I am a PhD English student researching the ways in which masculinity and male (homo)sexuality were depicted, challenged, and expressed in British pop music within the socio-political context of the Thatcher era (1979-1990). My research employs wide-ranging analysis of the period and relevant popular music cultures, utilising a rich variety of archival resources involving press and televisual material, music videos, as well as promotional ephemera such as vinyl records.

My research interests include depictions of post-war Britain in literature and film, cultural studies, and I am particularly interested in contemporary gender and sexuality studies, specifically queer studies.

I obtained my undergraduate degree from the University of Exeter in BA English & German (2019), and my MA English Literature (Gender & Sexuality) from Cardiff University (2020).

Since beginning my PhD, I have presented my research at the 2022 Punk Scholars Network UK Conference and Postgraduate Symposium (Middlesex University London) and the 2022 Outside/rs Conference (University of Brighton), publishing an article in an accompanying 2023 special issue of journal Excursions (University of Sussex).

In 2022, I was kindly awarded the Niklaus-Cartwright Bursary and the Company of Arts Scholars Charitable Trust’s Arts Scholars Award, funding archival visits to multiple sites in Manchester and London.

In the 2022/23 academic year, I am working towards obtaining my Learning and Teaching in Higher Education accreditation and Associate Fellowship of AdvanceHE in line with the University of Exeter’s ASPIRE Framework.

Outside of my research, I am Co-Editor for the University’s postgraduate journal Exclamat!on. I have also peer-reviewed articles for the journals of the University of Glasgow, University of Warwick, and University of Edinburgh and contributed to Wales Arts Review.

In the 2022/23 academic year, I will be supporting the delivery of the following modules:

AHV1012 – Approaches to Art History and Visual Culture

AHV2007 – Contemporary Visual Practices

AHV2015 – Art History and Visual Culture Field Study for Blended Learning

EAS1032 – Approaches to Criticism