mito, Gallery 44 Toronto and the Pingyao International Photography Festival.
Marco serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of the East Asian Popular Culture Journal and has presented invited research papers at institutions including Yale University, UC Berkeley, Nanyang Technological University Singapore, the University of Turku and Ritsumeikan University. He has contributed writing and commentary on photography, visual culture and contemporary image-making to publications and platforms including Photoworks, FOAM, Source, Photomonitor and TIME LightBox.
Marco is currently developing a new edited collection, Visual Propaganda in an Era of Instability, examining the role of images in shaping public understanding, political narratives and social imaginaries during periods of uncertainty and change.
External activity
A Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), Marco has extensive experience in academic quality assurance, external examining, programme validation and curriculum review across UK higher education. He regularly contributes to programme validation, revalidation, external examining and academic review activities, providing independent scrutiny of curriculum design, assessment practices, academic standards and the student experience.
Recent appointments include:
- External Panel Member, Goldsmiths, University of London (MRes Art validation)
- External Academic Adviser, Blackpool and The Fylde College (validation of new BA programmes in Graphic Design, Content Creation, VFX and Media Technology)
- External Panel Member, Morley College London / Ravensbourne University London (MA Creative Practice validation)
- External Examiner, Northeastern University London (BA Art History)
- External Examiner, University of Brighton (MA Photography, 2017-2021)
His expertise spans academic standards, assessment and feedback, curriculum enhancement, programme approval, validation and interdisciplinary programme development across art, design, media, photography, digital culture and related humanities disciplines.
Sponsors and collaborators
Marco's collaborations span Vietnam, Ghana, Kenya and Japan, bringing together researchers, practitioners and community partners to investigate visual culture, social change and public engagement. These projects include AHRC-funded research on visual activism and sexual diversity in Vietnam, as well as MRC-funded research exploring nutrition environments and dietary transitions in African cities through innovative visual methodologies including photovoice.
He has also been awarded a highly competitive Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), as well as a fellowship from the Japan Foundation, reflecting international recognition of his research in visual culture and photography.
Publications
Marco is the author, editor or co-editor of three books:
- Visual Counterculture in Japan: Political Shifts and the Dynamics of Resistance (Bloomsbury, 2025)
- Capture Japan: Visual Culture and the Global Imagination from 1952 to the Present (Bloomsbury, 2022)
- The Evolution of the Image: Political Action and the Digital Self (Routledge, 2018)
He has published widely on photography, essay film, Japanese visual culture, political imagery and interdisciplinary visual studies. His work has appeared in journals including photographies, Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, Health & Place and Trans Asia Photography Review.
Press expertise
Marco is available for media commentary related to:
- Visual propaganda and political imagery
- Photography and visual culture
- Social media, self-representation and digital culture
- Japanese visual culture
- Visual communication and activism
- Documentary photography and essay film
- Censorship, sexuality and public culture
- Visual representations of social and political change
- Photography and digital media in contemporary society
- Image-based research methods
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STAFF PROFILE
Richard Bibb - Associate Dean for Research
Nottingham School of Art & DesignArea of expertise: Design
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