I am Associate Professor in English Literature and Associate Head of School for English Literature.
My academic career began with a PhD at the University of Leicester, titled “‘Wichecraft & vilaine’: Morgan Le Fay in Medieval Arthurian Literature”. During my doctoral studies, I also worked as a Research Assistant on the AHRC-funded project ‘The Production and Use of English Manuscripts 1060–1220’ and as Project Officer for ‘Malory Online’.
I have taught across English literature and language programmes at the University of Leicester and the University of Nottingham, and held academic development roles at Leicester and Brunel Universities. Before joining York St John in 2018, I led the Arts and Humanities Foundation Year at the University of Leeds, teaching across interdisciplinary modules, as well as contributing to the BA Contemporary and Professional Studies. At York St John, I initially led the Liberal Arts Foundation Year and was the School of Humanities Learning and Teaching Lead before joining the English Literature programme in 2022 to take on my current Associate Head role.
My research interests revolve around transitions and transformations in terms of both literature and pedagogy. In my Literature research, I examine how ideas, characters, and tropes evolve within and beyond the medieval period. At the moment, this is reflected in a particular interest in the shifting and complex representation of the witch and I am the co-lead of the Interdisciplinary Witches Research Group. Pedagogically, I investigate how students transition into and through their university studies, and the interplay between academic disciplines.
I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, completed the University of Leeds Teaching Award (Level 2) and am the winner of the 2024 Lone Medievalist Prize for Teaching.
I teach or have taught on the following modules:
- Eboracum: York, Space and Place
- Argufying: Rhetoric, Reason and Reflection
- Identity and 'Otherness': The Self and Society
- Truth and Invention: Culture, Myth and Representation
- Freedom and Justice
- Imagining the Future: Environment, Apocalypse and the Digital Revolution
- Independent Project
- Introduction to Literary Studies 1
- Writing, Research, and Literature
- Gender and Sexualities
- Historicising the Contemporary
- World, Globe, Literature
- Speculative Bodies
- Influence and Intertext
I also supervise undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations and supervise PhD Researchers.
I am always interested in discussing ideas for postgraduate research and particularly welcome proposals on medieval/early modern literature and medievalism more generally, but especially Arthurian Romance, representations of women and the supernatural. I would also welcome projects on the representation of witches, magic and the supernatural in literature and culture more broadly.
My research background is in interdisciplinary medieval and renaissance studies, with a particular focus on the literature of these periods. I am especially interested in transition and transformation, and in the ways these shifts and developments intersect with concepts of power and within the context of an intertextual dialogue.
My PhD thesis explored the changing representation of the character Morgan le Fay by examining possible sources and analogues in classical, Old Irish and Old Welsh sources, as well as her depiction in Old French and a range of Middle English texts. This work laid the foundation for my continuing research into magic and gender in medieval literature, the transition from the medieval to the Renaissance/early modern period, and the field of medievalism.
More recently, I have explored the influence of medieval texts on the development of the ghost story, as well as the transformation of key figures such as Morgan le Fay and Melusine across different literary traditions. This is connected to my role as co-lead of the Interdisciplinary Witches Research group. In this role, I convene regular meetings and events and am working on my own project on the representation of the Pendle Witches. From 2025, I have been commissioned to deliver public talks across the UK on the portrayal of witches in literature and popular culture.
I also have interests in pedagogy/andragogy, especially in interdisciplinary contexts as well as the integration of academic skills into Higher Education teaching.
Recent publications
I am currently external examiner for the University of Nottingham and have previously been external examiner for Durham University, Blackburn College (University of Lancaster), University of Chester, Bradford College and have been an external panel member for validations at Newman University and (before I worked here) York St John University.
I was a researcher on the ‘Exploring Lecturers’ Inclusive Formative Assessment Practices in Higher Education’ project in 2022-3, Deputy Editor of Ceræ: an Australasian Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies for Issue 9 (2022-3) and am currently a reviewer for a number of journals.
I am a member of: University English; the British Branch of the International Arthurian Society; the Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature; the Society of Medieval Feminist Scholarship; the Foundation Year Network; the Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences Network and Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching UK amongst others.
