Who we are

My background is in Public Health, Health Promotion and Health Services Research. My research interests include sexual health, digital health interventions at the interface with patients and the public (for health promotion and healthcare delivery), the development and evaluation of complex interventions, and the patient experience of long-term conditions.

I use a wide range of methods and methodological approaches in my research. I enjoy inter-disciplinary, collaborative and impactful research, particularly applied research with the community and voluntary sector, and NHS organisations. I'm experienced in co-ordinating multi-institutional research projects.

Current and recent projects include:

East Sussex County Council Research Collaboration Hub grant (2024-2025), including a project exploring the impact of creative activities on parents' wellbeing.

Brighton & Hove's Health Counts 2024 Survey. Co-led the design and set-up (before maternity leave) of this city-wide decennial survey, the data from which informs Public Health, NHS and wider service planning in the City.

Health Systems Analysis of Barriers and Readiness of Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) Services in COVID-19 affected areas. I'm a collaborator and researcher on this WHO-funded international study.

Systematic reviews of interactive digital interventions for sexual health promotion and HIV prevention (at UCL)

Completed projects (since joining the University of Brighton)

RISE (knowledge exchange) project with MyCareMatters CIC. Led desk-based and community stakeholder consultative work to refine and improve resources to support person-centred care for older people, and My Future Care booklet to support Advance Care Planning. Developed internal evaluation processes.

Partnerships in the pandemic, and Pilot Evaluation of the Paired app - with collaborators at the Open University, University of Bradford and University College London (see publications)

Living Well with Frailty Experiences (LiFE) Study (Co-designing person-centred frailty interventions with community-dwelling older people and health professionals), a collaboration between Brighton, De Montfort and Birmingham City universities - I co-ordinated this study, funded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing.

Experiences of living with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) and receiving services in Sussex

An investigation of the use of simulated training to enhance clinical leadership skills within the residential care sector - funded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing

Investigating ethnic inequalities in sexually transmitted infections (at the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit for Blood-Borne and Sexually Transmitted Infections - UCL & Public Health England)

I am a critical social and community psychologist using discourse analysis and creative methods to look at how people are making sense of themselves and their lives in the context of neoliberalism. Previous research has included participatory work with lived-experience researchers to explore the role of arts in mental health; and a discursive approach to exploring contemporary constructions of happiness and wellbeing.

I am a critical psychologist based in the School of Humanities and Social Science.

My primary research interests include the body/embodiment in relation to gender, sexuality, exercise/health inequalities,  with a specific focus on improving trans and non-binary people's participation and inclusion in movement, grassroots sport and physical activity. Other topics include LGBTQ+ youth/community, qualitative, creative and participatory research methods, discourse analysis and feminist/trans feminist/queer theory, and working across disciplines (e.g., psychology and sociology).

After completing my PhD at Brighton, I worked as a Researcher for the UK charity Mermaids, who support trans, non-binary and gender diverse children, young people and their families. This gave me a valuable understanding of how research can be used to change lives and have the power to make a real and lasting difference.

Lis Bundock's research interests focus on the experiences of LGBTQ+ trainee teachers and teachers in Higher Education and school contexts. Lis also has an interest in anti-racist education and is currently engaged in a research study focused on exploring 'Exploring race and ethnicity with students in UK universities'.

Lis has just completed Stage 1 of an EdD entitled 'The (im)possible context: What are the lived experiences of gender diverse teachers working within four UK schools?'

In 2017 she completed an MA in Education that focussed on ‘Becoming a teacher and being LGBT: negotiating the heteronormative in primary school contexts’. 

Lis is currently completing stage 2 of her EdD which explores the explores the lived experiences of gender doverse teachers. She is a Senior Fellow in Higher Education and was nominated for an Advance HE National Teaching Fellowship by the University of Brighton in 2024.

I am the Lead and Creator of the Understanding Childhood and Adolescence Research Excellence Group. I am also the Director of the associated research lab, The Wonder Laboratory.

More specifically, I am interested in vulnerable persons, particularly children and adolescents, being involved in the criminal justice system, whether it be as victims, witnesses or suspects. My PhD research focused on detecting children’s false allegations, but now I am focused on researching evidence-based, developmentally-appropriate forensic interviewing practices that facilitate disclosure of sensitive, crime-relevant information.

My current research projects are:

• Understanding developmental and contextual factors that influence decisions to disclose or withhold information;
• Creating an evidence base for effective child forensic interview techniques that enhance detailed responding and support the memory retrieval process;
• Comparing and contrasting international approaches to child forensic interviewing to establish key best-practice principles;
• Implementing effective investigative interviewing principles (Mendez principles) in relation to child forensic interviewing through networking and training.

I am a social psychologist interested in how people’s, particularly (but not limited to) women's, appearance, bodies and body image interact with societal factors from a critical sociopsychological perspective.

I completed an MSc in Applied Social Psychology and a PhD in Psychology at the University of Sussex. My doctoral thesis examined how social class contexts, beyond being indicators of access to resources, shape women’s body image in the UK.

My research interests include:

• Body image experiences amongst people from underrepresented and/or Minoritised groups (e.g., gender, social class, race and sexual orientations) and in particular, amongst working-class women
• Work that redresses majoritised perspectives (e.g., white supremacy, middle-class-ness as the gold standard), particularly in body image research
• Experiences of discrimination and/or dehumanisation in relation to appearance and bodies
• Objectification, sexualisation and the commodification of women’s appearance and bodies

I also contribute to the following research networks as:

• Management Board member (Communications Lead) - Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender (CTSG), University of Brighton
• Committee Member - British Psychological Society (BPS) Psychology of Women and Equalities Section (POWES)
• ECR Rep - Inclusive Digital Societies REG, University of Brighton
• External member - Sports, Physical Activity, Health and Exercise Research (SPHERE) Group at the University of Sussex.

My research interests encompass various thematic issues within the sociology of sport and physical education, focusing primarily on martial arts and combat sports.  Specifically, I have explored how gender relations, gender identity, and sexuality impact on participation in martial arts; the value of martial arts within physical education curricula; media representations of professional fighters; the construction of meaning around notions of ‘violence’ among martial artists; the provision of medical support in combat sports; the roles of referees in mixed martial arts (MMA) competitions; and the social practice of consent in combat sports.

Besides these, I am also interested in the relationship between professional sport and the media; young people’s consumption of social media relative to questions around body image and fitness; and the inclusion of sexual minority athletes in sports.

Alex Nora Esculapio is a lecturer in Historical and Critical Studies for the BA (Hons) Fashion Business, BA (Hons) Textiles and Business and BA (Hons) Fashion Communication and Business. Her research interests include historical and contemporary cultures of (un)sustainability, environmental history and humanities and queer ecologies. 

I am interested in language in connection with gender and sexuality in Italy/Italian. I study (and have published on) this topic from different angles and methodologies:

• sexist language used to reconstruct the traditional arrangement in Italian society (men/public - women/private) as well as failed and successful attempts to subvert this. 
• inclusive language, i.e. attempts to break the grammatical and social binary.
• insults directed at female politicians.
• violence against women and, more specifically, the gendered crime of femminicidio (femicide) in the parliament, in newspapers and on TV
• masculinities
• construction of gender, related to far-right and women in power in social media (with Dr Giulia Evolvi, University of Bologna/ University of Colorado Boulder)

I also published on violence against women in sentencing remarks in England and Wales (with Dr Amanda Potts) and on constructions of hegemonic and subordinate masculinities in YouTube comments (with Dr Mandie Iveson).

I published my first monograph Gender, Discourse and Ideology in Italian in 2019 (Palgrave) and my second monograph - Feminism, corpus-assisted research and language inclusivity - has recently been published by Cambridge University Press. I was awarded a Great Minds scholarship (September 2022 - January 2023) to write the second monograph.

