Top PI: Stephen Hoskins, researcher of fine print

Stephen Hoskins has received more than £1.5m in 13 direct grants from the AHRC. Now director of the University of the West of England’s Centre for Fine Print Research, he tells Penny Sarchet about ancient ceramics, 3D-printing, and the importance of collaboration.

What are your research interests?

Varied! Because I come from a visual arts background, our research interests are primarily to do with print, and this from a visual arts perspective. But a long time ago I realised that if we wanted to do research, then it had to relate to industry and have a commercial output. That was partially because I realised that was the way that government funding would go. In visual arts terms, I run quite a big team, about 10 research staff at the moment. We do apply to a lot of other bodies, we have European Union funding and Technology Strategy Board funding but the pure research tends to be underpinned by the AHRC.