Group members

dr. katerina paramana (senior lecturer/associate professor) is an artist-scholar, research lead for theatre, pgr director for the cbass global lives research centre, lead of the cbass performance, cultures and politics research group, and lead of the arts and humanities' research peer-mentoring scheme for academic staff. in broad terms, katerina's interdisciplinary research is concerned with the socio-political and ethical dimensions of contemporary performance. it brings into conversation performance (both theory and her artistic practice), political economy, critical theory, philosophy, and cultural and social theory. her current research focuses on the relationship between performance and political economy. she is interested in how bodies affect and are affected by political economies at micro and macro levels and in the ethico-political challenges that contemporary performance practices propose to the political economies in which they are created and presented. her routledge monograph contemporary performance and political economy: oikonomia as a new ethico-political paradigm is in press and available to pre-order, and has been lauded by international leaders in the field. her previous books performance, dance and political economy: bodies at the end of the world (2021, paramana and gonzalez) and art and dance in dialogue: body, space, object (2020, whatley, sarah, racz, imogen, paramana, katerina, and crawley, marie-louise), published with bloomsbury academic and palgrave macmillan respectively, also received high praise from reviewers. her research has been additionally published with refereed academic journals including performance research, contemporary theatre review, gps: global performance studies, dance research, and filozofski vestnik. her practice-based research, further discussed below, has been presented in theatres and galleries in the uk, us, and europe, and she has performed for renowned artists in high profile venues internationally. katerina has received funding and awards for her theoretical and practice-based research from ahrc (the arts and humanities research council), the onassis public benefit foundation, the british society of aesthetics, santander universities, gasworks gallery/pedro lagoa, and the hellenic centre of the international institute of theatre, as well brief, bril, and research seminar series awards from brunel university of london. she was an associate researcher with performance matters, an ahrc-funded creative research project and collaboration between university of roehampton, london, goldsmiths, university of london, and the live art development agency, investigating the cultural value of performance (directed by adrian heathfield, gavin butt, and lois keidan). in 2023, katerina was shortlisted at brunel for a research impact award. katerina has international leadership experience in research and education, and consults on related matters. she is founding editor of the journal section 'political economy and the arts' at lateral, the refereed journal of the cultural studies association, usa (2022 - present); the issue performance and political economy: bodies, politics and well-being is in now available (lateral, fall 2024 13(2)). she is also founding book series co-editor of the bloomsbury press interdisciplinary book series dance in dialogue (four books), an assessor on the ahrc peer review college for techne (ahrc doctoral training partnership), and on the editorial board of body, space, & technology journal. she has served on the board of directors of performance studies international (psi) and on the executive committee of the society for dance research. she serves on performance studies international (psi) advisory committee on antiracism and anticolonialism, which she co-founded. she is also an onassis scholars' association member and mentor, and has examined phd projects in uk and europe. she is a member of consultation, education policy, programme design and (re)validation, and tenure and promotion committees internationally. katerina's internationally presented performance practice and practice-based research draws on theatre, the visuals arts, and dance and takes the form of experimental theatre, performance, installation-, and lecture-performance. through its consideration of the relationship between image, body, time, context, and the encounter with the spectator, her work explores the political, philosophical, social, and ethical dimensions and potentials of performance. it has been presented in theatres, studios, and galleries in the uk, us, and europe, in venues such as gasworks gallery, the white building, ]performance s p a c e [, laban theatre, the place, and toynbee studios in london; the institute of design at stanford university; the kultuhuset in stockholm; galeria boavista in lisbon; and the michael cacoyannis theatre in athens. katerina has also collaborated as a performer with various theatre, performance, and dance companies and artists in the uk and the us (e.g. tino sehgal, washington improv theatre (wit), blair thomas, ilona sagar, ivana müller, the famous lauren barri holstein, bojana cvejic and christine de smedt, janez janša, liz lerman dance exchange, nejla yatkin, deviated theatre, lea anderson, simon vincenzi, and risa jaroslow). she has performed at venues including the