At the moment, I form part of a network of scholars on the topic of inclusive language all around the world, through the Research Networking Project “Language and Gender: Academic Research and Practical Implementation”.

A special issue I am editing on the topic of gender-inclusive language and discrimination will soon be published in the Journal of Language and Discrimination.

Professor Jaspal's research cuts across the fields of psychology and public health, focussing particularly on social psychological approaches to promoting good psychological and physical health outcomes. He has developed the Health Adversity Risk Model (HARM) to predict the impact of social and psychological stressors and identity threat on health outcomes. Much of his research using the model has focused on HIV prevention, HIV care and mental health. With Professor Dame Glynis Breakwell, Rusi Jaspal has contributed to the development of Identity Process Theory. Additionally, Professor Jaspal has conducted extensive research into aspects of psychological wellbeing among gay men, the management of identities in conflict, national identity, prejudice and discrimination, public understanding of science, technology and medicine and the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rusi Jaspal is the author or editor of 6 books, and has written over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and reports for the Department of Health. He supervises and examines PhD students in his areas of expertise.

I am a critical and cultural theorist who employs psychoanalytic thinking to theorise the interrelation of social and symbolic change, with a particular interest in the philosophy, theory, politics and aesthetics of social reproduction and care. In my monograph, Donald Winnicott and the Politics of Care, published in the Palgrave Macmillan series, Studies in the Psychosocial, in 2022, I investigated what the work of psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott can contribute to understanding, as well as addressing, the crisis of care at the heart of contemporary society. My more recent work and current projects explore the relationship between psychoanalytic thinking and social and symbolic change, centring feminist, queer and decolonial perspectives.

More broadly, my research foregrounds the relationship between psychoanalysis, culture and society. I explore psychoanalytic thinking as a critical discourse in the Humanities, and as both a product, and active agent, of social and cultural change. I am concerned with the relationship between psychoanalysis, as theory and practice, and social justice; the politics of mental health; and the politics of reproduction and care. Theoretically, my work draws on a range of psychoanalytic perspectives, including Freudian, Lacanian, object relational and Laplanchian approaches, as well as Critical Theory; feminist theory; gender studies; queer theory and cultural studies. Much of my research to date has explored the knots that bind psychoanalytic thinking to cultural practices and social processes.

I am Course Leader for the BA(Hons) Politics, Sexuality and Gender, for which I led the design and successful validation. I'm a member of the Management Board for the Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics at Brighton, where I contribute to several themes, including 'The Politics of Reproduction' and 'Political Fictions.'

My PhD involved measuring the effects of a polyphenol-rich breakfast on gluco-regulation, cognitive performance, energy expenditure, mood, and satiety; measured using indirect calorimetry, visual analogue scales, and computerised tests; in adults, and in adolescents attending local schools. I have worked extensively within Public Health delivering health promotion interventions to a wide range of audiences across different settings.

My research addresses the implicit background to political and ethical practices. In my current research, I attend to the ontological assumptions in political analyses and imaginaries:

Racism, coloniality and ontology

This research interrogates the turn towards the philosophical concept of ‘ontology’ in attempts to understand relations among nature, materiality, technology, agency, change, difference, and the human. I am especially interested in how contemporary theorisations of racism, migration, borders, and sovereign power often draw – directly or indirectly – upon the concept of ontology. I draw upon decolonial critiques of the history of the concept of ontology, examining the relationships between its emergence and the development of colonial and racist cosmologies. This research explores the legacies of these relationships for contemporary theorising.

In my previous research, the kinds of implicit backgrounds I focused on were historically- and geographically-specific modes of embodiment and affect:

The Politics of Race, Ethnicity, Sexuality, and Gender in Everyday Practice

I have developed innovative theorisations of the affective, bodily and ‘machinic’ background to the micro-politics of everyday life. This research builds on my doctoral study to examine how racialised, ethnicised, sexualised and gendered power relations are enacted and embodied in everyday practice. Theoretically, it is informed by Deleuzoguattarian theories of ‘affect’ and ‘machinism’ to explore new ways of thinking about the relationship between the capabilities bodies have to affect and be affected by one another in specific events and broader historically-specific social and political formations.

Sexual Politics in the SlutWalk

Based on empirical work conducted at SlutWalk marches in 2011 and 2012, this project – a collaboration with Alexandra Fanghanel (University of Greenwich) – considered how anti-rape discourses variously contest, negotiate and reproduce dominant constructions of female sexual subjectivity and embodiment and of gendered inequalities in access to urban public space.

• Consumer behaviour and psychology
• Customer relationship marketing
• Branding
• Family decisions
• Gender and sexuality in marketing
• Cultural dimensions
• Qualitative research methods

My research interests revolve around three main areas:

1. LGBTQ equality issues and policies from a geographic perspective (locally, nationally, and transnationally);
2. The spaces made and used by LGBTQ communities such as neighbourhoods, bars, and social groups;
3. Issues of body image, shape and size amongst GBQ men, especially in the Bear subculture.

Most of my research has been done in partnership with LGBTQ community groups, charities, and activists from around the world. Through my teaching and research, I want to show and explore how we can use geography to improve LGBTQ lives.

My research is primarily concerned with British television drama’s uses of space and place. Critical orthodoxies suggest that British television negotiated a transition from ‘theatrical’ to ‘cinematic’ drama, characterised by the move from studio to location, from videotape to film/digital, and from multi-camera to single-camera. The research further explores the interplay of the poetics of space and place: how screen cultures used the resources of production space to construct narrative place. Within that framework I have a particular interest in representations of place, the politics of labour, social spaces, and performance.

Dr Chrystie Myketiak is a political discourse analyst who examines language in use in order to uncover what its form, function, and structure tells us about interaction, structural inequalities, and the covert values and beliefs within a culture. Her research interests are in power and justice; gender, sexualities, desire; intersectionality; violence; social norms; sociocultural theories (specifically, feminist and queer theories); mediated communication.

Chrystie's specialist research is in three areas, with each strand combining her general interests. The first addresses talk about sex, sexuality and desire as social forces through the investigation of conversations in a technologically-mediated community; the monograph, Online Sex Talk and the Social World (Palgrave, "Studies on Language, Gender, and Sexuality"), culminates her work in this area. In order to support her writing of this book, the University of Brighton awarded her a Sabbatical Award. Chrystie's second strand of research is an intersectional discourse analysis of texts produced by mass shooters, which focuses on how the desire-centred discourse strategies used by the offenders attempt to legitimate structural inequalities and construct normative identities. This research will be published in the book Discourse, Demand, Desire: An Intersectional Analysis of Mass Shooter Texts (Palgrave). Her third body of research examines accountability and agency in medical contexts. This work began as a discursive-pragmatic analysis in clinical incident reporting and more recently, alongside collaborators in Australia, focuses on domestic violence policies in primary care settings

Dr Ceren Özpınar is a historian specialising in art, visual culture, historiography and exhibitions in the 20th and 21st centuries. Her research focuses on the relationship between gender, identity, community, and art since 1960 with a special focus on Turkey, the Middle East, and their diasporas. Ceren's research interests lie in three key areas: Revisiting art histories; investigating transnational feminist alliances in the wider Middle Eastern geography; and an examination of curatorial strategies and discourses of large-scale exhibitions, such as retrospectives and biennials, in the Global South.

Ceren's research has been supported externally by the British Academy, College Art Association (CAA), the Getty Foundation, Association for Art History (AAH), and the Turkish Research Council (TUBITAK). Internally, in 2020, Ceren was awarded a Rising Star, which is one of the University of Brighton's research awards, for her project "Where Matter Meets Memory: Alternative Political Futures in Kurdish Art Today.” Ceren's project investigates creative works produced within the diasporic Kurdish communities. In 2023, Ceren was awarded the Kickstart Fund, which provided her with the much-needed teaching relief to complete her second monograph. 

