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Gayle Letherby is a Visiting Professor of Sociology at the University of Plymouth’s Peninsula Medical School (Faculty of Health), and holds visiting roles at the University of Greenwich and the University of Bath’s Centre for Death and Society (CDAS). She is an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences (since 2007) and recipient of the 2023 Lifetime Contribution to Autoethnography Award. Her research focuses on feminist methodology, health sociology, grief and bereavement, mobility studies, and criminology. She has supervised over 20 doctoral students across multiple universities, including topics like non-motherhood, occupational therapy, and gang culture in African Caribbean communities. Her teaching spans undergraduate and postgraduate levels, covering crime theory, auto/biographical research, and feminist epistemology. Notable collaborations include participatory studies on homeless individuals’ food experiences and ethnographic explorations of medical decision-making. Her interdisciplinary work bridges sociology, criminology, and health studies, with a strong emphasis on autoethnographic and creative methodologies. Recent research explores themes like grief narratives, gendered travel experiences, and the emotional dimensions of doctoral journeys. She has contributed to policy discussions on family-centred care and has been a guest lecturer globally, including at York University (Canada) and University College Cork (Ireland). Awards: Academy of Social Sciences Academician (2007), Lifetime Contribution to Autoethnography (2023) Teaching Expertise: Feminist research methods, criminology, sociology of health, gender studies Key Research Areas: Auto/biography, non-motherhood, medical sociology, mobility, grief studies

• Feminist Methodology
• Family and Kinship Studies
• Health and Medicine Sociology
• +5 more

Robert Stock is an Associate Professor for Cultures of Knowledge at the Department of Cultural History and Theory at Humboldt University Berlin. He is also the Principal Investigator (PI) in the cluster of excellence "Matters of Activity. Image Space Material" . His research focuses on cultures of knowledge, digital media and disability, museum accessibility, Luso-African cultural decolonization processes, and environmental humanities. He completed his PhD in 2017 at Justus Liebig University Giessen, exploring cultural decolonization and documentaries between Mozambique and Portugal. As a postdoc, he worked at the University of Konstanz in the project "Media and Participation" . Robert Stock collaborates extensively with international institutions, including Jagiellonian University (Krakow) and the University of São Paulo, on projects like "Multi-species homemaking in toxic coastal zones" . He co-edited Techniques of Hearing (2022) and has published widely on disability activism, urban mobility, and material agency. He organizes interdisciplinary events such as the STS HUB 2025 conference and the Symbiotic Futures symposium, emphasizing collaborative and critical approaches to contemporary challenges. Education: PhD in Cultural Studies, Justus Liebig University Giessen, 2017 Postdoctoral Research at University of Konstanz Research Interests: His work bridges cultural theory, disability studies, and environmental humanities. Notable themes include: Accessibility in digital and physical spaces More-than-human material agency (e.g., symbiotic wood, paraffin pollution) Critical approaches to technology and decolonial methodologies Grants & Projects: Leads the "Matters of Activity" cluster and collaborates on EU-funded initiatives. Recent projects include: COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) programs on mangroves and toxic zones Exhibitions like Symbiotic Wood and Vegetal Companions Public engagement through workshops and film screenings Labs/Teams: Coordinates the Network Dis/Ability and Digital Media and mentors researchers like Rahel Kesselring. His team includes collaborators such as Karola Dierichs and Claudia Mareis in interdisciplinary material studies.

• Cultures of Knowledge
• Digital Media and Disability
• Museum Accessibility
• +3 more

Ivana Pajic is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad , specializing in German Studies and Literary Studies. She holds a PhD in Philological Sciences and has been actively contributing to intercultural research through teaching, publications, and international collaborations since 2009. Focus areas: Modern German Literature, Intercultural Narratology, Literary Translation, Postcolonial Studies Key projects: International DAAD-funded initiatives on parallel biographies (2018-2020), war violence literature processing (2016-2017) Exhibitions: Co-organized Parallel Biographies Serbia/Germany: Identity and Work in Budapest (2019) and Novi Sad (2019) Her research explores transcultural dynamics in post-Yugoslav contexts, including migrant narratives, Kiezdeutsch dialect formation, and German-Austrian cultural recognition. She has led translation workshops and contributed to educational resources for German studies in Serbia.

