Biography

Dr Niamh Bhalla, FHEA, is Assistant Dean, Associate Professor of Art History and Director for Belonging at Northeastern University London. Niamh came to Northeastern University London in 2018, having previously lectured and worked on research projects at The Courtauld Institute of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum. She is the author of Experiencing the Last Judgement (Routledge, 2021) and Newman University Church, Dublin: Architectural revivalism in the British Isles and the authority of form (UCL Press, 2024). She is an experienced strategic lead for inclusion in higher education.

Qualifications

PhD, History of Byzantine Art, The Courtauld Institute of Art (2014)

MA History of Classical and Byzantine Art, The Courtauld Institute of Art (2010)

BA History of Art/Theology, Trinity College Dublin (2009)

Research

Niamh’s research focuses on the lived experience and theology of Early Christian and Byzantine imagery and architecture. She also works on the modern reception of Byzantium, particularly nineteenth-century architecture on the British Isles.

Selected Publications

Books

Bhalla, N.  Newman University Church, Dublin: Architectural revivalism in the British Isles and the authority of form (UCL Press, 2024)

Bhalla, N. Experiencing the Last Judgement (Routledge, 2021)

Bhalla, N. and Kotoula, D. A Handbook to the Modern Reception of Byzantium (Commissioned for Routledge, 2025)

Journal Articles

Bhalla, N. ‘Birth, death, and persuasive analogies: the Nativity at Eğri Taş Kilisesi, Cappadocia’, Word & Image vol. 40, no. 4, 2024.

Bhalla, N. ‘Containing the Uncontainable: Kinaesthetic Analogies and an Early Christian Box’, The Art Bulletin (Sept, 2022)

Book Chapters

Bhalla, N., Rice, J. and Schliesser, B. “People, Peoples” In Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception Online edited by Constance M. Furey, Peter Gemeinhardt, Joel Marcus LeMon, Thomas Chr. Römer, Jens Schröter, Barry Dov Walfish and Eric Ziolkowski. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2024.  

Bhalla, N. ‘Chapter 16: Ivory’, The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the Art and Archaeology of Late Antiquity, O. Brandt, J. Magness & L. Rutgers (eds.) (Forthcoming, Cambridge University Press, 2025)

Bhalla, N. ‘Christian Ivories: containment, manipulation and the creation of meaning’, M. Ellison & M. E. Jensen, (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Early Christian Art (Routledge, 2018)

Reviews

Bhalla, N. ‘Roland Betancourt, Byzantine Intersectionality: Sexuality, Gender, and Race in the Middle Ages. (Race, Justice and Equity.) Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2020. Pp. 274; black-and-white figures’. Speculum, 99/4, 1257-8

Bhalla, N., ‘From Istanbul to Byzantium, 1800–1955 / İstanbul’dan Bisanz’a, 1800–1955. İstanbul, Pera Müzesi 2021’, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 115/3 (Oct, 2022).

Bhalla, N., ‘Medieval Bodies: Life, Death and Art in the Middle Ages’, The Burlington Magazine (Nov, 2018)

Bhalla, N., ‘Egypt: Faith after the Pharaohs’, The Burlington Magazine (May, 2017)

Online Publications

Bhalla, N. ‘Modelling Euro-centricity? Revisiting Architectural Models in the Ottoman Empire‘, V&A Blog (November 2017)

Research Supervision

PhD: Julie Teal, Doom paintings in the East of England c. 1300-1500: Experience and Interpretation