Publications

Ceren's latest book, which is her second monograph, Art, Feminism, and Community: Feminist Art Histories from Turkey, 1973-1998, is published in November 2024 with Oxford University Press. This book has been supported by the Association for Art History, the British Academy, and Brighton's Centre for Design History. It investigates the relationship between art history, women-identifying artists, and their lives and communities, building on her Newton research project entitled "Re-visiting Feminist Temporalities in Art and Art History in Turkey from the 1970s onwards" (2015-17).

Her co-edited volume titled Under The Skin: Feminist Art and Art Histories from The Middle East and North Africa Today, was published by Oxford University Press and The British Academy in 2020 (read the reviews in Oxford Art Journal, Third Text and Woman's Art Journal). Her first monograph The Art Historiography in Turkey (1970-2010), which stemmed from her doctoral thesis, was published in 2016 by the History Foundation (Tarih Vakfi) Press.

Ceren's latest articles appeared in the Art Journal, Art in Translation, Art & the Public Sphere, and Third Text. She wrote several essays for edited volumes and special issues on invitation, including Image & Text (ed. Schmahmann), A Companion to Contemporary Art in a Global Framework (eds. Jones & Davidson), and Transnational Perspectives on Feminism and Art, 1960-1985 (eds. Kennedy, Szymanek & Mallory).

My research interests broadly concern issues of inclusivity in the history of art, art museums and art collections, as well as a subject specialization in nineteenth century visual culture with a focus on portraiture. My primary concerns are how gender and related social formations (sexuality, the nation, the modern) organize the production and circulation of visual images. I have applied feminist methods to research on the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries including through a number of collaborations with artists, curators and cultural organizations.

My main research interests relate to people's ideas and experiences of masculinity, in particular, the extent to which cultural norms and expectations are changing in society. I am interested in exploring the ways that masculinities can be presented and performed, particularly in relation to practices of care and vulnerability.

My PhD research focused on heterosexual men's fathering practices, exploring how parenting expectations were navigated and made sense of. Using ethnographic methods, I was interested in how embodied caring practices contributed to fathering identities in different contexts, including domestic spaces, public spaces, and 'father-only' playgroups.

My work as a research assistant has also explored how cultural norms of masculinity are navigated in relation to violence and vulnerability, investigating the barriers men face when seeking formal support for unwanted sexual experiences (MUSE). 

I am currently working on a project which explores the relationship between bisexuality and masculinity. The aim of this study is to explore how bisexual men's feelings of and beliefs about masculinity are related to their engagement in different sexual practices with their female and male sexual partners. 

My research focuses on sexualities, LGBT+ literatures and queer cultural production, on the narrativity of identity, and on the cultural construction of childhood and adolescence. My publications and presentations have explored bisexual theory, camp, dialogue as theoretical production, discourses of maturity and queer temporalities, and on the intersections between literature, performance and pop. Recent projects include an examination of intergenerational friendships, kinship and communication in children’s time-slip fiction, and on queer spaces and subjectivities in the fiction and performance work of Neil Bartlett. My current work investigates queer textualities and the shifting roles of dissident reading and writing strategies in subcultural identity practices. 

Alexandra is a mixed methods researcher with a background in Health Psychology. Her particular research interests and expertise lie in the areas of maternal and child health, and include preterm birth and its impact on families; parents' experiences of participating in neonatal trials; and maternal mental health. More recently her research has focused on evaluating interventions designed to reduce health inequalities. 

Current Research Projects

• Health systems analysis and evaluations of the barriers to availability, utilization and readiness of sexual and reproductive health services in COVID-19 affected areas - World Health Organization
• Investigating the impact of Covid-19 on local communities within East Sussex - East Sussex County Council
• Implementing Family Integrated Care in Zambia - University of Brighton Interdisciplinary Research Initiative 
• WHO ProSPeRero: Project on Sexually Transmitted Infection Point-of-care Testin - Clinic based evaluation of SD BIOLINE HIV/Syphilis Duo (Alere) and DPP® HIV-Syphilis Assay (Chembio) for the screening of HIV and syphilis in men who have sex with men in in the STI screening facilities of Brighton and Hove, United Kingdom (UK)

Previous Research Projects

• Diabetes UK Community Champions Evaluation (North West Surrey CCG)
• Best Practice in Occupational Health (Network Rail)
• Evaluation of Care Navigation as part of the Right Person First initiative (CANE - Care Navigation Evaluation).
• FuelPre (Fuel Poverty Reduction Evaluation). Evaluation of the NHS Hastings & Rother Clinical Commissioning Group Healthy Homes Programme
• A better understanding what makes for effective conversations about alcohol between parents & their 15-17 year olds. Drinkaware.
• Evaluation of the Education, Training, Volunteering & Employment (ETVE) Project for People Living with HIV (PLWHIV)
• Older people living with HIV in residential care homes. Extension to the Education, Training, Volunteering & Employment (ETVE) project

I am currently Director of the Centre for Transforming Sexuality & Gender (CTSG) which brings together undergraduates, postgraduates, doctoral and post-doctoral students as well as early career researchers, visiting researchers and senior professors, to focus on issues relating to sexuality, gender, and social change. If you are interested in joining the Centre, please contact us:  ctsg@brighton.ac.uk

My research interests are driven strongly by a social justice agenda, along with a desire for research to be collaborative and participatory with demonstrative social impact which ultimately tackles disadvantage and inequalities in health.

I am interested in all areas of research relating to public health and health promotion theory, policy, and practice, especially with an international/global focus. Areas of specific interest and expertise relate to three key areas:

1. Sexual health, sexual orientation, and gender identity
2. Mental and physical health inequalities
3. Parenting (including fatherhood, breastfeeding, and young parents).

Current research projects:

• ESCC Research Collaboration Hub (RCH)
• GambLGBTQ+: Understanding Gambling in LGBTQ+ communities
• AHRC Coastal Community & Creative Health (3CH)
• SBRI Healthcare: Creation of a Recipe Book for sustainable ICU
• NIHR - Investigating the role of Theatre-in-Education in preventing illicit substance use
• WHO Policy Brief in Health Promotion
• Health Counts 2024: A city wide health survey of Brighton & Hove
• WHO ProSPeRero: Project on Sexually Transmitted Infection Point-of-care Testin - Clinic based evaluation of SD BIOLINE HIV/Syphilis Duo (Alere) and DPP® HIV-Syphilis Assay (Chembio) for the screening of HIV and syphilis in men who have sex with men in the STI screening facilities of Brighton and Hove, United Kingdom (UK).

Previous research projects:

European/International:

• Council of Europe - LGBTQI+ Access to Healthcare
• WHO CV-19: Health systems analysis and evaluations of the barriers to availability, utilization and readiness of sexual and reproductive health services in COVID-19 affected areas.
• ESTICOM: European Surveys & Trainings to Improve MSM Community Health project. European Commission. Lead for WP6 (ECHOES Survey).
• Health4LGBTI: reducing health inequalities experienced by LGBTI people. European Commission. Lead for WP1 & WP2

• HEPCOM:Preventing obesity among children and young people.
• Everywhere in Japan: HIV prevention for Men who have Sex with Men
• SIALON II: Capacity building in combining targeted prevention with meaningful HIV surveillance among men who have sex with men
• SODEMIFA: Addressing the social determinants of health: Multilevel governance of policies aimed at families with children
• DAIWA: A feasibility study to explore the European Everywhere framework in Japan
• ACTION-FOR-HEALTH: Reducing health inequalities - preparation for action plans and structural funds projects
• GRADIENT: Tackling the Gradient - applying public health policies to effectively reduce health inequalities amongst families and children
• H-CUBE: HBV-HCV-HIV- Three different and serious threats for European young people. A network to study and face these challenges in the EU
• EVERYWHERE Project: A European multi-sectoral network for the prevention of HIV/AIDS for men having sex with men
• TEP: Health Promotion International – Transatlantic Exchange Partnership: EU-Canada
• ECHIM European Community Health Indicator Monitoring Project
• CEIHPAL Canadian-European Initiative for Health Promotion Advanced Learning: EU-Canada
• PHETICE: Public Health Education and Training in an Enlarging Europe
• DETERMINE: EU Consortium for action on the socio-economic determinants of Health
• ENGENDER: Inventory of good practices in Europe for promoting gender equity in health

