Academia & Addiction
An anonymous PhD student discusses how Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and the pressures of academia have led them to become addicted to painkillers. Are academics prone to socially acceptable addictions?
Social Media Skills for Students
Social Media Skills for Students is a new resource to help university students learn how to use social media to their advantage and in a professional manner.
[Commentary] The Widow & the Law: A Brief History of Widows’ Pensions in Britain
At a time when we remember the First World War, its victims, and its survivors, it seems apt for me to share some of the research I’ve been doing on the literary and cultural history of the widow in Britain, and particularly on how the state’s support and the economic conditions of widowed women has changed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and reflects both Britain’s development in terms of gender equality as well as the emergence of the welfare state.
[News] Postfeminism & Contemporary Hollywood Cinema Reviewed in Women’s Studies International Forum
This is a review of Postfeminism & Contemporary Hollywood Cinema (2012), a collection of essays I edited with Dr Joel Gwynne.
[PhD Supervision] Chloé Holland, “Ellen Wood: The Professional Woman Writer & the Victorian Literary Marketplace”
Chloé’s work focuses on the work of Ellen Wood (or Mrs Henry Wood). In particular, she investigates the interconnections between Wood’s identities as a professional author, a woman writer, and a producer of highly popular works on the Victorian literary market place.
The Blank Page: Some Writing Strategies
This post is dedicated to the intimidating blank space that is the first page of the yet untitled document which, at some point in time, is supposed to contain a well-argued, thoroughly researched, and original argument to stun your expecting reader. I’ve never been one of those people who is blessed with the ability to sit down, create a new document, and start typing the first draft of a research publication with the confident knowledge that once the words are on the page I can return to them as many times as I like to edit and refine. Instead, it takes...
PhD Picnics: Food for Thought
PhD Picnics is an initiative which encourages exchange between postgraduate students and research staff to provide a supportive, stimulating postgraduate culture and adequate academic skills training and development.
Wheels & Trainers: Sport & Academic Work-Life Balance
I think that, even in Britain, it’s now fair to say that it’s summer! And with the summer comes my usually busiest and best training and exercise period, not just because of the weather but also because I spend less time on commuting and being in the classroom. There are four main types of exercise that dominate my sporting life: road cycling, trail running, walking, and free-weights training at the gym. I’ve already talked about the general benefits of exercise to my mental health and to my work-life balance and productivity, but as my training volume increases and...
Depression & Academia: There’s No Such Thing as Enough
An early-career academic writes about their struggles with depression and chronic anxiety.
Social Media Internships
Below you can find the advertisement for two paid social media internships. The interns will work with me on a project that seeks to create a social media skills resource for students. Please note these internships are open to LJMU students only. Please see the ad for specifics.
Curriculum Vitae
Here you can find a PDF copy of my CV which I update regularly. You can find more details about most of my publications, papers, teaching, and other activities on this website.
Mental health issues in academia: ‘stories are not cries of the privileged’
16 April 2014, The Guardian Higher Education Network. I wrote this opinion piece in response to the ongoing debates about mental health issues in academia.
Neoliberalism, Mental Health, & Academia
One of the hardest things about hearing about a PhD student who was harassed by a lecturer, and who then committed suicide while the lecturer kept his job, was that I wasn’t surprised. It’s not that I didn’t think the story was horrendous – I did. It’s that like most graduate students I am reminded on a daily basis – in corridors and, increasingly, in the media – of the degree of suffering, neglect and abuse in academic life. It seemed natural to me, almost, that an abusive faculty member should exist and go unchallenged – and that...
When Stress Became Real
An anonymous academic recounts their encounters with stress and anxiety towards the end of their PhD.
Upwards, Downwards, & Onwards: Being Bi-Polar in Academia
The current focus on mental health in academia is a topic that has always been close to my heart. I suffered from bouts of depression and mania for all of my teenage years and was officially diagnosed as bi-polar in my undergraduate degree. I look back on this period and thank my lucky stars that I never have to do it again. I often found myself in extreme situations in manic episodes and then feeling suicidal in the ‘down’ periods. As I went thought up though MA to PhD (at a different institution) I gained an understanding and...
Scar Tissue: Self-Harm in Academia
Bethan Jones writes about the relationship between her self harm and her doctoral research.