• German Studies
• Intercultural Literature
• Narratology
• +5 more

Jane Arnfield is an Associate Professor at Northumbria University, specializing in Design Arts and Creative Industries . Her work bridges (auto)biographical theatre practice with ethnographic and archival studies in the social sciences and humanities. She holds a BA (Hons) in Drama from Dartington College of Arts (1988). Her research focuses on memory discourses , biographical narrative interviewing methods , and performance methodologies . She developed the Living Memorial Theatre Methodology (LMTM) , which explores how historical narratives can be transformed into ensemble, choral, or solo performances staged at culturally significant sites. This work emphasizes participatory engagement, enabling audiences to 'inhabit' testimonies and reinterpret the past through present perspectives. Arnfield’s collaborations include projects with the Marek Edelman Dialogue Centre (Lodz, Poland) and the Defiant Requiem Foundation (Washington, DC). As a Leverhulme Trust International Academic Fellow (2018–2019), she advanced LMTM research at the University of Lodz. Her work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals related to education and social justice. She actively supervises PhD students on topics like performance and testimony, biographical monodrama, and cultural memory. Her recent research includes YouWalk-YouReclaim , a co-assessment approach for accessible university environments, and Adapting Testimonies , exploring legal-drama intersections in mass atrocity contexts.

• Biographical Theatre
• Memory Studies
• Performance and Testimony
• +4 more

Isolde Vanhee is a Lecturer in Visual Arts, Film, and Visual Culture at LUCA School of Arts within KU Leuven's Imagination & Language unit in Ghent. She holds a Master's in Art History and a PhD in Political and Social Sciences. Her roles include Chair of Art Cinema OFFoff, Senior Writer at Rekto:Verso, and membership in Passage Journal's academic council. From 2001–2005, she worked at the Museum of Contemporary Art (SMAK) in Ghent. Her research focuses on artists and filmmakers exploring contrarian visual languages, challenging established ideas, and interrogating themes like artistic autonomy, representation, myth, and the interplay between word/image. Key areas include essay films, slow cinema, and modernist/contemporary painting. She examines media exchanges across film, architecture, literature, and performance. Recent projects include studies on visual archaeology in urban neighborhoods and painting as emancipatory practice. Collaborations with filmmakers and artists emphasize textual integration into visual projects. Engagement includes roles in cultural institutions like Kunsthal Gent and Nucleo vzw’s artistic committee.

• Visual Arts
• Film Studies
• Visual Culture
• +10 more

Christi A. Merrill is a Professor of South Asian Literature and Postcolonial Theory at the University of Michigan , with a secondary appointment as Associate Professor of Comparative Literature . Her work bridges translation theory, postcolonial studies, and human rights discourse, focusing on contemporary Indian literature and Dalit narratives. Education: Ph.D. in Comparative Literature (University of Iowa, 1999), M.F.A. in Translation (University of Iowa, 1993), M.F.A. in Nonfiction Writing (University of Iowa, 1999) Professor Merrill's research interrogates translation's role in negotiating cultural possession, gendered discrimination, and human rights through South Asian literature. She has pioneered courses integrating digital pedagogy, including virtual workshops and online tools for analyzing translated texts and museum collections. Her scholarship spans translation ethics, caste studies, and intercultural representation, with publications in Blackwell’s Companion , Rutgers University Press , and World Literature Today . She has served as a keynote speaker at international conferences including the International Hindi Conference and Jaipur Literature Festival . Awards: A.K. Ramanujan Award for Translation (2012) NEA Literature Fellowship NEH/AIIS Senior Fellowship University of Michigan Human Rights Fellowship Merrill has advised graduate students across disciplines including Anthropology, English, and South Asian Studies, while developing innovative approaches to teaching translation ethics and intercultural communication.

• Translation Theory
• Postcolonial Literature
• South Asian Literature
• +7 more

Cristina Ros i Sole is Professor at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she conducts groundbreaking research at the intersection of intercultural communication, multilingualism, and material culture. Her scholarly work challenges conventional approaches to language education by emphasizing the embodied, affective, and material dimensions of linguistic experience. Her research focuses on how everyday objects and material practices shape multilingual repertoires and intercultural understanding. Through innovative methodologies including auto-ethnography, visual methods, and creative praxis, she investigates the intimate, embodied aspects of language learning and intercultural encounters. She has developed distinctive theoretical frameworks such as the concepts of 'chronotope' and 'mudes' to analyze how languagers navigate spatio-temporal coordinates in their biographical journeys. Analysis of her publication trajectory reveals a consistent movement toward understanding language beyond the verbal, emphasizing how materiality, affect, and creativity shape intercultural experience. Her work bridges theoretical sophistication with practical implications for language education, advocating for approaches that recognize the complexity of multilingual subjectivities and the role of ordinary objects in cultural expression. Recent publications like Material Interculturality: making sense with everyday objects (2024) demonstrate her ongoing commitment to expanding the boundaries of intercultural communication studies. As an active scholar, she has edited significant collections including Liberating Language Education (2022) and the journal special issue Belonging and Homemaking in the Internationalised Campus (2023), demonstrating leadership in shaping contemporary discourse in her field. Her work consistently challenges static notions of language, advocating for dynamic, translingual approaches that reflect the realities of contemporary multilingual contexts.

