Research

My doctoral research, 'Self-destructive desires and the supernatural in early modern Britain', was supervised by Professor Peter MarshallLink opens in a new window and Dr Naomi PullinLink opens in a new window, and funded by the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training PartnershipLink opens in a new window. My project explored the ways in which early modern people expressed and enacted feelings of suicide and self harm in supernatural narratives. These narratives provide an insight into how individuals conceptualised and negotiated suicidal ideation during a time where the act of suicide was not only criminal, but resulted in eternal damnation.

I passed my viva with no corrections in July 2024.

Research Interests

• Histories of mental health and wellbeing
• Early modern religion and supernatural belief
• History of emotion
• Gender and masculinity
• Laughter and humour

Publications

Articles

'Faithful men and false women: Love-suicide in early modern English popular print', Gender & History (2024) https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1468-0424.12805 

'Pin-swallowing and self-destruction in early modern British and Irish supernatural narratives', Cultural & Social History 20:4 (2023) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14780038.2023.2189407Link opens in a new window

(co-authored with Sophie Pain and Shakira Hanany Abd Rahman) 'Editorial: PGR Teachers and the (Post) Pandemic World', Journal of Postgraduate Pedagogic Practice 2 (2022) https://doi.org/10.31273/jppp.vol2.2022.1223Link opens in a new window

Blog Posts

• 'Early modern Britain was terrified of women trying to swallow pins'Link opens in a new window, The Conversation (2024)
• 'Tricking Pilgrims: Suicide, Jests and Popular Religion'Link opens in a new window, My-Parish (2023)
• 'Death and Uncertainty in the Early Modern CommunityLink opens in a new window', History Workshop Online, for Risk and Uncertainty series (2022) [invited post]
• 'PinLink opens in a new window', Key Things blog series, CEMS KCL (2022)
• 'Reading Wellbeing in Andrew Boorde's Dietary of HealthLink opens in a new window', HistoryLab Blog, for monthly theme on mental health histories (2022)
• ''Tied up from self-murder': Writing about suicide in the wake of the South Sea Bubble'Link opens in a new window, Warwick Early Modern and Eighteenth Century Centre Blog (2022)
• 'Killing yourself to laugh: joking about suicide and self-harm in early modern EnglandLink opens in a new window', Warwick Early Modern and Eighteenth Century Centre Blog (2021)
• 'World Mental Health Day: How History Informs Stigma'Link opens in a new window, Warwick History Department Blog (2021)

• 'The devil will tear me in pieces': Self-destruction and sympathy in a seventeenth-century witchcraft caseLink opens in a new window, The Many Headed Monster (2021)

• 'Some choice directions': John Prince and early modern suicide advice literatureLink opens in a new window, Social History Society Research Exchange (2021)

Reports

• The Supernatural: Sites of Suffering in the Pre-Modern World, 14th May 2022 (co-author)
• Media and Public (Dis)Order: A virtual workshop for early modernists at Dresden and WarwickLink opens in a new window, 29th and 30th March 2021 (co-author)

Conferences & Papers

• 'Representing male emotional pain in early modern English love ballads', NACHE ConferenceLink opens in a new window, University of British Columbia, June 2024
• ‘Sexualising demoniacs in early modern English possession narratives’, Demonology through the Ages: Belief, Ideas, Material and Visual Culture, Institute of Historical Research, 8th March 2024
• 'Self-destructive desires and the supernatural in early modern Britain, Eighteenth Century Centre, University of Birmingham, 6th March 2024
• 'Suicide in the History of Emotions', NACHE Colloquium, 22nd February 2024
• 'Self-destructive desires and the supernatural in early modern Britain', Early Modern Colloquium, TU Dresden, 14th December 2023
• 'Love suicide in early modern England', Disappearances: Representations of Suicide in Literature, Culture, and History, International Symposium, 10th July 2023
• 'Laughing at and joking about suicide in early modern Britain', Humour, Laughter and Everyday Life in the Early Modern Period: gender, culture and politics, c. 1500-1800, Newcastle University, 8th July 2022
• 'Emotional responses to suicidality in early modern Britain', History Postgraduate Conference, University of Warwick, 26th-27th May 2022
• 'Attempted Suicide in Early Modern Britain', Renaissance Society of America ConferenceLink opens in a new window, Dublin, 30th March 2022
• 'Emotional responses to suicidal intent in British supernatural narratives, 1560-1735', Newberry Library Graduate Conference, 27th January 2022
• 'Emotional responses to suicidal intent in British supernatural narratives, 1560-1735​', Emotion, Embodiment and the Everyday, 1500-1800​Link opens in a new window, University of Cambridge, 10th December 2021
• 'Emotions and suicide in early modern supernatural narratives', PG Work in Progress series, History Department, University of Warwick, 11th October 2021
• 'Hidden desires: exploring early modern suicidality through supernatural narratives', The Hidden in Performance, Visual, and Literary Culture​Link opens in a new window, M4C funded conference, 11th September 2021
• 'Experiencing suicidal temptation in early modern British supernatural narratives', Labour, Leisure, and Life in Early Modern England​ seminar series​Link opens in a new window, University of Bristol, 31st May 2021 [invited paper]
• 'Conversations with demons: possession, bewitchment, and self-destruction in early modern Britain', History Postgraduate ConferenceLink opens in a new window, University of Warwick, 26th May 2021
• 'Pin-swallowing, pin-vomiting, and self-harm in early modern Britain​', Centre for the History of MedicineLink opens in a new window Work in Progress seminar series, University of Warwick, 27th April 2021
• ​'Enemies within and without: talking with devils about self-destruction in early modern Britain​',