barbican theatre, national theatre studio, tate modern, southbank centre, laban theatre, and siobhan davies studios in london; the michael cacoyannis theatre and duncan dance research centre in athens; the kennedy centre, kogod theatre, greenberg theatre, kay theatre, gala theatre at tivoli square, dance place, and the 9:30 club in washington, d.c.; the chicago cultural centre and the chicago symphony orchestra centre in chicago; and the lincoln centre in nyc. from 2015-2018, katerina was a participating artist of sadler’s wells summer university, which was led by jonathan burrows and eva martinez. the above research and twenty years' professional industry experience inform katerina's programme and module design and delivery, and her teaching of theory and practice. she has fifteen years' he experience designing courses and teaching practical workshops, seminars, and lectures across theatre, performance, live art, dance, critical theory, and philosophy on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes (see 'teaching activities'). she has also supervised to completion ba, ma, and phd dissertations, examined phd projects in the uk and europe, and delivered seminars and workshops for the techne ahrc doctoral training programme. prior to her appointment at brunel in 2016, katerina taught and supervised ugs, pgts, and pgrs at birkbeck, university of london, the royal academy of dramatic art (rada), coventry university (where she was also postdoctoral researcher), trinity laban conservatoire, and university of roehampton, london. she has been part of programme design and (re)validation committees internationally. many of katerina's students are now successful artists and academics. katerina is fellow of the higher education adacemy (fhea) and holds a phd in theatre and performance from university of roehampton, london, an ma in contemporary performance and choreography from trinity laban conservatoire, a ba in theatre, and a ba in dance from university of maryland, college park (us). her phd studies were funded by the alexander s. onassis public benefit foundation. in broad terms, katerina's interdisciplinary research is concerned with the socio-political and ethical dimensions of contemporary performance. it brings into conversation performance (both theory and her artistic practice), political economy, critical theory, philosophy, and cultural and social theory. her current research focuses on the relationship between performance and political economy. she is interested in how bodies affect and are affected by political economies at micro and macro levels and in the ethico-political challenges that contemporary performance practices propose to the political economies in which they are created and presented. her routledge monograph contemporary performance and political economy: oikonomia as a new ethico-political paradigm is in press and available to pre-order, and has been lauded by international leaders in the field. her previous books performance, dance and political economy: bodies at the end of the world (2021, paramana and gonzalez) and art and dance in dialogue: body, space, object (2020, whatley, sarah, racz, imogen, paramana, katerina, and crawley, marie-louise), published with bloomsbury academic and palgrave macmillan respectively, also received high praise from reviewers. her research has been additionally published with refereed academic journals including performance research, contemporary theatre review, gps: global performance studies, dance research, and filozofski vestnik. katerina's internationally presented performance practice and practice-based research draws on theatre, the visuals arts, and dance and takes the form of experimental theatre, performance, installation-, and lecture-performance. through its consideration of the relationship between image, body, time, context, and the encounter with the spectator, her work explores the political, philosophical, social, and ethical dimensions and potentials of performance. it has been presented in theatres, studios, and galleries in the uk, us, and europe, in venues such as gasworks gallery, the white building, ]performance s p a c e [, laban theatre, the place, and toynbee studios in london; the institute of design at stanford university; the kultuhuset in stockholm; galeria boavista in lisbon; and the michael cacoyannis theatre in athens. katerina has also collaborated as a performer with various theatre, performance, and dance companies and artists in the uk and the us (e.g. tino sehgal, washington improv theatre (wit), blair thomas, ilona sagar, ivana müller, the famous lauren barri holstein, bojana cvejic and christine de smedt, janez janša, liz lerman dance exchange, nejla yatkin, deviated theatre, lea anderson, simon vincenzi, and risa jaroslow). she has performed at venues including the barbican theatre, national theatre studio, tate modern, southbank centre, laban theatre, and siobhan davies studios in london; the michael cacoyannis theatre and duncan dance research centre in athens; the kennedy centre, kogod theatre, greenberg theatre, kay theatre, gala theatre at tivoli square, dance place, and the 9:30 club in washington, d.c.; the chicago cultural centre and the chicago symphony orchestra centre in chicago; and the lincoln centre in nyc. from 2015-2018, katerina was a participating