Dr Laura Gibson

Biography

Laura Gibson gained her PhD in Digital Humanities from King’s College London in 2018 with a thesis that investigates decolonising cultural heritage in the digital age, with a specific focus on South African museums. Her research on decolonisation and digitisation is informed by several years working in South African museums, including as Collections and Digitisation Manager at the Luthuli Museum national legacy project. Laura’s current research, funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, considers issues of indigenous knowledge exchange and repatriation in South Africa using digital tools.

She holds an MPhil in African Studies from the University of Cape Town (2006) and a First-Class BA (Hons) in History from University of Durham (2004).

Research interests & PhD supervision

• Decolonisation
• Digitisation
• Cultural Heritage
• Sub-Saharan Africa

Selected publications

• Gibson, Laura, and Rebecca Kahn. “Digital Museums in the 21st Century: Global Microphones or Universal Mufflers?” Museological Review 20 (2016).
• Taylor, Joel, and Laura Kate Gibson. "Digitisation, digital interaction and social media: embedded barriers to democratic heritage." International Journal of Heritage Studies (2016): 1-13.
• Tanner, Simon, Laura Gibson, Rebecca Kahn and Geoff Laycock. "Choices in Digitization for the Digital Humanities." In Research Methods for Creating and Curating Data in the Digital Humanities, edited by Matt Hayler and Gabriele Griffin, Chapter 1. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016.
• Gibson, Laura & Turner, Hannah. “Facilitating Inclusivity: The Politics of Access and Digitisation in a South African and Canadian Museum.” International Journal of the Inclusive Museum 4, no.1 (2012): 1 – 14.

Teaching

Laura has taught on both undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the Department of Digital Humanities, KCL, since January 2019.