• Intercultural Communication
• Multilingualism
• Material Culture and Language
• +5 more

Jan Grue is a Professor at the University of Oslo, affiliated with the Department of Sociology and Human Geography. His academic career includes a PhD in Linguistics (2012), a postdoc at the same department (2012–2016), and a prior professorship in Qualitative Methods at the Department of Special Needs Education (2016–2021). He currently serves as Head of Rhetoric at the Norwegian National Encyclopedia and contributes to the Holberg Debate Working Group. His research focuses on language, embodiment, and representation across cultural studies, disability studies, and rhetoric. He explores how disability intersects with societal norms, health, and symbolic systems. Grue's interdisciplinary work bridges academia and public engagement through memoirs, novels, and essays published in multiple genres and languages. Key research affiliations include the Text & Rhetoric Group at the Institute of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, the Rhetoric Society of Europe, and the Nordic Network on Disability Research. His publications span over 50 peer-reviewed articles and books, addressing topics like disability representation, neoliberal inclusion rhetoric, and posthumanist theory.

• Cultural studies
• Disability studies
• Sociology of health and illness
• +3 more

Dr. Laura Mazzoli Smith is a researcher at Durham University’s School of Education , with a multidisciplinary background in anthropology, literary studies, and sociology. Her work bridges education and health, focusing on issues of social justice, wellbeing, and narrative inquiry. She co-leads the Narrative Practices Lab within the Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities and contributes to Fuse , a UK Public Health Research Centre of Excellence. Key Research Interests: Educational identities and life-course progression Narrative and auto/biographical methods Therapeutic theory and group dynamics Digital storytelling for inclusive learning Selected Projects: Co-Investigator on an NIHR-funded project for the Holiday Activities and Food Programme Co-creator of the Caring Stories narrative-based learning platform for healthcare practitioners Developer of the Quantum Odyssey: Quarks Interactive platform under EPSRC funding Teaching: Convenes Narrative Inquiry - Methodology and Methods (PGT) and Learning Lives (UG), while teaching Education, Mental Health and Wellbeing (UG) and Reimagining Health Research (PGT).

• Narrative Inquiry
• Digital Storytelling
• Educational Identities
• +7 more

Lucia Dénes is a Researcher and doctoral candidate at the University of Zurich's Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Popular Cultures, since October 2023. She works under Prof. Dr. Silvy Chakkalakal's chair, focusing on auto/socio/biographical narratives in theater and performance. Previously, she was a student assistant at Humboldt University Berlin's Institute for European Ethnology and within the Collaborative Research Center Intervening Arts (SFB 1512) sub-project on future-making exhibition practices. Education : MA in Ethnography (Humboldt University Berlin, 2020-2023), BA in European Ethnology (major) and French (minor) (2016-2022) Key Projects : Co-founder of the German Historical Museum Police Violence (DHMP) initiative (2022), collaborating with Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum and SFB 1512 Her research combines feminist, queer, and postcolonial theories with multimodal ethnographic methods to examine police/state violence, social justice, and community-building practices. She actively engages in democracy education workshops on anti-discrimination, anti-racism, and solidarity, collaborating with organizations like duvia.eV. Dénes is associated with academic societies including the German Society for Empirical Cultural Studies and Swiss Society for Folklore.

• Multimodal Ethnography
• Intervening Artistic Practice
• Feminist Theory
• +7 more

Ross McGarry is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Liverpool, affiliated with the Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. His work bridges sociology and criminology through the lens of critical military studies, interrogating the boundaries between military and civilian life, and analyzing military-induced harms and geographies. Research explores subjugated knowledge of war and militarism in criminological literature Current projects include class-based analysis of UK Armed Forces personnel and ethnographic studies of football fandom Collaborations include The British Library and Royal Wootton Bassett Town Council Ross employs ethnographic techniques, (auto)biographical approaches, and visual methods. His research is funded by the Economic Social Research Council (ESRC) and University of Liverpool’s GTF Scholarship. Recent publications focus on military social harm, liminal military landscapes, and criminological frameworks for understanding war. He has received the Case Study Award from the Criminology Special Interest Group (C-SAP, 2010) and serves as a peer reviewer for multiple journals including Armed Forces & Society and British Journal of Criminology . As Faculty Director of Postgraduate Research since 2023, he co-ordinates ESRC doctoral training initiatives and chairs key university committees.

