Key details
Professor Chris Pallant
Head of the School of Design
Chris joined the University of Greenwich as the Head of the School of Design in 2024, having previously worked as the Faculty Director for Enterprise and Knowledge Exchange at Canterbury Christ Church University.
With a keen interest in creative production cultures, Chris has a research career spanning over 80 published outputs. Focussing primarily on animation, his work employs a combination of research methods (including archival study, interview, participant observation and textual analysis), to generate fresh insights about the subjects being investigated.
His book-length works include:
Demystifying Disney: A History of Disney Feature Animation (Continuum, 2011),
Storyboarding: A Critical History (Palgrave, 2015),
Animated Landscapes: History, Form, and Function (Bloomsbury, 2015),
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: New Perspectives in Production, Reception, Legacy (Bloomsbury, 2021), and
Beyond Bagpuss: A History of Smallfilms Animation Studio (BFI, 2022).
Chris has also played a leading role in the development of industry-facing growth ecosystems, with the goal of supporting creative sector SMEs to explore new technologies, grow their networks, and gain new business insights. Between 2018-2023, Chris played a leading role in securing £5.1 million from the European Regional Development Fund to establish the Hi3 Network. Led by London Southbank University, the Hi3 Network project fostered collaboration between university researchers, SMEs, and larger industry partners, with over 1000 hours of support delivered through the life of the project. Following on from the success of Hi3, Chris founded the Creative Innovation Hub at Canterbury Christ Church University, to both extend this work and to create new opportunities for collaboration between students, alumni, and industry.
Responsibilities within the university
As the Head of the School of Design, Chris has the following responsibilities:
- Overseeing academic programs
- Fostering a positive campus culture
- Engaging in strategic planning
- Promoting research and innovation
- Upholding accreditation standards
- Enhancing student success
- Providing budget management
- Advancing our mission and values
Research / Scholarly interests
As Professor of Animation at the University of Greenwich, Chris is particularly interested in animation production cultures, animation history, and animation archives. Chris often finds himself drawn to precarious histories and silent voices, and his research is frequently concerned with the recovery and revision of the historical record. Chris would like to hear from potential research collaborators who share his desire to explore these themes.