I am an experienced academic balancing a busy family, social and community life with teaching, research, management and administration in Higher Education.

I live in the beautiful Aberfal (Falmouth) in Kernow (Cornwall), UK. The scenery pictured above is one of the town’s scenic beaches, Swanpool.

My academic background is in English. I have taught a wide range of English literature and language modules. I have also taught social and cultural theory, reflective learning, dissertation, documentary dissertation and study skills modules.

My research is focused on popular cultural representations and the intersections of representation (in writing, on screen and in audio) and lived experience.

I am active in the academic field of Death Studies. Much of my work focuses on representations of death, dying and the dead in various forms and media.

Academic Positions

I began working in Higher Education in 2009.

With 15 years of HE experience I have worked as a senior lecturer, a lecturer, associate lecturer, a staff tutor, in university registry and in a higher education community engagement team.

I am the proud recipient of numerous university awards for excellence in teaching, student support and the development of new initiatives. These are detailed here and on my LinkedIn page.

I currently work at the Open University and am the Managing Editor for the academic journal Mortality.

In a voluntary position, I am the social media manager for the academic journal Revenant: Critical and Creative Studies of the Supernatural.

I have been invited to hold several visiting academic positions at UK universities. These are detailed on my Orcid page and include my current and ongoing position as a Visiting Fellow at the University of Bath’s Centre for Death and Society. I am a member of the Steering Group for the Death and Culture Network (DaCNet) at the University of York, and I run a regular online group for death and culture researchers.

I’ve undertaken a range of faculty and departmental leadership roles including course co-ordination and co-ordinating a faculty wide Peer Assisted Learning programme at the University of Bedfordshire.

I’m active in external examining and am experienced in validation events at a range of Higher Education institutions, as well as being experienced in working with Further Education partners and colleges.

As part of my commitment to being collegiate and supportive within academia, I peer review for a wide range of book publishers and academic journals.

I’m a Senior Fellow of the HEA (Higher Education Academy) and a Fellow of the RSA (The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce).

Research

My research interests are interdisciplinary, predominantly centred around cultural representations and their intersections with lived experience.

I am interested in how cultural representations shape, reflect and offer spaces through which to negotiate our complex lives and experiences.

Much of my research has focused on engagement with death and the dead in popular culture, in particular on television and in literature and film.

With colleague Dr. Kay Calver I work on a project on representations of students and universities on screen that has several outputs listed here.

I enjoy managing and editing projects and undertaking collaborative research, engaging with different frameworks and methodologies and exploring how interdisciplinary approaches can advance understandings.

I co-host the successful academic podcast The Death Studies Podcast with Dr. Renske Visser.

Education

I completed a BA and MA in English Literature at Cardiff University.

My MA research focused on the construction of Welsh national identity in post-devolution Welsh writing in English.

My interdisciplinary Ph.D is focused on engagement with death and the dead in popular culture, in particular in literary memoir and television drama. It was awarded by the University of Winchester and is available here.

I am a proud graduate of the UpRising leadership programme.

For details of my qualifications and information about other courses and accreditation I have undertaken, see my LinkedIn page.

Volunteering

Volunteering has been a wonderful way to become involved in the communities I have lived in.

Some of the organisations I have volunteered for are:

• Bedfordshire and District Audio News, a Bedford based charity providing a talking newspaper for the visually impaired
• The National Youth Advocacy Service
• The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce
• UpRising
• The Association of Higher Education Professionals (AHEP, formally the AUA)

I am currently an active volunteer for the Association for the Study of Death and Society, for whom I am a general Council Member.

My LinkedIn profile has more detail on my volunteering experiences and details of relevant volunteer training and courses I’ve undertaken.

Interests

I enjoy hanging out with family and friends, time by myself, lots of walks and exercise, and being by the sea.

At home I like to read, cook, bake, complete (bad) embroidery projects, and watch stuff.

You’ll often find me sipping on cups of black coffee or turmeric tea, or enjoying a nice glass of wine in the evening.