Summary

I am and Associate Professor in Creative Methodologies and Education in the School of Education, Languages and Lingusitics.

I am also the institutional lead for the Education Unit of Assessment REF2029 entry.

Research interests

My research has two bifurcations:

•  the first is my work based on my PhD thesis and employs posthuman and feminist materialist theorising in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) place-spaces; 

• the second is linked to challenging normative views of method/ology and knowledge production in conference spaces. These utilise working with feminist- materialist, posthumanist, research-creation and post-qualitative modes of knowledge production.

My research interests have been driven by my background in ECEC and teaching. I have shifted towards a posthuman, feminist materialist theoretical position as it enables me to have a new purchase on events and their connections to place-space. My scholarship seeks to broaden current views and aims to produce a more generative, relational, connected, ethical and political way to enact ECEC research. My research is theoretical, but has been empirically applied in my articles on place-space, curriculum, leadership, emotional labour, gender and teacher training. It includes an ongoing project which has given me the opportunity to explore posthuman subjectivity and places-spaces in ECEC classrooms and gardens. These will be included in my forthcoming book Place-Space Methodologies in Early Childhood Education and Care.

I am a founder member of an International research collective exploring research-creation, post-qualitative method/ology and knowledge production at/in conference spaces. We have engaged in numerous workshops and have produced acadmic articles and our book Knowledge Production in Material Spaces: Disturbing Conferences and Composing Events.

I review for a range of ECEC and gender focussed journals and various national and international grant funding bodies. I am an Associate Editor for the Journal of Posthumanism and am on the Editorial Boards of Gender and Education, and Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood. I am also a Steering Group Member of the European Network of Qualitative Inquiry.

I have worked closely with ECEC organisations such as the British Educational Research Association (BERA) Special Interest Group in ECEC and the Early Childhood Studies Degrees Network where I was part of the development of the Graduate Practitioner Competencies and as Co-Vice Chair of Research and Knowledge Exchange.

My previous roles include a Senior Lecturer at the University of Chichester, a Deputy Manager of a Montessori ECEC setting in the UK and I have had various leadership roles in the private sector.

Teaching responsibilities

Teaching

I teach on our Professional Doctorate in Education and lead two modules - Publication, dissemination and impact and Reserch proposal.

EdD/PhD students

I am happy to consider EdD/PhD inquiries from students who wish explore proposals in Early Childhood Education and Care.