Centre for European and International Studies Research (CEISR)

Profile

I am interested in the interface between public and local representations of minority groups in Europe with a particular concern for Roma (or Gypsy/Traveller) minorities and post-EU accession migrants. I also look critically at discourses around social inclusion. Along with a passion for using innovative research methods for marginalised groups such as photo elicitation, I also enjoy using a critical application of approaches from sociology, social anthropology and cultural studies.

A turning point in my life was when I lived in Hungary from 2000-2002 as part of a pan-European youth programme. My experiences in Hungary, including grassroots work with Roma children and families, motivated me to do postgraduate studies that included 15 months of ethnographic research in a primary school in the Southern Great Plain region of Hungary.

Currently, I am using skills gained through my PhD to begin exploring experiences of migrants from Hungary in the UK, with a particular interest in migrants working as carers. I also maintain an interest in Roma minorities through collaborating with an art project on a local Traveller site and continue international academic links through the University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES) academic network ‘Romanis in Europe’ and the EU network ‘European Academic Network on Romani Studies’.

At the University of Portsmouth I supervise postgraduate research including the Professional Doctorate Programme and am an active member of the Centre for European and International Studies Research (CEISR). I also teach research methods and about different aspects of minority inclusion in global contexts on undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the Professional Area of Social Work.

PhD Supervision

I can supervise PhD students in the following discipline areas: cultural studies, minority/Romani studies, ethnography, visual sociologies, social anthropology, area studies (Hungary/Central and Eastern Europe).

Qualifications

• PhD (King’s College London 2008)
• MRes (King’s College London 2003)
• MA in Critical and Cultural Theory (Cardiff University 1998)
• BA (Hons) in English Literature (Cardiff University 1997)

Recent Publications

More recent publications

Grants Awarded

Research Mini-grant 2010-11, School of Health Sciences and Social Work, University of Portsmouth.

Start up Fund 2009-10, Faculty of Science, University of Portsmouth.

British Academy Award 2008, post-doctoral fellowship: ‘Individual Research Visit’ at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest.

Economic Social Research Council (ESRC) full PhD studentship 2003-2007: including 3 month language training and 3 month overseas institutional visit to the Romology Department at the University of Pécs, Hungary.

King’s College London, Sargeaunt Travel Fund July 2003.

King’s College London, School of Social Science and Public Policy MRes studentship 2003.