  Enemies in the Early Modern World 1453-1789: Conflict, Culture and Control​Link opens in a new window, University of Edinburgh, 26th March 2021

• 'Sharp objects, self-harm and the supernatural in early modern Britain', Newberry Library Multidisciplinary Graduate ConferenceLink opens in a new window, 9th February 2021
• 'Sharp objects, self-harm and the supernatural in early modern Britain', PG Work in ProgressLink opens in a new window series, History Department, University of Warwick, 30th November 2020
• 'Sex and Satan in the Early Modern Household', Sexual Knowledge Symposium, University of Exeter, 17th June 2019

Teaching

• 2024 - Reflective Tutor, Realising OpportunitiesLink opens in a new window
• 2023-2024 - Seminar Tutor, Europe in the Making (HI113)Link opens in a new window
• 2023 - Tutor, EUTOPIA Summer School on the History of ViolenceLink opens in a new window, TU Dresden
  • 'What is violence?' introductory class - lead
  • Ethics of studying violence - lead
  • Displaying violence and visit to the Militärhistorisches Museum - co lead
  • Violence in film: Duelling in Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon - co lead
• 2023 - Marking, The Early Modern Body (HI3T3)Link opens in a new window
• 2022-2023 - Seminar Tutor, Deviance and Nonconformity in Early Modern Europe (HI179)Link opens in a new window
• 2022-2023 - Teacher Champion, Warwick PTCLink opens in a new window, paid role working to develop PG teacher community at Warwick
• 2022 - Supervisor, URSS ProjectLink opens in a new window, Warwick - Title: 'Every catastrophe needs a culprit: what was the impact of the Little Ice Age upon the European witch trials?'Link opens in a new window
• 2022 - Supervisor, Interdisciplinary Arts Research ProjectLink opens in a new window, Warwick - Title: 'Magical Realism: A response to the loneliness epidemic in Japan and America'
• 2021-2022 - Seminar Tutor, Crossing Boundaries and Breaking Norms in the Medieval World (HI2E9)Link opens in a new window
• 2021-2022 - Seminar Tutor, Academic Research and WritingLink opens in a new window (part of Making of the Modern World (HI153))
• 2021 - Guest Seminar Tutor, Understanding Wellbeing Theory and PracticeLink opens in a new window, Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning, Warwick
• 2021 - Guest Interviewee, Understanding Wellbeing Online Module, Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning, Warwick

Responsibilities

• Mentor to PGT students in History and English, Arts Faculty, University of Warwick (2023-2024)
• Social Inclusion and Diversity CommitteeLink opens in a new window GTA Rep, History Department, University of Warwick (2022-present)
• Co-Editor, Warwick Journal of Postgraduate Pedagogic PracticeLink opens in a new window (2022-2023) - second issue out nowLink opens in a new window
• The Supernatural: Sites of Suffering in the Pre-Modern World co-organiserLink opens in a new window (with Francesca Farnell), HRC funded conference, University of Warwick (2021-2022)
• 'Sensitive' Histories Roundtable Discussion, chair and co-organiser, Centre for the History of Medicine, University of Warwick (11th January 2022)
• History Postgraduate ConferenceLink opens in a new window committee, University of Warwick (2021)
• Publicity and IT Officer, The Hidden in Performance, Visual, and Literary CultureLink opens in a new window (2021)
• History PGR Work in ProgressLink opens in a new window seminar co-convener and chair, University of Warwick (2020-2022)
• History Department Research Committee PGR Rep, University of Warwick (2020-2021)
• History Department PG Rep, University of Warwick (2020-2021)
• History Department PGT Rep, University of Exeter (2018-2019)
• History Department Athena Swan Student Rep, University of Exeter (2017-2019)
• History Department Third Year and Social Media Rep, University of Exeter (2017-2018)

