Sian Highwood

Sian Highwood is a PhD Researcher at York St John University's School of the Arts. She teaches undergraduate fine art students in the course Art 4018M Context: Making Art & Artists, leading seminar sessions for first-year students.

Her educational background includes:

• MA in Textiles from the University of the Creative Arts
• BSc (Hons) in Textile Design & Design Management from UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology)

Highwood is a fine artist specializing in textiles whose PhD research examines parental suicide and its long-term psychological effects on survivors. Her practice-based methodology involves creating and installing artworks as research tools to explore trauma processing.

Her interdisciplinary work spans:

• Material-based trauma research methodologies
• Artistic representation of psychological experiences
• Participant-centered trauma narratives
• Textile art as emotional expression
• Intersection of artistic practice and mental health
• Visual documentation of bereavement processes

She is supervised by Dr Christina Kolaiti, Professor Vanessa Corby and Dr Charlotte Cullen in her doctoral studies.