artist of sadler’s wells summer university, which was led by jonathan burrows and eva martinez. funding & awards katerina has received funding and awards for her theoretical and practice-based research from ahrc (the arts and humanities research council), the onassis public benefit foundation, the british society of aesthetics, santander universities, gasworks gallery/pedro lagoa, and the hellenic centre of the international institute of theatre, as well brief, bril, and research seminar series awards from brunel university of london (list of grants available at the end of the page). she was an associate researcher with performance matters, an ahrc-funded creative research project and collaboration between university of roehampton, london, goldsmiths, university of london, and the live art development agency, investigating the cultural value of performance (directed by adrian heathfield, gavin butt, and lois keidan). in 2023, katerina was shortlisted at brunel for a research impact award. international leadership & consulting katerina has international leadership experience in research and education, and consults on related matters. she is founding editor of the journal section 'political economy and the arts' at lateral, the refereed journal of the cultural studies association, usa (2022 - present); the issue performance and political economy: bodies, politics and well-being is in now available (lateral, fall 2024 13(2)). she is also founding book series co-editor of the bloomsbury press interdisciplinary book series dance in dialogue (four books), an assessor on the ahrc peer review college for techne (ahrc doctoral training partnership), and on the editorial board of body, space, & technology journal. she has served on the board of directors of performance studies international (psi) and on the executive committee of the society for dance research. she serves on performance studies international (psi) advisory committee on antiracism and anticolonialism, which she co-founded. she is also an onassis scholars' association member and mentor and has examined phd projects in uk and europe. she is a member of consultation, education policy, programme design and (re)validation, and tenure and promotion committees internationally. leadership roles at brunel: at brunel, katerina has had several research leadership roles, including her current roles (since 2022) as research lead for theatre, pgr director for the cbass global lives research centre, lead of the cbass performance, cultures and politics research group, and lead of the arts and humanities' research peer-mentoring scheme for academic staff, which she designed. recent invited talks 2024 invited talk for the organisation of dance professionals symposium, athens, greece (sexoxo). 2022 invited talk for the brunel-wide mentoring network launch. 2022 invited talk for the organisation of dance professionals symposium, athens, greece (sexoxo). 2021 invited talk: invited by the research centre for the humanities (rch) and twixtlab (athens, gr) to deliver talk on artistic research in dance titled ‘the production of knowledge through dance research outside(?) the academy’. list of publications & practice-based outputs (for full texts visit my academia.edu page) books (monograph in press and available to pre-order; 2025) paramana, katerina. contemporary performance and political economy: oikonomia as a new ethico-political paradigm. routledge. 2021. paramana, katerina and gonzalez, anita. performance, dance and political economy: bodies at the end of the world. bloomsbury academic. 2020. whatley, sarah, racz, imogen, paramana, katerina, and crawley, marie-louise. art and dance in dialogue: body, space, object. palgrave macmillan. book series founding series co-editor of the interdisciplinary book series dance in dialogue. bloomsbury academic (four books). journals edited founding editor of the 'political economy and the arts' section, lateral, the cultural studies association journal. 2024 (in press) paramana, katerina (ed.) performance and political economy: bodies, politics and well-being, political economy and the arts section, lateral, the journal of the cultural studies association, 13(2). refereed journal articles and chapters see 'selected publications' tab. practice-based outputs a) dvds available at the british library and the live art developement agency's study room: talking with strangers: what is violence?, performance matters – potentials of performance, (2012) the white building, london. martyro, performance matters – trashing performance –trash salon: how to do things with waste?, (2011) toynbee studios, london. b) performance presentations (selected) (in preparation) martyro exploded (working title). 2015 now what?, michael cacoyannis theatre, athens, greece. co-created with elena koukoli. performed by stella dimitrakopoulou, elena koukoli, and katerina paramana. 2014 idea: this is good, gasworks gallery, london (part of the archive of destruction by pedro lagoa). 2013 video performances co-created with kathleya afanador, antje hildebrandt, elena koukoli, and ligia zuccarello rizzo (as part of toothache duets, by eirini kartsaki and louise douse) ]performance s p a c e [, london. 2013 talking about economy/ies, performance studies international (psi#19),studio 2, building 550, stanford university, us.co-created with gigi argyropoulou. 