Colin Harding began an AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award, entitled ‘Horace Nicholls: Artist, Journalist, Propagandist, Opportunist’, in October 2016. As a partnership between IWM and the University of Brighton, his research will investigate primary archival material relating to the work of Horace Nicholls and explore broader issues relating to the development of photography, propaganda and photojournalism. As Britain’s first official photographer on the Home Front Nicholls documented the impact of total war on the British people. After the war, he became the new IWM’s Head of Studio (Chief Photographer) where he worked to secure and develop the IWM’s photographic collections and documented the evolution of commemorative activities. Nicholls’ archive is now dispersed and little known – a factor which has contributed to his lack of public recognition. The archive is preserved as part of the Royal Photographic Society Collection, by the IWM, and by the Horace Nicholls estate. This project will consider Nicholls’ work in the context of its contemporary use and the centenary of the First World. In doing so, it will evaluate his achievements, motivations and influences and the significance of his legacy.