What is your role and what does it involve?

I’m a postdoctoral research fellow with the School for the Creative and Cultural Industries, working under the mentorship of the School’s director, Haidy Geismar. My project, part of the AHRC-funded StoryArcs programme, is about narrativising the work of the National Centre for Academic and Cultural Exchange (NCACE), an organisation that supports and showcases knowledge exchange between higher education and the arts and culture sectors. I spend most of my time writing and researching, attending NCACE events, and interviewing academics and creative practitioners who have worked with the organisation.

I’m also working as an assistant on a project called ‘UCL in 2076’, which aims to imagine and reimagine the future of the arts and humanities and how we might better support a positive landscape for the creative industries. We recently held an event, bringing together thought leaders from across the academic and cultural sectors to help us envisage these futures and come up with potential scenarios and solutions.  

Tell us about the journey that led you to where you are now?

After completing my BA in English at King’s College London, I stayed on to do an MA in Contemporary Literature, Culture and Theory. The MA was a big turning point for me – it made me realise how exciting and inventive literary criticism can be! 

After that, I spent a year living back in South Wales and working at Waterstones in Cardiff, which is where I discovered the novel 2666 by the Chilean author Roberto Bolaño. After using my employee discount to buy everything else he’d written, I moved to Spain to work as an English language assistant, before beginning a PhD on Bolaño at the University of Amsterdam.

Bolaño’s labyrinthine brand of storytelling has had a massive influence on the way I conceptualise and write about knowledge exchange.

What career achievement are you most proud of?

I did my PhD remotely from Spain without funding (up until my final year, when I was awarded a Finishing Fellowship). I’m proud of the four years I spent juggling my language assistant job with writing and research, which took a lot of self-motivation.

I’m also proud that I’ve written for some big publications over the last couple of years, including The Observer, Financial Times, Times Literary Supplement, Los Angeles Review of Books and Wellcome Collection Stories.

What are you most looking forward to in the next few months?

My work with NCACE is really starting to shape up, so I’m looking forward to incorporating my findings into an experimental narrative. I’ll also be sending off my Bolaño monograph for peer review in July, which I’m really excited about!

What are you reading, watching and listening to?

Reading: I was lucky enough to be sent an advanced proof for a brilliant novel called Bonding by Mariel Franklin. It comes out next month, and I think it’s going to be a hit!

Watching: Bodkin on Netflix.

Listening: I’ve recently fallen back in love with The War on Drugs – particularly their 2017 album, A Deeper Understanding.

What is your favourite museum, gallery or exhibition at the moment? 

I absolutely loved the Undocumented? exhibition at the UCL East Urban Room earlier this year, which was co-curated by Nishat Awan and Kara Blackmore.

I’m also looking forward to seeing Jason Wilsher-Mills’s ‘Jason and the Adventure of 254’ at Wellcome Collection.

If you had one piece of advice for people who want to pursue a similar career path, what would it be?

Don’t let one disappointment convince you that you’ve failed. Academia is full of ups and down – keep reminding yourself of why you’re doing what you’re doing.
 

Find out more

  • The StoryArcs programme is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and led by the Story Society at Bath Spa University. Meet the Story Associates.
  • The ‘UCL in 2076’ project is led by Tim Beasley-Murray, UCL Associate Professor of European Thought and Culture, and Dr Peter Zusi, Associate Professor at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies. ‘UCL in 2076’ was developed in collaboration with Matt Finch of the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School and is supported by Kristina Glushkova and Rebecca Robinson from the UCL Innovation in Enterprise team.