2012 talking with strangers: what is violence?, galeria boavista, lisbon, portugal. 2012 talking with strangers: what is violence?, potentials of performance, part of performance matters, the white building, london.– 2011 muddle, muddle toil and trouble: disorder and potentiality – a lecture- performance. part of pandemic, bank street arts, sheffield, u.k.performed by stella dimitrakopoulou, antje hildebrandt, eirini kartsaki, and katerina paramana. 2011 martyro, trash salon, performance matters symposium, toynbee studios, london.performed by katerina paramana. 2011 metrology, stockholm fringe fest 2011, kultuhuset, stockholm.performed by antje hildebrandt and katerina paramana. 2011 muddle, muddle toil and trouble: disorder and potentiality – a lecture- performance.jubilee building, university of roehampton, london.performed by antje hildebrandt, eirini kartsaki, elena koukoli, and katerina paramana. 2011 muddle, muddle toil and trouble: disorder and potentiality – a lecture- performance.‘communi(cati)on of crisis’ symposium, nafpaktos, greece. organised by the institute for live arts research under the auspices of athens university and municipality of nafpaktos.performed by elena koukoli, nana sachini, eirini kartsaki, and katerina paramana. 2011 metrology, jubilee theatre, university of roehampton, london.performed by antje hildebrandt and stella dimitrakopoulou. 2011 metrology, c4cc (centre for creative collaboration), londonpart of making & unmakingtext across performance practices and theories. funded by beyond text, an ahrc programmeperformed by antje hildebrandt and stella dimitrakopoulou. 2011 metrology, part of resolution!, the robin howard dance theatre,the place, london.performed by antje hildebrandt and stella dimitrakopoulou. 2010 e pulvere lux et vis, 125 magazine, photoshoot choreographer, sept. 2010 art issue (16), p. 212-219, london. photography dan swallow, art director martin yates.( 2009 tea party, deptford x festival, london. co-created and performed with michelle lynch, antje hildebrandt, and laura blackley. in collaboration with artmongers. 2009 the adult waltz starving loretta home, studio theatre, laban, london. 2009 subjectile, co-created and performed with kathleya afanador, laban, london. concept and design alex rainford-roberts. 2009 three, studio theatre, laban, london. 2006 ‘aint’i a woman’, co-created with stacy wilson, dance theatre, clarice smith performing arts centre, md, us. 2006 hang pictures on the air, dance theatre, clarice smith performing arts centre, md, us. performed by katerina paramana. 2006 distance, laboratory theatre, clarice smith performing arts centre, md, us. 2005 from the real to the surreal, dance theatre, clarice smith performing arts centre, md, us. performed by yoko feinman and jr russ. creative text online publications paramana, katerina. 2013. (re)definition of the term ‘solidarity’. psi manifesto lexicon. gigi argyropoulou, konstantina georgelou, efrosini protopapa, danae theodoridou and steriani tsintziloni (eds.). paramana, katerina. 2012. (re)definitions of the terms ‘reading’, ‘co-authoring’ and ‘witness’. psi manifesto lexicon. gigi argyropoulou, konstantina georgelou, efrosini protopapa, danae theodoridou and steriani tsintziloni (eds.). research projects & related activities (selected) (2022-23) curated and organised the research seminar series 'performance and political economy: bodies, politics, and well-being in the 21st century'. (2021-22) co-pi, bril research award ('brunel research interdisciplinary lab') for the interdisciplinary collaborative project 'the social, ecological, political, and cultural implications of extinction'. (2019-22) pi, brief research award project (‘brunel research initiative and enterprise fund’), performance and political economy, brunel university of london. (2015-18) participating artist, sadler’s wells summer university. directed by jonathan burrows in collaboration with eva martinez, sadler’s wells, london. (2015) participating artist, performing arts forum (paf) with jonathan burrows, jan ritsema, mårten spångberg, and bojana cvejic. siobhan davies studios, london. (2010-13) associate researcher with performance matters, an ahrc-funded programme. a four-year creative research project and collaboration between university of roehampton, london, goldsmiths, university of london and the live arts development agency investigating the cultural value of performance. directed by professor adrian heathfield, dr gavin butt and lois keidan. board membership & assessment panels (2020-present) co-founder and member of the psi advisory committee on antiracism and anticolonialism (2018-present) ahrc peer review college for techne (doctoral training partnership), performing arts subject group. (2018-present) editorial board, body, space & technology (bst) journal (2016-2019) board of directors, performance studies international (psi) (2016-2018) executive committee, society for dance research (sdr) editorial roles (2022-present) founding journal section editor, 'political economy and the arts' at lateral, the journal of the cultural studies association. founding book series co-editor, interdisciplinary book series dance in dialogue, bloomsbury academic (four books). (2018-present) editorial board, body, space & technology (bst) journal. (2016-2019) general