Local/national:

• LGBTQ+ People and Gambling Harms: Scoping Study
• Investigating the impact of Covid-19 on local communities within East Sussex.
• A review of alcohol use amongst gender and sexual minorities
• CEPN: East Sussex Learning Together Community Education Provider Network
• Best Practice in Corporate Occupational Health
• Diabetes UK Community Champions Project Evaluation (DUKCC).
• Exploring a whole-system intervention to improve mental health and wellbeing in schools.
• Evaluation of Care Navigation as part of the Right Person First initiative (CANE - Care Navigation Evaluation).
• FuelPre (Fuel Poverty Reduction Evaluation). Evaluation of the NHS Hastings & Rother Clinical Commissioning Group Healthy Homes Programme.
• Peas Please Veg City project. Listening First: ‘Veg on a Budget’Evaluation of the Education, Training, Volunteering & Employment (ETVE) Project for People Living with HIV (PLWHIV).
• Older people living with HIV in residential care homes. Extension to the Education, Training, Volunteering & Employment (ETVE) project.
• A better understanding what makes for effective conversations about alcohol between parents & their 15-17 year olds. Drinkware.
• Healthy Hastings & Rother Programme: Developing an evaluation methodology. Hastings & Rother CCG.
• Engaging fathers to support breastfeeding
• Engagement with young people to inform health improvement commissioning for children, families and schools in East Sussex
• Analysis of the Better Beginnings consultation in East Sussex
• Engaging and supporting fathers to promote breastfeeding: A concept analysis
• An evaluation of services for young people in East Sussex: FE nurse provision at schools and colleges, pulse innov8, and the young men’s health worker service
• The perspectives of fathers on the development of a breastfeeding support pack
• Understanding the service needs of routine and manual smokers working on building sites in Tower Hamlets
• Fathers’ views on breastfeeding in Brighton and Hove
• The Sussex LGBTU Training and Development Research Partnership
• The West Sussex LGBTU Youth Research Project and LGBTU Launch Event
• Review of Brighton and Hove WHO Phase IV Healthy City Programme
• The effectiveness of an innovative digital-Story intervention aimed at reducing binge drinking among young people
• Evaluation of fpa’s ‘Speakeasy’ course for parents
• Supporting young fathers: examples of promising practice
• Promoting health and emotional wellbeing: accredited training for supported housing staff working with young people
• Communication and supervision about alcohol in families
• Determinants of sport and physical activity amongst young women: a secondary analysis
• Evaluation of the community sport and enhanced PESSCL pilot programme,
• Speakeasy parenting fund evaluation: supporting professionals working with young people around sex and relationships

Gender-based violence, sexual violence, victim-survivor experiences, hate crime, online hate, gender and sexualities, gender and criminal justice, criminal law and criminal evidence, family law, LGBTQI+ experiences, feminist research methods and ethics, online research methods, online research ethics

I am currently a Research Fellow on the GambLGBTQ+ project working with co-PI's Dr Laetitia Zeeman and Dr Alex Sawyer. GambLGBTQ+ is a study aiming to understand gambling in LGBTQ+ Communities. It is a collaboration between researchers at the Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender (CTSG) and the School of Education, Sport and Health Sciences, University of Brighton, LGBT Switchboard Brighton and Hove, and YouGov. It is a mixed methods project which includes conducting a survey to understand the prevalence of gambling and gambling harms amongst LGBTQ+ communities for the first time in Great Britain. Interviews, online diaries and photovoice are all used to gain a more in-depth understanding of the harms, barriers to support, protective factors, and actions those with lived experience would like to see.

I have recently been awarded a R&KE Development Fund grant to conduct research with local charity The Clare Project into the experiences of cycling for trans* individuals. The very small amount of existing research on LGBTQ+ experiences of cyling highlight it's use for mutual aid, it's liberating potential, and joyfulness, alongside the multiple barriers. This project will hold group discussions and produce a digital zine to increase our understanding of the benefits to health and wellbeing and inform approaches to ensure a greater diversity of residents participate in active travel.

The PhD project I recently completed (January 2024) concerns researching trans and non-binary embodied experiences of city space and the implications for urban planning theory and practice. How does contemporary English local planning practice incorporate gender into policy and practice? Can planning be inclusive of trans and non-binary residents?

I utilised creative mapping methods to explore trans and non-binary embodiment and spatialities, alongside discourse analysis and stakeholder interviews to understand local planning practice. In the thesis an infrastructural approach to trans life is developed in relation to the policy domains of mobility, housing, and green spaces. Trans infrastructures are conceptualised as the collective dependencies and spatialised flows of care that enable and constrain trans lives. Trans infrastructures is conceived as a bridging concept between lived experiences, embodied knowledges, and the discipline of planning. An expansive infrastructural lens provides a conceptual guide for planners and associated practitioners, but crucially and more radically a conceptual platform from which trans people can better throw bricks.

It is available here: Trans Infrastructures

My research interests are contemporary urban governance and the role of spatial policy within this; the geographies of gender and sexuality; mobilities; the epistemics of British planning and it's relationship to colonialism; how queer and transfeminist political praxis can ameliorate and transform the inequalities LGBTQ+ communities face.

Neurodivergent-affirming practice

As an autistic and ADHD person, living with complex PTSD, I am interested in research into ways practice can become affirming and inclusive of neurodivergent people's needs, across the lifespan. Intersectionality is important in this work, through taking an approach that addresses the complex ways in which neurodivergence intersects with different people's other core identities such as age, gender, race, and sexuality.  

#TheDarkSideOfOccupation

The Dark Side of Occupation is a concept I created and continue to develop. This means I aim to continue to research aspects of occupation, and of people's subjective experiences of occupation, that have previously been ignored or extremely under-explored. 

My PhD was an endeavour to do just this, as I researched the impact of woman-to-woman rape. This is a complex form of sexual offending; victim/survivors are invisible and silenced and, as I found, often cope alone or with very little support.  

My interests are based upon my belief that it is no longer acceptable to ignore all of the occupations that people subjectively experience and that can impact upon their health and/or their well-being - be it in a helpful or a detrimental way. The range of occupations we should consider ranges from the everyday, mundane right through to the more extreme, perhaps risky and illegal.  

My doctoral work has really ignited an interest in further exploring the impact of trauma and the associated ways in which people can action endurance, survival, and identity renegotiation through a range of occupations that could be considered by some as 'adaptive' or 'maladaptive'. Though, occupation is more complex than any such binary distinction, as the subjective experience can alter or transform in response to, or because of, various factors that impact upon human occupation.  

In line with this aim to gain a more authentic understanding of human occupation, I identify as a Feminist Auto/Biographical researcher, meaning I concur with Letherby (2014, p. 45) that "research is informed by auto/biographical experience and is an intellectual activity that involves a consideration of power, emotion and P/politics".  

