I hold a BA (Hons) in English Literature from the University of Hull (2009–2017), where I developed a lasting interest in nineteenth-century literature, the Gothic, popular culture, and how literature intersects with psychology and media.

My undergraduate dissertation explored [neo-]Victorian psychiatric patients and was titled: ‘‘Staying here would be good for you’: Subversion, duplicity and complicity in Amalie Skram’s Professor Hieronimus & Pa St. Jørgen, and Sarah Waters’s Fingersmith.” An essay based on this research was shortlisted for the BPS Psychology of Women Section Student Prize in 2013. As an undergraduate I also developed a keen interest in the Scandinavian Modern Breakthrough and New Woman literature.

In 2020, I completed an MRes in Humanities (Literature) at Newman University, Birmingham. My dissertation focused on nineteenth-century and neo-Victorian representations of Elizabeth Siddall, deepening my interest in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, visual culture, and how we remember and reimagine the past.

My current PhD project — ‘To render present that which is absent’: Representations of Mourning and Memorialising through Hair in Anglo-American Nineteenth-Century and Neo-Victorian Literature and Culture — brings together literary, popular, and material culture with psychological and sociological approaches to explore how hair was used to mourn, memorialise, and narrate loss and separation.

I have a continued interest in the Gothic and the Pre-Raphaelites, and wider research interests in Sensation literature, Victorian spiritualism, death studies (thanatology), dark tourism, and the cultural afterlife of the nineteenth century in forms as varied as horror, true crime, and other popular media. I am fascinated by celebrity culture (from the 19th century to the present) and especially the media representation of, and public reaction to, the death of celebrities.

I have over a decade of teaching experience in the UK, spanning private tutoring, outreach, and online education. Between 2010 and 2020, I worked extensively as a private tutor, supporting students of all ages and abilities — including teaching English as a foreign language (for which I hold a TEFL certificate). This one-to-one work helped shape my inclusive, student-centred approach to teaching.

From 2021 to 2023, I taught with The Brilliant Club, a UK-based charity focused on widening access to higher education. Through their Scholars Programme, I delivered over nine placements with students aged 13–16, including a course I designed based on my PhD research. I created the full course handbook and teaching materials, introducing students to Victorian and neo-Victorian depictions of mourning and memorialising.

As part of the Seren Award — a Welsh Government initiative for high-achieving sixth form students — I developed and delivered a short course also based on my doctoral work. This included a recorded masterclass, a series of university-style seminars, and a final essay project. One student later shared that the experience inspired them to pursue English Literature at university and to specialise in Victorian literature — a moment that remains one of the most meaningful in my teaching career.

My teaching is grounded in accessibility, creativity, and care. I’m particularly passionate about remote learning and widening participation, and I continue to seek out opportunities to connect research with education in ways that are inclusive, engaging, and empowering.

Since relocating from East Yorkshire to Missouri in 2024, I’ve been exploring the history and culture of my new home — from joining a local historic association to wandering cemeteries, which I see as outdoor museums. I’ve always believed that understanding the past helps us shape the future, and that ethos guides both my research and how I live.

I collect 19th-century mourning jewellery — often overlooked or orphaned — and use these pieces in my teaching to connect students with the emotional textures of the past. I’m driven by curiosity, empathy, and a deep belief in accessibility. As a first-generation, neurodiverse scholar, I care about making research inclusive, collaborative, and public-facing — bridging traditional academia with museums, media, and community education.

My work is rooted in storytelling — in how we remember, how we connect, and how we make meaning from the things we create and consume. I’m especially interested in how cultural memory is shaped through literature, objects, and popular media. I believe the humanities are vital, and I’m passionate about helping them evolve: embracing digital tools, creative formats, and new ways of reaching people.

I hope to expand into podcasting and other multimedia projects that bring research to wider audiences. Whether through writing, teaching, or public engagement, I want to help build a future for the humanities that is open, exciting, and deeply human.

I’m a member of several academic and interdisciplinary organisations, as well as a research centre affiliated with my institution. These groups reflect the communities and conversations that shape my work in nineteenth-century studies, death studies, and public humanities:

• Centre for Transnational and Transcultural Research (University of Wolverhampton)
• British Association for Victorian Studies (BAVS)
• North American Victorian Studies Association (NAVSA)
• The Association for the Study of Death and Society
• Victorian Popular Fiction Association (VPFA)
• The Association for Gravestone Studies
• Interdisciplinary Nineteenth-Century Studies (INCS)
• Historic City of Jefferson (Also part of the Education Committee)