editor, performance studies international, psi manifesto lexicon. (2015-16) review editor, journal of dance and somatic practices (2013-14) guest editor, ‘solidarity and/in performance: rethinking definitions & exploring potentialities’ activate e-journal, 3(1). (2010-13) editorial committee member, activate e-journal. peer-reviewing (selected) rowman & littlefield press arts journal (issn 2076-0752) bloomsbury academic routledge gps: global performance studies journal dance research journal journal of dramatic theory and criticism and gps: global performance studies journal joint issue performing ethos: an international journal of ethics in theatre and performance journal airea, arts and interdisciplinary research journal, edinburgh college of art body, space & technology (bst) journal event organization (selected) (2022-23) curated and organised the international research seminar series 'performance and political economy: bodies, politics, and well-being in the 21st century'. (2022) co-organiser of the international conference 'extinction: implications from the microbial to the planetary (eximp). (2017) co-organiser of the international conference ‘dialogues on dance, philosophy, and performance in the contemporary neoliberal moment’. (2016) co-organizer of the international body, space, object symposium, coventry university. (2016) working group convenor and panel chair, ‘the production of the social in contemporary performance’, body, space, object symposium, coventry university. (2013) curation & organisation of the symposium ‘rethinking economies’, university of roehampton, london. co-curated and co-organised with gigi argyropoulou. funded by roehampton university’s centre for performance and creative exchange. (2011) co-curator of the festival ‘performing text / reading performance’ (pandemic), bank street arts gallery, sheffield, u.k. contemporary: performance, theatre, choreography/post-dance live art political economy performance, critical, political, social, and cultural theory ethics and social justice spectatorship and participation affect and collectivity capitalism, biopolitics, neoliberalism bodies, politics, and well-being continental philosophy, political philosophy, indigenous philosophies practice-as-research racial capitalism, migration, homelessness katerina's research and twenty years' professional industry experience inform her programme and module design and delivery, and her teaching of theory and practice. she has fifteen years' he experience designing courses and teaching practical workshops, seminars, and lectures across theatre, performance, live art, dance, critical theory, and philosophy on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes (see below for more details). she has also supervised to completion ba, ma, and phd dissertations, examined phd projects in the uk and europe, and delivered seminars and workshops for the techne ahrc doctoral training programme. prior to her appointment at brunel in 2016, katerina taught and supervised ugs, pgts, and pgrs at birkbeck, university of london, the royal academy of dramatic art (rada), coventry university, trinity laban conservatoire, and university of roehampton, london. she has been part of programme design and (re)validation committees internationally, and is fellow of the higher education adacemy (fhea). many of katerina's students are now successful artists and academics. teaching areas: katerina has fifteen years' experience designing courses and teaching theory and practice across contemporary theatre, performance, live art, and dance at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, for example: a) practical/workshop teaching experience: performance making / devising / theatre making / experimental performance practices live art / performance art performance laboratory site specific / solo / autobiographical / socially engaged performance performing in experimental theatre and performance acting practice-as-research directing physical theatre choreography b) lecture-seminar teaching experience: theories and histories: theatre, performance, acting, dance performance studies critical and cultural theory race, class, gender, sexuality and performance research methods performance analysis performance philosophy / continental philosophy performance and political economy performance and ethics performance and social justice performance and political/social engagement c) ug, pgt, and pgr project supervision experience: undergraduate written and practical projects to completion ma practice-based and fully-written projects to completion phd practice-based and fully-written projects to completion successfully developed with phd applicants their ahrc techne funding proposal delivered ahrc techne seminars for cross-university pgrs