Funding Applications Awarded 

• 2021 - Awarded seed funds from Centre for Arts and Wellbeing, University of Brighton 
• 2021 - Awarded 'seed grant' funds from Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Australia (as external Co-Investigator on team project with Dr Daniela Castro de Jong as Chief Investigator).  
• 2021 – Awarded seed funds from CORE Transforming Sexuality and Gender (CTSG), University of Brighton 
• 2019 - Awarded pump-priming funds from Institute of Health & Community, University of Plymouth  
• 2019 - Awarded funds from Continuing Professional Development Grants Panel, Elizabeth Casson Trust 
• 2013 - Awarded funds from Social Science Doctoral Training Centre (DTC), University of Plymouth 

Other Scholarly Awards 

• 2022 - Journal of Occupational Science. I am proud to have supported Rachel Rule by co-authoring our paper Developing an occupational perspective of women involved in sex work: A discussion paper. Rachel was the recipient of the 2021 Wilcock Award for Emerging Authors for: 1) Excellence/innovation of the topic, 2) Contributes to the advancement of occupational science, 3) Well-crafted writing. 

My reseach interests are in contemporary literature and culture, most specifically in Black British and post-communist/'Eastern European' writing. Recent publications in these areas include 'Eastern Europeans and BrexLit' (JPW Special Issue Writing Brexit: Colonial Remains), 'Redressing Racist Legacies in the Melancholic Nation: Anger and Silences in Andrea Levy’s Fruit of the Lemon' (Special In Memoriam Issue of Ariel: A Review of International English Literature, ed. by Henghameh Saroukhani, Sarah Lawson-Welsh and Michael Perfect). 

My 2019 monograph - the first book about the representations of 'Eastern European' migrants in contemporary British literature and culture - provides a comprehensive study of this 'wave' of migration to the UK and Western Europe following the enlargement of the EU in the 21st century, the social and political changes after the fall of communism, and the Brexit vote. It explores the recurring figures of 'Eastern Europeans' as a new reservoir of cheap labour in multiple contemporary cultural texts:

https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781137537911#aboutBook

My recent activities have been focused on building long-lasting community partnerships, most notably with New Writing South (acting as one of their Trustees), Marlborough Productions and The Centre for the Study of Sexual Dissidence (Sussex University) through our co-organisation and co-curation of the The Coast is Queer, UK's biggest LGBTQIA+ literature festival https://coastisqueer.com/, Afrori Books (through book clubs and the AHRC Ignite-funded projects - https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/decolonisingatfalmer/anti-racist-kids-project/) https://afroribooks.co.uk/, and the Brighton Book Festival (as part of the programming team in the laste 2 years https://www.brightonbookfestival.co.uk/).

Recent Funded Projects

'Queer Intergenerational Conversations' at the Coast is Queer 2024 - with Charlotte Wilcox and Lesley Wood (funded by AHRC Ignite 3.3) https://coastisqueer.com/event/queer-intergenerational-conversations-at-the-coast-is-queer-2024/

'ARK' - anti-racist kids club - community partnership project with Afrori Books, Blatchington Mill School and Cardinal Newman School (funded by AHRC Ignite 3.2) to deliver Afrori's flagship 6 weeks' anti-racist kids workshops to Y7 and Y9 pupils, and train Brighton Univeristy's students who are interested in anti-racist education (completed June-July 2024; https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/decolonisingatfalmer/anti-racist-kids-project/).

'Reading to Resist, Reading to Belong: A Space for Black Writing'- community partnership project with Afrori and Diversity Lewes (funded by AHRC Ignite 3.1) explores how the bookshop acts as a space of community and belonging and what the act of reading Black Literature in Brighton means in terms of anti-racist practice, resistance, and representation, as well as how it can promote wellbeing, pleasure and joy in an increasingly hostile environment for racialised communities. Details of the project can be found here: https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/decolonisingatfalmer/reading-to-resist-reading-to-belong-community-university-partnership/. The title of the project was inspired by Prof Suzanne Scafe's talk for the DeCol Collective: https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/decolonisingatfalmer/reading-to-resist-the-disruptive-potential-of-black-british-literature/

Cartography of the Political Novel in Europe (CAPONEU) (EU Horizon, co-I) - aims to assess the political novel as an important element of European political, social and cultural heritage. It sets out to examine how people in different national and cultural contexts engage with contemporary political issues and thereby have their share in shaping European societies and politics. More about the project: https://www.caponeu.eu/

Events/projects/conferences

An interview with Monique Roffey for the Big Read Event: https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/bigread/2021/03/31/2021-monique-roffey/

Queer Writers from the Post-Yugoslav region, The Coast is Queer Festival, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gilVnrAl-pU&t=79s

Within the Four Walls: Queer Lockdown Stories Project, 1-4:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwaC7xY_pro&t=77s (with Juno Roche, Nehaal Bajwa, Mikey Birtwistle and Zia X)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqfyzLnKDq4&t=59s (with Annie Whilby – AFLO. the poet, Nat Raha, Razan Ghazzawi and Savannah Sevenzo)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIcC59HnC7E&t=116s (with Tanaka Mhishi, Daniel Spelman, Jane Traies and Subira Wahogo)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8V0E0RXD9s&t=4s

(with: Sea Sharp, John McCullough, Ray Filar and Roxana Xamán).

Common Threads: Black and Asian British Women's Writing International  Conference, Keynote Speakers: Bernardine Evaristo, Sharon Duggal, Louisa Uchum Egbunike, University of Brighton, 21-23 July 2022 (co-organised with Prof Suzanne Scafe, Dr Kadija George and Dr Sarah Lawson-Welsh) https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/decolonisingatfalmer/common-threads-black-and-asian-british-womens-writing-international-conference/. 

See The Amplify Project podcast about the 2022 conference here: https://theamplifyproject.co.uk/writers/common-threads-black-and-asian-british-womens-writing-international-conference-2022/

Black British Women's Writing: Tracing the Tradition and New Directions, First International Conference of the Black British Women's Writers Network (BBWWN, https://www.facebook.com/groups/Black-British-Women%27s-Writing-Network-378188258946761/), Keynote Speaker: Bernardine Evaristo, University of Brighton July 2014

Videos from the conference:

Valerie Mason-John: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZYzQOJSbXk

Dorothea Smartt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZDN5f4u8x4

Liam's work primarily focuses on the impact of the internet and the role of community participation for non-heterosexual individuals who engage in kink practices. Specfically, he has published on how the internet is used by kinky gay and bisexual men as a way of generating kink identities, connecting with others, and forging communities online and offline. He has also documented the development of the kink subculture of pup play, demonstrating how the internet is embedded into origin narratives and serves as a tool for connectivity.

His work also explores sexual consent, non-exclusive sexualities, consumption of pornography, sexul risk behaviours, social deviance and the interface of sexuality with illicit drug use, and the social impact of COVID-19, with a focus on sexual practices and sexual cultures. 

He has published on these areas in leading international journals, including Archives of Sexual Behaviour, Journal of Sex Research, Psychology & Sexuality, Sexual Medicine, Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, British Journal of Sociology, and Culture, Health and Sexuality. His sole-authored monograph, Kinky in the Digital Age, was published with Oxford University Press in 2022. His edited book, The Power of BDSM, was also published with Oxford University Press in 2023.

Liam is currently editor for the journal Psychology of Sexualities Review, associate editor for Psychology & Sexuality, and the Journal of Positive Sexuality, and sits on the editorial board for the Journal of Sex Research. He is also co-editor for the Oxford University Press book series on Sexuality, Identity and Society. He is currently guest editing a special issue in Current Opinion in Psychology on Sexual and Gender Diversity in the 21st Century. 

Supervisory Interests

I am interested in supervising students in any of the following areas:

• mental health, counselling and psychotherapy
• relational approaches to distress and psychotherapeutic interventions, trauma-sensitive mental health provision  
• critical perspectives on mental health provision (both formal and informal) for LGBTQIA+ and other marginalised/underrepresented groups
• informal mental health support, including peer relationships, peer support and/or friendships
• social/community approaches to mental health and well-being

Projects might use creative visual methods or qualitative methods.

