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Faculty of Arts

Dr Kathryn Woods

Director of Student Experience for the Faculty of Arts (Lifecycle and Progression)

k.woods@warwick.ac.uk
Room H045, Humanities Building, Coventry, CV4 7AL

About Me

As the Director of Student Experience for the Arts Faculty, I develop strategy and coordinate projects to support the student lifecycle. I look at ways of supporting all aspects of the student experience from application, to after graduation. I also look at ways we can enhance the student experience through personal tutoring, welcome week, and digital technology, and by promoting student-led research, and widening participation.

I am chair of the Arts Faculty Student Experience Group, and member of the Arts Heads of Department Forum, Arts Faculty Education Commitee, IATL Management and Education Commitee, the Mitigating Circumstances Review of Assessment Group, and Welcome Week Steering Committee. I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academic and Fellow of the Warwick International Higher Education Academy (WIHEA). I am also the Director of the Digital Arts Lab.

I was previously a Teaching Fellow in the History of Medicine at the University of Warwick and in this role convened and contributed to postgraduate and undergraduate courses in the history of medicine, and early modern and modern British and European social history. Before this I was a course demonstrator in Economic and Social History at the University of Edinburgh, where I also completed my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.

Education

Research

My research examines the history of physical appearance, the body, popular medicine, and embodied identity in Britain 1650-1800. I have broader research and teaching expertise in British medicine from 1600-2000. I am currently working on a new project which explores health and the student experience in Britain 1950-present.

Leadership Roles
Publications
Book Reviews
Selection of Invited Talks and Conference Papers
  • ‘Putting the Tutoring Back into Personal Tutoring: The Changing Identity of Personal Tutoring in the Faculty of Arts’ (Warwick University Education Conference, 14th May 2019).
  • 'Nakedness and Physical Beauty in the Enlightenment (Wellcome Collection, 'Pretty Ugly: Early Modern Beauty', 10-11th Jan 2019).
  • 'Physiognomy and Early Modern Medical Diagnosis' (University of Warwick, 'Reading the Body', 7th June 2018).
  • ‘An Excrement or Anatomical Part? The Emergence of Conceptions of Hair as a Porous Structure in Early Modern Anatomy’ (Kings College London, ‘The Porous Body in Early Modern Europe’, 30th November – 1st December 2017).
  • ‘The Problem of the Poor and Ugly Body in Eighteenth-Century Medical Space’, (University of University of Malta Valleta, ‘Beauty and the Hospital in History’, 6-8th April, 2017).
  • ‘Sweat and Toil: Skin, Pores and the Labouring Body in the Long Eighteenth-Century’ (University of Reading, Early Modern Research Seminar, 20th February 2017).
  • ‘Every Face a New Friend? Facial Appearance, Fakery and the Fickleness of Female Friendship in Eighteenth-Century London’ (University of Oxford, ‘Friends, Allies and Enemies’, British Society for Eighteenth Century Studies Annual Conference, 4-8th January 2017).
  • ‘Astrological Understandings of the Body in Early Modern Britain (Museum for the History of Science, Oxford, The Society for the History of Medieval Technology and Science, 10th December 2016).
  • ‘No Scots! No Scots! How to Spot a Scot in Eighteenth-Century London’ (University of York, ‘First Impressions’,10th November 2016).
  • ‘No Carrots! No Carrots!: Hair Colour, Humoral Medicine and Social Difference in Early Modern Britain’ (University of Warwick, History of Medicine Seminar Series, 1st November 2016).
  • ‘The Perceived ‘Ugliness’ of the Poor in Eighteenth-Century London’ (University of Warwick, ‘Aesthetics of Poverty’, 30th June 2016).
  • ‘A “Fair” Nation: Skin Colour and British National Identity 1650-1750’ (University of Birmingham, ‘Green Britain: Nationhood and the Environment 1500-1700’, 25th June 2016).
  • ‘Discursive Dismemberment: The Application of Anatomical Method to Discursive Analysis of the Body in Early Modern Medical Texts (University of Glasgow, ‘Dissecting the Page: Medical Paratexts’, 11th September 2015).
  • ‘“Facing” Identity in a “Faceless” Society: Physiognomy, Facial Appearance and Character in Britain 1650-1780’ (University of Melbourne, ‘Reading the Face: Image, Text and Emotion’, 2-4th June 2015).
Professional Affiliations
  • Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Fellow of the Warwick International Higher Education Academy
  • Member of the United Kingdom Academic Tutoring Association
Prizes, Awards and Qualifications
  • Postgraduate Award in Technology Enhanced Learning (2019).
  • Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2019).
  • Introduction to Counselling - level 4 (2018).
  • Jeremiah Dalziel Prize in British History (University of Edinburgh, 2013).
  • Teaching Award Nomination for ‘Postgraduates Who Tutor’ (Edinburgh University Student Association, 2012/13).
  • Arts and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Award (2010 - 2013).
  • Davidson Bursary of the Arts (University of Edinburgh, 2006 & 2007).
Public Engagement and Media

Kathryn Woods