royona mitra (she/her) is professor in dance and performance cultures and the author of akram khan: dancing new interculturalism (palgrave, may 2015). her first monograph was awarded the 2017 de la torre bueno first book award by the dance studies association (dsa) and it was runner-up for the 2016 new career research in theatre/performance awarded by the theatre & performance research association (tapra). her forthcoming monograph unmaking contact: choreographing south asian touch is in press and due for publication in spring 2025 with oxford university press. the monograph's conceptual premise was published in an article titled "unmaking contact: choreographic touch at the intersections of race, caste and gender", and was awarded dance studies association's gertrude lippincott award in 2022 for the best english language journal article. royona's co-edited journal special issue titled "outing archives/archives outing" for contemporary theatre review journal, alongside profs bryce lease and melissa blanco borelli, was awarded the theatre and performance research association's edited collection prize in 2022. prior to joining the theatre department at brunel in 2013, royona was a senior lecturer in the drama department at university of wolverhampton where she was also the ma drama course leader. she has also taught in the theatre and performance department at the university of plymouth. royona served as a member on the ref2021 sub panel 33 (2018-2022). she is co-chair of the theatre and performance research association (2022- ) alongside dr broderick chow. she was elected as secretary to join the executive committee for scudd (standing conference for university drama department) from 2013-2016. she was also an elected member of dsa’s (dance studies association) board of directors (2018-2022), and a working group convenor for the bodies and performance wg of tapra (2015-2018). she has served on the editorial board for dsa's studies in dance history series (2015-2018), was a co-editor for the training grounds section of theatre, dance and performance training journal (2015-2018), and is on the editorial board for contemporary theatre review. royona's research examines systems of oppression in dance and performance cultures at the intersections of bodies, social power regimes, and choreography as resistance, and she contributes to the fields of diaspora and performance, south asian dance and performance cultures, critical dance studies and performance studies. her first monograph akram khan: dancing new interculturalism analyses the relationship between this british-asian dance artist's complex identity-positions and his art through the lens of ‘new interculturalism’. through seven key case studies from khan’s oeuvre, this book demonstrates how khan’s philosophy and aesthetic of ‘new interculturalism’ is a challenge to the 1980s predominantly western ‘intercultural theatre’ project, as a more nuanced and embodied approach to representing othernesses, from his own position of the other. additionally, the book challenges popular perception of khan’s art as contemporary south asian dance by suggesting that, instead, khan uses south asian dramaturgical principles to transform the western contemporary dance landscape in intercultural ways. offering the first full-length investigation of akram khan’s work, this book is essential reading for students, researchers, practitioners and fans of khan’s work. her current book project titled unmaking contact: choreographing south asian touch contracted with oxford university press and scheduled for publication in 2025, interrogates the politics of choreographing touch at the intersections of race, gender, caste, faith, sexuality, new interculturalisms and decoloniaity, and reframes contact in choreography beyond tactility through foregrounding transnational south asian choreographic practices. royona is currently working alongside dr. prarthana purkayastha (royal holloway university, uk) and dr. anusha kedhar (university of california, riverside) on a project titled “south asian dance equity (sade): the arts british south asian dance ignores,” which is being funded by the arts and humanities research council as a dance research matters network grant project. she is also working on a double volume co-edited anthology project alongside drs anurima banerji (ucla, usa) and jasmine johnson (upenn, usa) titled the oxford handbooks of dance praxis, contracted with oxford university press. she completed a british academy small grant funded project titled ‘contemporary dance and whiteness' alongside drs simon ellis (coventry) and arabella stanger (sussex) in 2019. the project’s aim was to examine race and racism in british contemporary dance and to critique whiteness as part of a commitment to the field’s anti-racist futures. the project examines whiteness as a structure of racism that exists in the relationships between personal prejudice, cultural norms, and the lived conditions of inequality and racial violence. working in coalition with uk and us colleagues from across theatre and dance studies, royona has been leading conversations on anti-racism for these disciplines as a scholar and an educator, with a strong commiment to dismantling their whiteness. interculturalism and performance studies critical race theory and performance studies postcolonial studies, decolonialities and theatre, dance and performance studies dance, performance and diaspora studies south asian dance studies royona’s teaching specialisms are in the fields of physical theatre/dance–theatre, live art practices, dance and embodiment, intercultural performance, critical theory and anti-racism and performance. she would be keen to supervise phd projects in the above areas and also projects that interrogate the relationships between bodies, cultures, gender, race, sexuality and identity in performance.