Scholarly biography

I teach on a range of modules with a focus on both applied and counselling psychology, mood and anxiety disorders, critical approaches to mental health and psychiatry, and the use of qualitative methods.

My research since arriving at HASS has focused on using qualitative methods to explore radical informal peer mental health support in a local Brighton LGBTQIA+ community. Working collaboratively with psychology colleagues at HASS this project is now oriented towards dissemination to the community and wider stakeholders in mental health in the city.  

Currently, I am completing a research study which will be submitted for the BPS/HCPC doctoral award in Counselling Psychology. This phenomenological study explores the experiences of Queer identified psychotherapists in their clinical practice. This hybrid IPA design includes a creative haptic method, in which participants have been invited to ‘doodle with clay’. This broader than usual dataset significantly expands the scope of the interpretive analysis.  

I am an integrative psychotherapist in general private practice and see adult clients for a range of emotional and psychological issues. My practice integrates relational psychoanalytic, attachment and humanistic principles and is both body-aware and trauma-informed.

Before beginning clinical training in psychotherapy I worked for the NHS in applied psychology research and in clinical roles in community psychiatry. I have also held a number of roles in journalism and media, in investigative journalism and broadcasting as well as community and participatory media. 

Research interests

I primarily use qualitative methods, including descriptive and interpretive phenomenological analysis, thematic analysis, and creative methods.

I situate myself as a critical community and counselling psychologist, with a particular interest in lived experience. As an integrative psychotherapist I am interested in the intersubjective-as-praxis for the relational healing of distress. I explore sense-making, including narrative, metaphor and the imaginal, as means of processing difficult life and existential experiences including traumatic stress. My clinical research interests are in the possibilities of innovative ways of sharing human connection and vulnerability in promoting psychological resilience and emotional health at a social and community level, as well as within the individual.

Affiliations:

The University of Brighton’s Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender: CTSG)

 Education

Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology and Integrative Psychotherapy, Metanoia Institute/Middlesex University

MA Social Anthropology, School of Oriental and African Studies

BA Modern History, University of Oxford

Dr Laetitia Zeeman has developed a research and scholarly focus in the field of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion to address the specific health needs of minority populations. Her research has evolved around gender, sexualities and health to inform healthcare education. With an increasing awareness of the health inequalities experienced by minority populations, as we develop ways of addressing the causes of these inequalities, the motivation for this work is to co-produce participatory and socially just healthcare systems. With the related provision of culturally sensitive education for health professions students, her work tackles the barriers that people may experience when accessing healthcare. The overarching aim of her research, scholarly activity and teaching is to achieve greater health equity.

Current Research

• GambLGBTQ+ (CoPI) Understanding gambling in LGBTQ+ communities funded by GambleAware with YouGov, LGBT+ Switchboard, Dr Alex Sawyer (CoPI), Dr Helen Johnson, Prof Nigel Sherriff. 
• LGBTI people's access to healthcare in Europe (CoI) funded by the Council of Europe with Dr Alex Sawyer, Prof Nigel Sherriff.
• Mental health professionals' attitudes, knowledge, and preparedness towards LGBTI clients (CoI) in Italy, France, UK, USA with Prof Markus bidell, Prof Nigel Sherriff, Dr Massimo Mirandola, Dr Alex Sawyer, and Dr Francesco Amadeo. 

Former Research

• LGBT+ Gambling (PI) systematic scoping review of gambling funded by GambleAware with Dr Louis Bailey, Dr Alex Sawyer, and Prof Nigel Sherriff. 
• Narrating Difference (CoI) the Narrating Difference study explores the experiences of sex and gender variance in UK healthcare and legal settings with Dr Evan Hazenberg and Dr Maria Moscati.
• LGBT+ Drinkaware (PI) a systematic scoping review of alcohol use amongst gender and sexual minority people with Prof Catherine Meads, Prof Nigel Sherriff and Dr Kay Aranda.
• Health4LGBTI (CoI) "Health4LGBTI: Reducing health inequalities experienced by LGBTI people" explores the impact of social determinants on the health and healthcare inequalities of LGBTI people with Prof Nigel Sherriff, Dr Nick McGlynn, Alex Pollard and the Health4LGBTI consortium, funded by the European Commission. The political aim of this work is to address the causes of inequalities  experienced by minority groups. The output informs health service development and delivery for those who lead non-normative lives by acknowledging gender and sexual plurality. The research included developing a training programme for health professionals to address the specific health needs of LGBTI people.
• Covid-19 stories - investigating the impact of Covid-19 on local communities within East Sussex with Dr Alex Sawyer, Prof Nigel Sherriff and Dr Lester Coleman.
• Mental Health Practitioner Role Evaluation (CoI) - a critique of discourses shaping mental health practice with the introduction of innovative roles such as the mental health practitioner role in Hampshire, UK with Dr Joanne Brown and Dr Lucy Simons. This initiative was designed to address workforce shortages in contemporary mental health practice.
• Analysis of the Discursive Construction of Gender (PI) - evolving from mental health practice, a critical discourse analysis aimed to understand the discursive construction of gender, in post-apartheid South Africa. This work questioned normative formations of gender and made visible how cultural and social change occurs, where gender identity, gender expression moved beyond binary formations towards gender plurality.

My work is rooted in the disciplines of Social and Community Psychology, with a transdisciplinary ethos. During my PhD, I focused on group dynamics in the steering committees of grassroots social movements, namely the Transition Towns movement in Monteveglio (Italy). My PhD, and my work with local communities, focused on the communities’ actions to face the effects of the global crisis, particularly promoting economic and social resilience. By facilitating communities’ development and environmental sustainability, I studied and worked on a range of issues including: peak oil, climate change, people and environmental care, social justice and fair share, community engagement and social inclusion.

A major research focus of mine is Discursive Psychology. In particular, I have been studying the religious ideological discourse of the Roman Catholic Church on LGBT+ people. I have applied Discourse Analysis to detect and understand homophobia and heterosexism, and I have analysed its manifestations in different contexts, from religious documents to high school settings. This is enhanced by my simultaneous participation in national and international LGBT+ networks, through taking part in talks, workshops, and conferences.

Finally, I am interested in non-clinical approaches to mental health, and the value of space in shaping people’s social identities.

I am a Brazilian lawyer with over 10 years of experience, having worked with LGBTQIA+ NGOs in Brazil to advocate for the rights and protection of marginalised communities. I hold a Master's degree in Social Research Methods, and I am currently a PhD candidate in Social Sciences at the University of Brighton, funded by the South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership (SCDTP).

My research focuses on "Transforming Public Policies to Tackle Hate Crimes Against Brazilian LGBTQ+ Marginalised Community". I am also a member of the Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender at the University of Brighton. My research interests include queer criminology, social sciences, critical criminology, human rights, and research methods, all aimed at driving positive change in public policies.

Beatriz’s research interests go beyond the academic sphere. She is fundamentally an activist academic. She is a member of the Environmental Peacebuilding Association (EnPax), The Gender and Development Network (GADN), the Peace Research Seminar (SIP), the Women and Gender Constituency (WGC), one of the nine stakeholder groups of the United Nations Framework for the Convention of Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), where she is part of the Executive board in both its UK and Spain branches. Since 2020, she actively participates in WILPF’s WPS, Environment and Climate Justice working groups, and since 2023 she coordinates the research and actions around the Fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty initiative within WILPF Spain.

During the academic year 2022-2023, she is a PRG co-representative at the University’s Committee of Research Ethics and Integrity (UCOREI).

In early 2023, she co-coordinated the People & Planet’s petition for a fossil free careers service at the University of Brighton, for which, in May 2023, she submitted a motion to the University and College Union (UCU) Brighton branch, which passed unanimously.

She is a feminist, a pacifist, a unionist and an ecologist.