Public Engagement

• 'Researching ordinary people of the early modern periodLink opens in a new window' workshop, in collaboration with Naomi Pullin, Lord Leycester, and Warwick Record Office
• 'Stars, sieves and women’s stories: An interactive exhibition about early modern fortune telling', Faculty of Arts Building OpeningLink opens in a new window, University of Warwick, 20th May 2022
• 'Ghosts, fairies and a wombful of rabbits: Weird and wondrous stories from early modern women', Resonate FestivalLink opens in a new window, Amazing Women strand, Coventry City of Culture, 19th March 2022​
• 'Stars, sieves and women’s stories: An interactive exhibition about early modern fortune telling', Resonate FestivalLink opens in a new window, Amazing Women strand, Coventry City of Culture, 5th March 2022
• 'Self-Injury, History, and Me' workshop series assistant, University of Reading, February and March 2022
• ​Now and Then​ session, University of Warwick, 13th October 2021
• Assistant on Dr Martha McGill's British Academy Summer Showcase​ exhibit, 16th June 2021 - watch the recording back hereLink opens in a new window
• 'Early Modern Witchcraft Belief'​Link opens in a new window, Wide Atlantic Weird podcast, 24th April 2021
• Ecclesiastical History Society​Link opens in a new window Twitter takeover, 9th-11th April 2021

Awards and Funding

• Rylands Library Early Career Research Fellowship, 2024-2025
• Nominated for Warwick Awards for Teaching ExcellenceLink opens in a new window (Postgraduates who teach category), March 2024
• Nominated for Advance HE Collaborative Award for Teaching ExcellenceLink opens in a new window (as part of Warwick Postgraduate Teaching Community team), March 2024
• Humanities Research Fund, University of Warwick (2023), £800 to attend North American Chapter on the History of Emotion, University of British Columbia
• Bursaries from TU Dresden; M4C Engagement Fund; European History Research CentreLink opens in a new window to take up visiting researcher position at TU Dresden, May 2023
• M4C RDF travel bursary to attend Humour, Laughter, and Everyday Life, July 2022
• Wellcome travel bursary to access collections following 'Material Encounters' online workshop, June 2022
• Newberry Library Consortium Grant to attend conference and conduct research, June 2022 - view report hereLink opens in a new window
• Early Modern and Eighteenth Century Centre grant to conduct research in Edinburgh, April 2022
• M4C RDF travel bursary to attend RSA Annual Conference, March 2022
• M4C RDF travel bursary to attend Emotions, Embodiment and the Everyday, December 2021
• Newberry Renaissance Consortium GrantLink opens in a new window for English Palaeography,Link opens in a new window October 2021
• Venture into Business Engagement joint winnerLink opens in a new window, July 2021
• British Academy Honorarium, June 2021
• Humanities Research Centre Doctoral Fellow 2021-22Link opens in a new window, April 2021
• Midlands4Cities-AHRC Doctoral Award, October 2020

Courses and Qualifications

• Pass with Distinction in Postgraduate Award in Teaching and Learning in Higher EducationLink opens in a new window, May 2023
• Beginner German course completed with Warwick Language Centre, March 2023. I am continuing to learn German in my own time.
• Passed APP PGRLink opens in a new window, awarded Associate Fellow status with HEA, February 2022 AFHEALink opens in a new window
• English PalaeographyLink opens in a new window, Warwick Centre for the Study of the Renaissance, Autumn 2021
• Tackling Racial Inequality at WarwickLink opens in a new window staff development course, 2021-2022

Additional Achievements

• Nominated for Warwick Award for Teaching Excellence (2024)
• PG Winner, Digital Arts Lab Showcase (2022)
• ShortlistedLink opens in a new window for Warwick Award for Public and Community Engagement (2022)
• Dean's Commendation for Exceptional Achievement, University of Exeter (2019)
• Dean's Commendation for Contribution to Life of the Department, University of Exeter (2018)
• Academic Undergraduate Rep of the Year, University of Exeter (2018)

Associate Fellow of the HEA

Early Career Member, RHS

Postgraduate Member, SHS

Stars & SievesLink opens in a new window online exhibition (collab with Dr Martha McGill)