i am an academic, pedagogue, theatre maker and uefa qualified football coach. having developed a portfolio career as a practitioner-scholar, my work operates dynamically across the generative boundaries of teaching, research, and artistic practice. as a teacher, i have over 10 years experience working in the uk higher education sector, during which time i have cultivated a practice of reflexive, collaborative pedagogy that destabilises hierarchical approaches to teaching and learning. i have taught across a range of practical and theoretical modules at universities and conservatoires, including royal birmingham conservatoire, de montfort university leicester, and university of wolverhampton. as a theatre maker, i was part of the birmingham repertory theatre's foundry programme for emerging artists, where i was mentored by alexander zeldin, caroline horton and tessa walker. while on the foundry programme, i began to develop a collection of three works exploring neurological trauma and the body. the first two pieces: grey matter and the prisoner's cinema have been supported by birmingham repertory theatre and mac birmingham. in 2017, i assisted acclaimed french theatre director, mohamed el khatib, working with over 50 football supporters on stage. i have also worked as a director on several professional projects across theatre, opera, performance art, and musical theatre. as an academic, i am interested in how we understand, study, and use rehearsal in sport and performance training. i have published on different modes of performance training, critical conceptualisations of voice, and the complicated dynamics of leadership within ensemble practices. i am also interested in exploring the political dynamics of collective creativity beyond the rehearsal studio, addressing other settings including sports performance, healthcare, and emergency response planning. i am currently working on the development of an edited book on performance and football. rehearsal studies ensemble performance practice-as-research sport & performance political, social and cultural theory performance training bodies in performance dramaturgies & performance performer training ensemble performance theatre making performance analysis and critical theory research approaches and methods sports and performance physical theatre

i am interested in the ways we understand, practise and manage the places around us. as a co-director of performing city resilience, i work with emergency planners, culture directors, organisations, and companies to develop/implement creative strategies in response to local and global challenges. this collaborative work has led individuals, local authorities, companies and organisations to think in new ways about their work and to revise key policies and procedures, as demonstrated in new orleans (usa). critically, recent collaborative work led the emergency planning society (international) to embed creativity in its core competencies. i have published internationally on arts, architecture, culture, emergency and resilience planning, performance, and place. publications comprise books and academic articles, professional reporting and blog posts. currently, i am working with dr patrick duggan on two new monographs for louisiana state university press and palgrave. at brunel university london, i am engaged in interdisciplinary research and teaching on place, performance, and resilience. within academic institutions, i have held leadership roles in research, learning and teaching, and associated areas at subject, department and/or school level. these have focused particularly on facilitating research and research impact development, designing and managing degree programmes, and growing international partnerships. i have examined written and 'practice as research' doctoral projects (both individual and collaborative submissions) exploring place and performance. there are two key strands to my research. performance, place and resilience: i am a co-director of performing city resilience, an internationally focused research-led consultancy that develops creative practices of resilience and emergency planning in the uk and internationally. this is highly collaborative work, and dr patrick duggan and i have been leading this project since 2017. since 2020, we have been working on a ukri-funded rapid response covid-19 project exploring intersections between arts and resilience strategy in uk cities. on this project, we have worked closely wth uk local authoriites and the emergency planning society, and have developed innovative invitations for pandemic response. internationally, we have worked in new orleans since 2018. following an intial survey of arts and resilience practice in that year, we were invited to contribute to the development of the city’s five-year hazard mitigation plan and the grassroots cultural masterplan in 2019. in june 2019, we delivered bespoke workshops for key city stakeholders including new orleans homeland security and emergency preparedness (nohsep) – together with departments across city hall, the arts council of new orleans, and the music and culture coalition of new orleans. as a direct result of our work, nohsep are engaged on ‘a long-term path of embedding arts and cultural practices in our strategic planning’. performing place: architecture and environment: in 2019, i published performing home (routledge), the first book to consider performances of home in domestic dwellings. this book speaks to research and practice in installation, performance and