Ms Hannah Filer
PhD Student

Summary

I am a Doctoral Researcher in Dance, Communities & Wellbeing, working in partnership with Matthew Bourne's New Adventures to study the mechanisms and outcomes of wellbeing in their Take Flight community dance outreach programme. For this, I was awarded a joint-funded full studentship by New Adventures and Brunel University London for three years.

I began my academic journey in the Humanities, and formed a strong interest in the arts, social justice, and interdisciplinary work. I then shifted into the Social Sciences for my MPhil in Education, where I built a philosophical and a practical understanding of alternative methods and methodologies in research. This includes Participatory Action Research, which I incorporated into my MPhil dissertation entitled A Class of Our Own: Reimagining Class-ification at the University of Cambridge, and continue to use in my PhD studies. My passion for social justice and interest in social class means that I am drawn towards co-production, researcher-participant equity, interrogating consent within research, and dissemination in my work. Beyond academia, I am also a Community Dance Artist, where I collaborate with local charities and community groups to facilitate dance and performance workshops. 

My primary supervisor is Professor Louise Mansfield, and secondary supervisor is Professor Emma Wainwright. My RDA is Professor Neil O'Connell.

Qualifications

MPhil in Education (Arts, Creativity & Education), University of Cambridge (Distinction)

BA (Hons) in English and Theatre Studies, University of Warwick (First Class)