I am a storyteller and researcher interested in the role of storytelling and the arts in ecological justice and other intersecting crises. My practice-based PhD in storytelling with adolescents built on my extensive experience of artist residencies in educational, mental health, heritage, ecological and community settings. My current practice-based research collaborations investigate storytelling and climate adaptation, the role of indigenous knowledge in responding to climate crisis, and disabled access to 'blue spaces'.
I am co-convenor of the Ecological Justice Research Group, based in the Institute for Social Justice, and coordinator of York St John's Living Lab, an interdisciplinary cross-university project engaging students in ecological justice issues locally.
I teach on a variety of modules on undergraduate Drama, Theatre and Acting programmes, including the following undergraduate modules:
- Politically Engaged Practice 1 and 2
- Independent Project
- Workshop Facilitation
- Making Musical Theatre
I seek wherever possible to create opportunities for students to become engaged in authentic performance and research opportunities, such as through the university's Living Lab, or as Students as Researchers. I also lead the The Reflective Practitioner, a module for all MA students in the Performance and Production departments of the School of the Arts:
- MA Community Music
- MA Applied Theatre
- MA Musical Leadership
- MA Theatre and Performance
- MA Music Composition
- MA Music Production
- MA Media Production
Based in the university's interdisciplinary Institute for Social Justice, my current research projects are:
- Suitcase Stories: exploring climate adaptation through participatory storytelling with young people.
- Living Lab: Feeding the Campus - interdisciplinary, cross-University. pedagogical research into engaging students in ecological justice issues on a local scale (I act as overall project coordinator).
- 'Storying Our Future', a British Council-funded project investigating the role of indigenous traditional knowledge (ITK) and storytelling in weather forecasting and climate adaptation in marginal areas of East Africa.
- Disability Access to Bluespaces, in collaboration with the NGO Open Country.
My research and practice explore the potential of storytelling to provide an alternative channel for dialogue across social and generational barriers, in relation to mental health, and in the context of the climate and ecological crisis. My monograph, Storytelling in Participatory Arts with Young People, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2020. My previous research and publications range across several main themes:
- The intersection of youth activism and climate education.
- Innovative approaches to collective storytelling for dialogue (e.g. 'Journeys We Make', an action research collaboration with the Faculty of Education at Leeds Beckett University, using Homer's Odyssey to facilitate creative dialogue around identity and migration in schools).
- The role of storytelling in education and youth mental health provision.
- The work of Out Of Character Theatre Company and Converge York, its sister organisation.
I seek to disseminate my work, wherever possible, not only through academic publications but through video, podcast, performances, accessible practitioner journals, educational resources, conferences and training workshops.
Recent publications
I am a member of the Research Committee of the School of the Arts, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I am co-convenor of the Ecological Justice Research Group, a cross-university research group based in the Institute for Social Justice.
Outside the university, I am an external fellow of the George Ewart Evans Centre for Storytelling, and was a steering group member on the Converge Evaluation Project (2020-22).