In this PhD I will be writing an autoethnographic novel exploring growing up gay in a homophobic culture (the UK in the 1960s and 70s) and becoming a gay activist in Brighton, UK, in the 80s and 90s. In addition, and from my perspective as a psychotherapeutic counsellor, I investigate the re-languaging of LGBT+ trauma. I explore therapeutic interventions that challenge the language of 'gay shame' and 'internalised homophobia', looking to find a more positive language that can identify wounding as well as the possibility of healing; moving from the language of deficiency to the language of personal empowerment.

Currently researching the invisibility of sexual and gender-based violence in the Northern Irish conflict (between 1968-1998) and the impact of shedding light on this phenomenon on social policy and policy processes.

The title of my PhD is: 'How systematic were the British Army's war crimes in Iraq between 2003 and 2009? An investigation into Britain's abuse of underage Iraqi boys'. It is an examination of the scope and scale of the British Army's perpetration of torture, murder, inhumane treatment, and sexual violence during the occupation of Iraq, specifically concerning cases involving underage Iraqi male victims. I have previously had articles published on the British Army's perpetration of torture, murder, and sexual violence against Iraqi boys, and on other war crimes committed by the British Army in Iraq, in which I used information gathered from Freedom Of Information requests, legal documentation, and reportage by the International Criminal Court.The title of my MA thesis, which I undertook at King's College London in 'Global Ethics and Human Values', was: 'Was it moral for America, Britain and France to pursue regime change in Syria from 2011 onwards?'. I argued that the Western regime change policy in Syria was immoral; I obtained a Distinction and the award for the best annual dissertation.

Max's research interest's look's at a children's experience within gender creative parenting, as they are the most critical aspect of this parenting. In short, gender creative parenting is a new phenomenon where parents do not assign a gender at birth, use they/them pronouns and create an environment away from gender socialisation as much as possible for their children. Reestablishing contemporary theoretical research within the debate of discourse and gender, setting a new position within the 20th century, which is sure to extend far into the future. 

Isabel Duarte is a PhD candidate at the University of Brighton. Her current research engages with the intersections of graphic design history, feminist methodologies and decolonial studies of cultural production, with a focus on Portuguese graphic design history and Portuguese social context. Her doctoral research, with the working title, ‘Beyond the canon: Feminist revision of graphic design history in twentieth-century Portugal' aims to uncover and reframe the history of women graphic designers in Portugal, through the identification of figures and groups who have been ignored by the canon, documenting their practices through a combination of oral history, social context and historical or pedagogical perspectives, and in so doing exploring the factors which have caused their work to be overlooked.

This research is funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia.

Isabel Duarte has a degree in Communication Design and has completed a Masters in Editorial Design on the subject of self-publishing and critical discourse on graphic design. 

I am a first year AHRC Techne Collaborative Doctoral Award Phd Researcher with the University of Brighton. My doctoral thesis title is, 'Where are all the Lesbians? In search of Lesbian Lives in Museums.'

This project is in collaboration with the Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust (RPMT). My central aim is to investigate how RPMT represents lesbian historic and contemporary lives and identies, through the interrogation of it's collections and written archive records. 

The project draws on gender and sexuality studies, art history, material and visual culture and museum studies to utilise an intersection of methodologies: archive and catalogue research in the RPMT's museums, and close analysis of LGBTQ+ displays informed by autoethnography and autotheory. I will develop workshops and exhibition making at RPMT with trans-generational cis-gendered and trans lesbian women participants to foster mutual learning and recognition, empowering those involved as active partners of the institution. 

My practice-based PhD, 'Nineteenth-century Ambivalence and the Gendered Body: A Practice-based Study of Dr James Barry', is a multidisciplinary project combining literary criticism, archival research and creative writing, culminating in a critical and creative exploration of transgender pioneer Dr James Barry (1789-1865).

Interrogating how portrayals of gender changed and were constructed in the face of nineteenth-century colonialism, I am interested in the ethics and efficacy of representing complex queer histories, especially in doing justice to the racially marginalised individuals in stories like Barry's, whose lives are not archived.

Bringing the conventions of the 19th-century novel, especially the gothic, into conversation with real archival material and developments in medicine and science, my project aims to apply queer and decolonial theory to creative writing - interrogating the idea of a single archival truth, and examining methods such as Saidiya Hartman's 'critical fabulation'.

My PhD aims to be the first comprehensive study of gay and lesbian histories in rural England, c.1800-1950. Although the practise of queer history has come a long way in the last few decades, it has focused almost exclusively on the urban sphere, given the greater availability of archive evidence. However, we know that gay and lesbian people must have lived and worked in the countryside, and I intend to demonstrate this.

For this project, building a methodology is just as important as uncovering biographical information about individuals. Using farm diaries and correspondence, national surveys, newspaper archives, genealogy databases, court records and LGBTQ+ archives, I will recover something of the fabric of queer life in rural England, and perhaps even an element of gay culture in the countryside.

Additionally, I know that many archive services and rural museums struggle to create content on queer histories, given the lack of obvious connections between their holdings and LGBTQ+ narratives. Given my collections background, I would like to provide guidance to these instituions on how to curate these stories and present them to their audiences.

Gabriel uses arts-based practices (including visual art, theatre of the oppressed, and zine-making) to facilitate dialogues and healing, conduct participatory action research, and develop strategic responses to trauma and violence. Gabriel has experience in managing and implementing regional projects in southern Africa on topics related to gender and sexuality, poverty and hunger, and diversity and inclusion. Gabriel last worked at the University of Cape Town, where they piloted the innovative Creative Change Laboratory (CCoLAB). The project created an art-activism laboratory to empower marginalized youth in Cape Town. The ambitious project culminated in an exhibition, zine and mini-documentary. Gabriel is currently pursuing their PhD at the University of Brighton. 

I am broadly interested in how bodies become legibile through their timings and rhythm and how timing and rhythm can be used as a mode of queer temporal resistance. My work explores these issues through both theortical engagement with queer theory and 20th century continental philosophy, as well as literary and filmic textual readings. 

My doctoral thesis 'Destabilising the Chrononormative: Virginia Woolf and Elizabeth Freeman' sits at the intersection of queer theory of temporality, continental philosophy, film studies and literary studies and simultaneously builds upon relational queer theory and explores novel avenues for the queering of Woolf's work. 

I am a PhD Researcher funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership.

My doctoral research examines how young people in England experience romantic heartbreak within the current social policy landscape. In a time of economic uncertainty, austerity measures and the aftermath of Covid-19, young people face increased precarity in accessing education, stable income and housing. My thesis explores how these socio-economic challenges intersect with relationship breakdowns, impacting mental health and aspiration. Through open-ended qualitative methods, I aim to generate insights into how heartbreak influences life trajectories and to offer recommendations for educators, policymakers and youth services to better support young people in forming and maintaining romantic relationships.

My research interests extend to digital cultures and intimacies, gender roles in romantic relationships, youth policy and lived experience, relationships and sex education in England (RSE), participatory narrative research methods, young people in the austerity era, Covid-19 and the on-going cost-of-living-crisis. 

ESRC Funded PhD Researcher, focusing on LGBTQAI+ experiences on community gardens and multispecies wellebeing. 

As a researcher with a focus on urban community gardens, I investigate how these spaces can address complex socio-political, environmental, and wellbeing challenges, with a specific emphasis on the experiences of LGBTQAI+ communities. My work in Brighton explores how community gardens, as spaces of human and multispecies interactions, foster meaningful connections within the LGBTQAI+ community while advancing more-than-human wellbeing. This research aims to understand the potential of community gardens in promoting social inclusion and environmental interdependence, particularly in urban spaces, and to provide actionable insights that value multispecies wellbeing amid environmental crises.My work engages community garden spaces and local queer nature initiatives in Brighton to co-create future urban imaginaries. By bridging gaps in current community garden literature, I strive to highlight how these gardens can support underexamined communities and expand on the critical need for green, inclusive spaces in urban planning. This research holds significance for both community-led sustainability efforts and broader applications, offering actionable insights for enhancing health, wellbeing, and inclusive urban ecosystems.

