Academic

Academic work

I studied for both my undergraduate and MLitt degrees in English Literature at the University of Aberdeen where I achieved a First and a Distinction respectively. I focussed on literary theory and Romanticism during these years. After receiving funding from the College of Arts and Social Science I completed my PhD on Walter Scott and Jane Austen at the same institution.

My current research includes the use of familial motifs in the novels of Scott and Austen, including the connection between maternity and literary culture within these texts, and the cross-over between oral and written culture.

Conference papers:

‘Narrative Creation in Walter Scott’s Novels,’ at the British Association of Romanticism, July 2019.

‘The Identity of the Self and Others in the Works of Walter Scott,’ at Romanticism Association, Aviemore, July 2018.

‘Reading Against the Grain Disruption and Alliance on the Narrative Level of the Waverley Novel,’ at the Eleventh International Walter Scott conference at the Sorbonne, July 2018.

‘Scott and the Supernatural,’ at Romanticism Association, Strasbourg, July 2017.

‘A Comparative Look at Walter Scott and Jane Austen’ at the Tenth International Walter Scott Conference, Aberdeen (Scotland), July 2014.

‘Madness and Money: a Comparative Study of Fashionable and Unfashionable Ill-health in Sanditon and Saint Ronan’s Well’ at Fashionable Diseases, Northumberland (England), June 2004.

‘Personal Bildungsroman: National Tale? An Exploration of the Formation of Nationality in Romantic European Bildungsroman’ at Romantic Connections, Tokyo (Japan), June 2004.

‘The Wizard of the North: the Supernatural in Walter Scott’s Novels’ at Island Dynamics the Supernatural in Literature and Film, Shetland (Scotland), March 2014.

‘In the Name of the Mother: a Comparative Discussion of the Relationship between Maternity and the Creation of Narrative in the Novels of Jane Austen and Walter Scott’ at The Locations of Austen, Hertfordshire (England), July 2013.

‘The Anxiety of Textual Creation: An Exploration of the Link between Maternity and Writing in Walter Scott’s The Monastery’ at Cross Currents: Postgraduate Conference in Irish and Scottish Studies, Aberdeen (Scotland), April 2013.

‘Walter Scott and the Negation of the Maternal Body’ at Corporalité et spiritualité dans l'oeuvre de Sir Walter Scott, the Sorbonne (France), July 2012.

‘Shadows of the Past and Future: the Identity of the Parental Body in the Novels of Walter Scott and Jane Austen’ at Moving Forward 2012, Aberdeen (Scotland), June 2012.

‘Motherhood on Trial: Maternal Roles in Sense and Sensibility’ at 200 Years of Sense and Sensibility, St Andrews (Scotland), September 2011.

‘Broken Hearts, Broken Families: What the Discourse of the Family of 1811 can Teach us in 2011’ at Moving Forward 2011, Aberdeen (Scotland), July 2011.

‘Walter Scott and the Outlawing of Parenthood’ at the Ninth International Walter Scott conference, Wyoming (USA), July 2011.

‘Jane Austen, Mary Shelley and the Anxiety of the Family’ at Romantic Adaptations, Strawberry Hill (England), March 2011.

‘What is the Romantic Family?’ at Moving Forward 2010, Aberdeen (Scotland), July 2010.

‘Fathers and Families: Absenteeism and Inheritance in Selected Novels by Walter Scott’ at the Walter Scott Research Centre, Aberdeen (Scotland), November 2009.

‘Narrative Outcasts: The Discourse of the Powerless’ at Crosscurrents, Aberdeen (Scotland), April 2009.

Research grants:

My MLitt and PhD was funded by the College of Arts and Social Sciences.

I was awarded a student scholarship in addition to funding from the School of Language and Literature and the Principal’s Excellence fund for presenting at the Ninth International Walter Scott conference in 2011.

I received the same awards for presenting at Romantic Connections in 2014.

I received a David Kerr Cameron travel bursary for presenting at the Tenth International Walter Scott conference.

Teaching responsibilities:

Sultan Qaboos University:

British Survey 1.

Survey 2.

British Survey 3.

Modern Novel.

Introduction to Fiction.

Academic Writing.

Speaking.

Xi’an Jiaotong University: