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Lecturer in Media and Communication, University of Leicester

My past research has explored political actors’ identities, and their framing and representation in social and mass media. More recently these interests have shifted towards a focus on gender identities and cultural practices, particularly as they relate to traditional domestic crafts and feminism. My current research project engages with the contemporary revival of sewing and home dressmaking in Britain, exploring its politics, and focusing on the ways in which sewing can be seen to represent an engagement with feminism. While there is substantial literature on the feminist activism embedded in reclaimed crafts like knitting and cross-stitch, there is little exploration of these same political agendas in the practice of home dressmaking, and it is to this gap that my current work speaks. Related to this work is an interest in the digital elements of contemporary dressmaking and the ways in which this material practice is shaped in and through its mediation.

Research Funding

I have recently won a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Grant to fund a new research project entitled: "Digital Dressmaking: Gender, Technology and Craft in Britain’s Contemporary Sewing Communities". This project will run from September 2015 until December 2016.

In addition I have recently received funding to host two 'Sewing Bee' events as part of the Being Human Festival: a festival of the humanities funded by the AHRC, British Academy, Wellcome Trust and the School of Advanced Study. More information about the Being Human Festival can be found here: http://beinghumanfestival.org/being-human-programme-2015/

Career Experience

I joined the Department of Media and Communication in September 2010 as a Lecturer in Media and Communication. Prior to joining the University of Leicester, I worked at University College London and at Northumbria University. Before moving to the UK two years ago, I was employed as a post-doctoral research and teaching fellow at the NCRE at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

Publications

Selected publications

Teaching

I am the MA Global Media and Communication Programme Director and currently teach on a range of modules.

I am currently Module Leader for the following:

MS7022: Global Communications and Development

MS7024: Research Design and Communication

MS7006: Global Affairs, Communications and Power

In addition, I am a contributing lecturer to the following modules:

MS3004: Global Affairs – Communication, Culture and Power

MS2001: The Communication of Politics

MS7214: Gender and Politics

MS7201: Research Project Design and Execution

Experience

  • –present
    Lecturer in Media and Communication, University of Leicester