My research investigates LGBTQ+ persons’ lived experiences that remain largely hidden in public discourse about GRT (Gypsy, Romany and Traveller) communities.

I seek to explore the untapped potential of heritage sites such as museums, archives and cultural community platforms – both as online and physical spaces - to provide a medium through which to enable LGBTQ+ Travellers+ to explore and celebrate identity formation through an intersectional methodology.

The project also examines the role of arts practitioners as curators of public identity formation and consider how young persons from marginalised backgrounds might be given agency through their engagement with these practitioners and the wider arts and heritage community.

This innovative, interdisciplinary research project uses creative methodologies to produce evidence of the lived experiences of  LGBTQ+ Travellers+ in the UK, via socially engaged co-produced, participatory, community-based methods.

My project is in collaboration with Traveller Pride, Queer Britain Museum, and Mernmaids

My research investigates feminist voices in the writing of Hettie Jones and Joyce Johnson, more specifically, in their memoirs, letters and poems. We may recognize hidden voices in the works of the Beat Generation women, in the light of some feminist criticism, identity discussions, and intertextual views. The Beat women writers discovered themselves as writers after the IIWW and wrote their world of political movement transforming their lives due to their double (or multi) consciousness views that related to gender discrimination over decades. Feminisms, herein discussed, encompass gender, race, ethnics, and social displacements. The Beat women writers recount their difficulties and hopes as women, mothers, workers and, writers/artists in their work, breaking patriarchal expectations for women’s roles within a white, supremacist post-war American society. They shifted women’s positions in many cultural aspects not only for their generation but for decades to follow. Currently discussions about Beat Generation women's work are being more and more spread, however, we have neither yet come to an end to completing a history of this Beat movement considering the legacy of the women related to it, nor raising sufficient awareness about discrimination and social inequality, especially regarding the feminisms intertwined in a faulty patriarchal system.

Keywords: Feminism; Counterculture; Hettie Jones; Joyce Johnson; Beat generation; Beat Generation Women; Memory; Narratives; Gender Studies, Feminist Theory.

I'm a linguist interested in gender-inclusive language, epicene pronouns, corpus linguistics, and second language acquisition. My research project is focused on how epicene pronouns are used in speech and writing by English as an Additional Language speakers. 

My PhD is funded by the ESRC through the South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership.

This research focusses on exploring and understanding the experiences of autistic young people of all genders who attend UK secondary schools. Participatory approaches will be used in my research.

This research will make recommendations to education settings that will improve the school experiences for autistic young people.

My practice-based research utilises the essay film to interrogate 1980s images of gay male depravity through the lens of queer negativity. It considers how these representations, viewed within the framework of the medico-legal pathologisation of homosexuality, might also function as a provocation in the disruption of LGBTQ+ assimilation. 

My broader research interests include animated representations of otherness; masculinity and hysteria; LGBTQ+ history and criminality. My work has frequently employed appropriation, provocation and the juxtaposition of diverse visual components. My commitment to the dissemination of research via the moving image derives from my interest in radical montage with its potential to articulate divergent, overlapping ideas; images and sound forming new relationships and creating meaning in complex, hybrid ways. 

My research examines the societal and personal challenges faced by concealed gay and bisexual men in the capital cities of India and Pakistan. It focuses on how cultural, religious, and legal frameworks shape their career choices, life routines, and identity management within professional settings. By exploring this under-examined area, the study aims to reveal how these individuals navigate societal pressures that restrict self-expression.

I embarked on a doctorate out of a deep interest in research and a responsibility to address socially impactful, challenging topics. My experience in careers consultancy has shown me how societal expectations and identity shape career paths, especially for underrepresented groups; a reality that resonates personally, as close friends navigate these pressures daily.

I am excited to combine my career consultancy experience with academic research to address this issue affecting individuals and communities. With personal connections to this topic, I am motivated to bring forward the stories of friends and others facing these challenges. I aim to contribute research that fosters inclusivity, challenges societal norms, and supports policies for a more understanding and accepting environment for LGBTQIA+ individuals in South Asia.

Before starting my doctorate, I gained extensive experience in career consultancy, education, and student engagement through diverse roles. At the University of Bedfordshire, I specialise in employability programming as a Careers Consultant and held roles in Placement Coordination, Recruitment, and Outreach. Previously, I lectured in Textile Design in Pakistan and enhanced student access to resources in various positions. Additionally, I volunteer as a Creative Industries Task Group Member for AGCAS, a Trustee for St. Mary’s Church, and in the past have been a Board Member for the Bedford Group of Colleges, supporting educational quality and equity initiatives.

I am a postgraduate researcher based in Brighton. My photographic practice is concerned with the interaction between the medium and the human. My work draws from philosophy to explore how photographic qualities, such as its relationship with memories and representation, can be approached differently through the photographic process and performance. I work in both digital and analogue media, encompassing all formats, including cameraless processes, to articulate the material condition of photography and its production.

My research interests lie in the relationship between the experimental cameraless photography and the operator, viewed through a feminist lens. Informed by the philosophy of New Materialism, I am interested in the idea of nonhuman agency in the traditional printing process. My research positions the darkroom as a site where the female body negotiates the material process and photographic technology, embodying traditions associated with the practice.

My PhD project is titled 'De/Constructing Identity: French, Italian, and British Gay Liberationism in the Long ‘68'. My research grapples with the present impasse of 'identity politics': the decade following the ‘transgender tipping point’ has yielded an explosion of queer and trans cultural representation, but also a potent media and political backlash, troubling straightforward conceptions of ‘progress’. Within this polarised setting, LGBTQ+ identities may only be affirmed or denied, leaving little space for more critical approaches towards ‘identity’ as a hegemonic discourse.

Against the allegation of identity-‘essentialism’ sometimes ascribed to queer theory’s gay predecessors, this project investigates the complex and critical development of gay ‘identity’ in and through the activist press in Britain, France, and Italy, across the decade following the political revolts of 1968. Through an interweaving of archival and textual-theoretical research methods, with the grassroots print culture of gay liberationist groups as primary source material, this project investigates how these underexplored histories might equip activist presents to navigate the apparent paradox of both affirming *and* transcending LGBTQ+ identities – opening onto a reenlivened ‘imagining otherwise’ (Olufemi 2021), which could intervene critically and productively in the present identity-political crisis.

My areas of research interest both within and beyond this project include Marxism and critical theory, particularly elaborating concepts of alienation, reification, dialectics, totality, and social reproduction through queer/trans and disability-focused lenses. I am interested in models of theorising the particular-universal relation, as well as materialist accounts of the role of imagination and its shaping by capitalist ideology in conceptions of identity and in identity-political activist politics.

Contemporary Prose, Gender Studies,  Masculinities, Trauma Studies, Diaspora Literature.

I am interested in the way in which modern property relations violently shape lives and relationships and how to move beyond that - as a political project not just an intellectual exercise. This includes research into how to theorise history and how to historize the present.

In my dissertation I look at property’s violence, i.e. how property materializes in and through our (gendered, sexualised and racialised) relationships with others, ourselves and our bodies, – and try to excavate (imagined) alternatives. Therefore, I look at the continuities of historical regimes of property. Here, ownership struggles in colonial capitalism are central; more specifically in my case, constellations of property and kinship in German colonial (after)lives. The role of colonial intervention in sexuality, family and inheritance structures in the context of dispossession and propertisation brings out (struggles around) articulations of race, gender and class and the properties of body and nation(/state-building). Thus, I am interested in how the past lives on and how we might (fight to) live differently in the now.