Overview

I graduated from my undergraduate degree in 2015 with a first class honours in BA Human Geography. During this time I became passionate about cultural geographies and more-than-human geographies. My dissertation examined the gendered domestic labour concerning companion animals (namely dogs) in the home. Here, I gained an insight into the everyday lives of dog owners and their companions through an ethnographic interview methodology. This work was nominated for the RGS Gender and Feminist Geographies Research Group undergraduate dissertation prize.

In 2016 I graduated from Royal Holloway University of London with a distinction in MA Cultural Geography (research), where I was also awarded ‘Contribution to the Course’. Under the supervision of Professor Harriet Hawkins and Professor Phil Crang I completed a thesis entitled ‘Colouring inside the lines: towards a geography of mindfulness’. In this work I sought to understand whether adult colouring practices are therapeutic and mindful. I worked with a local mental health NGO to provide colouring session for the service users and performed autoethnography of my own colouring practices. This work formed the inspiration and basis for my PhD thesis.

In 2017 I moved to the University of Exeter to start my PhD entitled ‘Mindful geographies? Towards the geographies of mindfulness’ under the supervision of Dr Jennifer Lea, Professor John Wylie, and Dr Alice Malpass (Bristol). The project is funded by the ESRC South-West Doctoral Partnership. This work seeks to understand the geographies of mindfulness, and in doing so, expand the concept of therapeutic geographies using mindfulness practice. Practically, I will carry out ethnographic fieldwork with practitioners and organisations that use mindfulness as a therapeutic device, as well as autoethnography of my own mindfulness practice on an 8-week MBSR programme. 

Broad research specialisms:

My broad interests and research specialisms include cultural geographies, mindfulness, therapeutic landscapes, critical health geographies, more-than-human geographies. I am also interested in participatory, creative methodologies.

Qualifications

BA Human Geography (University of Southampton),
MA Cultural Geography (Royal Holloway)

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Research

Research projects

Project Title: Mindful geographies? Towards the geographies of mindfulness

Supervisors: Dr Jennifer Lea, Professor John Wylie, Dr Alice Malpass (Bristol)

Funding Body: ESRC SWDTP

Project Description:
Mindfulness has grown in popularity since the millennium, however the practice has been neglected from geographical literature concerning health and wellbeing. This is surprising since a recently published ‘Mindful Nation UK’ (2015) report by the Mindfulness All-Party Parliamentary Group (MAPPG) identified the practice as key to remedying mental health difficulties. My project aims to understand the geographies of mindfulness, and in doing so, expand the concept of therapeutic geographies using mindfulness practice. Practically, I will carry out ethnographic fieldwork with practitioners and organisations that use mindfulness as a therapeutic device, as well as autoethnography of my own mindfulness practice on an 8-week MBSR programme.

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