Professor Christoph Lindner
- President and Vice-Chancellor of the Royal College of Art
Professor Christoph Lindner is President and Vice-Chancellor of the Royal College of Art, the internationally renowned art and design postgraduate university, where he also holds the title of Professor of Visual Culture. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Geographic Society.
An interdisciplinary scholar of cities and visual culture, he has over 20 years of experience at public research universities in the United States, Europe, and the UK. His leadership work has focused on advancing educational access and equity, intercultural understanding, and environmental sustainability in the art and design fields.
Professor Lindner joined the RCA in April 2024 from his role as Dean of the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment at University College London. Before joining UCL, he served as Dean of the College of Design at the University of Oregon and, prior to that, Professor of Media and Culture at the University of Amsterdam. During his time at Amsterdam, he created and led the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Analysis, co-founded the Amsterdam Centre for Globalization Studies, and directed the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis.
He has been a visiting professor at New York University, The New School, University of California-Berkeley, University of Edinburgh, University of Freiburg, Queen Mary University of London, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, and the University of London Institute in Paris.
He is a Trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum, general editor of the Cities and Cultures book series at Amsterdam University Press, editorial board member of Places Journal, and a member of the international advisory board of Aarhus University’s Faculty of Arts in Denmark.
Professor Lindner grew up in France and Switzerland and completed his PhD at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author or editor of 15 books in the fields of art, architecture, media and cultural studies, and urban geography.