Kerry McSeveny

Dr Kerry McSeveny is a Senior Lecturer and Postgraduate Research Tutor in the Department of Media Arts and Communication at the University of Sheffield, part of the College of Social Sciences and Arts. Her research focuses on intersections between food, identity, and communication, with particular attention to discourses around body regulation, health, and digital media practices. She teaches research-focused modules at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, including Dissertation supervision.

Her work explores topics such as commercial weight loss discourses, media representations of alternative foods (e.g., entomophagy), and hospital food experiences. She has conducted studies on social media use in crisis communication, protest policing, and virtual environments for aging populations. Her research employs qualitative methods including discourse analysis and ethnography.

Recent scholarship includes investigations into older adults' interaction with gesture-based virtual environments and participatory design in healthcare systems. She has co-authored works on terrorism risk in the context of the 'risk society' and crisis communication frameworks.

• Supervised PhD projects include studies on YouTube microcelebrity authenticity, care home dress practices, and documentary festival history.
• Research affiliations include the Culture and Creativity Research Institute.