معرفی
Dr. Simon Ward is an Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Education in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at Durham University. He previously held roles as Senior Lecturer in German and Film & Visual Culture at Aberdeen University and Programme Director of the BA in Visual Arts and Film at Durham (2021-2024). His academic career focuses on European film studies, particularly German cinema of the past 50 years, and 20th-century German literature with an emphasis on Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka, and W.G. Sebald. His research explores intersections between modernity, urban space, and visual culture, notably through projects on Berlin's post-war visual memory and the cultural impact of petroculture in West Germany.
Education: D.Phil. in modernist writing of Wolfgang Koeppen (Oxford University). His major publications include Urban Memory and Visual Culture in Berlin: Framing the Asynchronous City 1957-2012 (2016) and Negotiating Positions: Literature, Identity and Social Critique in the Works of Wolfgang Koeppen (2001). Research specialties include petrocultural studies, travel writing, and the socio-political dimensions of urban visual narratives.
Teaching: Coordinates undergraduate programs in German, Film & Visual Culture, and Comparative Literature. Current research investigates petroleum's cultural legacy in West Germany post-1945, exploring its influence on societal structures and cultural expression through literature and visual media.
Supervision: Advised PhDs on topics including Austrian memory politics, surveillance cinema, and European film production around 1990. Open to supervising projects in urban studies, visual culture, and German literature.