• Critical Military Studies
• Criminology
• Sociology
• +7 more

Shrehan Lynch is an Associate Professor at the University of East London, affiliated with the Health, Sport & Bioscience research institute. His work centers on critical pedagogies, social justice in education, and equity within physical education systems. Key research areas include financial inequities in teacher training, LGBTQIA+ inclusion, disability studies, and decolonial approaches to sport and education. His research explores intersections of power, identity, and institutional structures in educational spaces. Notable contributions address systemic barriers faced by marginalized groups, including financial disparities in postgraduate education, queer exclusion in physical spaces, and ableist norms in academia and sports. Lynch employs innovative methodologies such as autoethnography, poetic representations, and participatory action research. Publications highlight advocacy for democratic pedagogies, restorative practices, and socially just curriculum design. His work bridges theory and practice, offering actionable strategies for educators to foster inclusive environments. Collaborations span interdisciplinary topics like nursing mindfulness, sport policy analysis, and global educational equity. Though no formal awards are listed, his prolific output and engagement with high-impact social justice issues reflect significant scholarly influence. Advising and grant details are not explicitly stated, but his extensive co-authorship network indicates active mentorship and collaborative research leadership.

• Physical Education
• Social Justice
• Critical Pedagogy
• +5 more

Dr. Nora Cottille-Foley is an Associate Professor of French in Georgia Tech’s School of Modern Languages, part of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. She has led the LBAT France program since 2000, directing study abroad initiatives in Toulouse, Paris, and Nice. She chairs the LBAT Director’s Council and serves on the SPFFA Board of Directors, contributing to bi-annual international conferences. As Editor-in-Chief of Nouvelles Francographies , she curates peer-reviewed scholarship on Francophone studies. Dr. Cottille-Foley holds a PhD in French/Francophone Studies from Northwestern University (1998). Research Focus: Her work centers on contemporary French and Francophone culture, with emphasis on Gender Studies, women’s texts, post-1980 literature, body inscription, spatial representation, and photography’s role in narrative. She analyzes intersections of gender, identity, and social class in works by authors like Annie Ernaux, Maryse Condé, and Marie NDiaye. Teaching & Technology: She pioneered video production projects (1999) and integrated webcam interactions between students in the U.S. and France. Early adopter of WebCT (2002–2003), she later developed online courses (e.g., FREN 2002, 3551). Honored with the 2003 Junior Faculty Teaching Award for innovation and excellence. Affiliations: ADVANCE IAC, Foreign Language Research Team (FLRT) on Advanced Technologies Publications: Over 20 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Revue des Sciences Humaines , French Studies , and Nouvelles Etudes Francophones . Awards: BP Foundation recognition alongside her teaching accolade. Her work bridges traditional scholarship with digital pedagogy, advocating for technology’s role in language education and Francophone cultural analysis.

• Gender Studies
• Contemporary French/Francophone Literature
• Body Representation
• +4 more

Kerrie Davies is a Researcher at the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney) within the Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture. She serves as Program Director for the Masters of Journalism and Communication and PR & Advertising (2021-2024), and has created immersive media subjects for both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. As a recognized expert in life writing and creative nonfiction , her research explores intersections between new media like virtual reality and traditional biographical forms. She has authored the experimental hybrid biography A Wife's Heart (2017) and will publish a speculative biography with Allen & Unwin in 2025. Her work appears in Life Writing , Literary Journalism Studies , and The Conversation . Research interests include speculative biography , digital life-writing , and gendered media narratives . Her recent publications examine topics ranging from undercover colonial journalism to literary marriage dynamics , with a focus on Australian cultural contexts . She supervises PhD projects in creative nonfiction and has presented at major literary festivals across Australia. Teaching responsibilities include Virtual Reality Documentaries (MDIA 2013), News Fundamentals (MDIA 1004), and Masters Online Publication Practice . Professional experience includes over a decade in national media outlets like The Weekend Australian and Vogue Australia . Contact: k.davies@unsw.edu.au

• Creative Writing
• Biography & Autobiography
• Journalism Studies
• +5 more

Dr. Laura Mazzoli Smith is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Durham University and a Fellow of the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing. She co-leads the Narrative Practices Lab within the Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities. Her research focuses on educational identities, health and well-being, and narrative methodologies, bridging education and public health. She holds a PhD from the University of Warwick and has held roles at Newcastle University and the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth. Her work emphasizes anti-reductionist approaches, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and inclusive practices. Her research interests include narrative pedagogy, life history methods, and the intersections of education, health, and well-being. Notable projects include the Caring Stories platform for healthcare practitioners and the Quantum Odyssey project. She has secured funding from ESRC, EPSRC, and NIHR, among others. Her publications span books, chapters, and articles addressing equity in education, digital storytelling, and mental health in academia. Dr. Mazzoli Smith supervises doctoral students exploring topics like narrative inquiry, educational fairness, and well-being in higher education. She is involved in initiatives like Digital Storytelling Durham and contributes to policy-oriented research, including poverty-proofing healthcare access and student belonging in universities.

• Education
• Public Health
• Health and Well-being
• +3 more