I am Associate Professor of Social Sciences at York St John University. My research interests focus on the consumption of crime; on video games, digital culture, and education. My PhD, at University of York, considered ‘murderabilia’, studying how objects associated with famous crimes and criminals are valued by their collectors, producers and exhibitors. After that, focus shifted to memorials – where my book, Death, Memorialization and Deviant Spaces introduced the term ‘difficult dead’, used to consider the problematic preservation of dead criminals, from dark tourism, to memorial, to community identity. Most recently, this interest has turned towards video games – exploring how violence is consumed in play, how social interaction is lived in virtual spaces, and how social inequalities are reproduced or addressed in virtual media. I am co-leader of the investigate.games research group.
I teach across many foundation year, undergraduate and postgraduate modules. I convene our undergraduate and postgraduate qualitative methods modules and a specialist third year option module called ‘Death’.
As co-lead of the investigate.games research group, my work focuses on the sociology of video gaming. This includes how violence is consumed in play, how social interaction is lived in virtual spaces, and how social inequalities are reproduced or addressed in virtual media. Recent publications have included work on accessing educational value in mainstream video games, and how games are used to manage mental health. In partnership with Aesthetica Magazine and Aesthetica Short Film Festival, I run York’s annual (November) Games Lab.