architecture, and looks directly at practices of enquiring into, making, adapting, mobilising, and being resident in domestic dwellings. it considers artists’ responses to place and to the possibilities, but also difficulties, of practising home. that same year, matthew wagner and i published the dramaturgy of the door (routledge), the first book length study of the performance of the door – a key architectural element. in this, we explore the importance of doors in stage and place-based practice, and thereby issues of borders, thresholds, bodies, environments and practices of access and limit (project funded by british academy/leverhulme). additionally, i have published a range of essays identifying ways in which ideas and practices from performance can help identify, reflect on and address urgent contemporary challenges. in particular, i reflect on new ways of responding to the effects of climate change. performing city resilience (emergency planning, hazard mitigation and resilience strategy) performing place: architecture and environment my teaching is grounded in my current and recent research into performance, place, and resilience, including my experience of working with partner organisations and collaborators. alonside teaching that unpacks specific topics from this research, i invite students to identify methodologies and practices that will support their work in and beyond their degree. in teaching from my research area, i engage students in processes of identifying and developing their own individual research and professional interests as they progress on their degree.

i am an academic, a pedagogue, an actor and a director. as a teacher i have 20 years of experience teaching in the uk he sector and during that time i have taught a wide range of theoretical and practical modules at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. i have also taught workshops across the world (in countries such as sweden, lithuania, china, mexico and costa rica). as an academic my main research interests are the study, use and understanding of bodies in performance, particularly the corporeal phenomena related to acting training approaches (both western and non-western), intercultural performance practices, and the performance of (national) identity. during the last 10 years i have pursued both practice-as-research as well as desk-based projects. amongst them i am currently co-editing the routledge companion to bodies in performance (together with professor roberta mock and professor hershini young) and i am working on the development of the performance completing the marathon in which i am exploring long distance running practices. as a director i have been engaged in alternative and experimental performance practices, such as the staging of the opera lampedusa, written by professor eduardo miranda for which the linguist david j. peterson created a language called vöv. the key aspect of my research is the study of the way in which bodies are used and understood in performance. i am particularly interested in exploring that phenomena in relation to acting training systems, methods and approaches (both western and non-western), in the establishment and development of intercultural theatre practices, and in the performance of identity in cultural and theatrical events. as a scholar, i pursue research both through practice-as-research as well as desk-based methods. my current project completing the marathon is a par project which will generate both written and practical outputs. as such, i have a keen interest in projects which look for innovative ways to interrelate theory and practice. intercultural performance practices uses and understandings of bodies in performance acting training performance of identity intercultural performance practices acting training physical theatres and the physical in theatre decolonialities in theatre and performance studies performance analysis and critical theory practice as research (par) approaches and methods devise and ensemble work sports and performance

professor jones is director of the pan-university institute for communities and society. meredith is a transdisciplinary scholar who works at the intersections of feminist theories of the body with media, gender, and cultural studies. she is particularly interested in popular culture, visuality, and embodiment, and has published widely in these areas. her latest edited volume, performing the penis: phalluses in 21st century cultures (with evelyn callahan) comprehensively introduces the emerging discipline of penis studies. she is currently working on a monograph about vulvas and on a yearbook about genital transformations in media and culture. beautyscapes: mapping cosmetic surgery tourism (written with ruth holliday and david bell) won the 2020 foundation for sociology of health and illness prize. this book is based on extensive fieldwork carried out in thailand, malaysia, south korea, tunisia, spain, and czech republic. it also comprises digital research into cosmetic surgery websites and cosmetic surgery communities on social media. skintight: an anatomy of cosmetic surgery, meredith's first monograph, is a widely-cited foundational text in studies of makeover culture, cosmetic surgery and feminist theories of the body. her other books include a major collection of feminist writing about cosmetic surgery that she co-edited with philosopher cressida heyes, cosmetic surgery: a feminist primer. she often speaks publicly about social media, popular culture and feminism, and is an expert on the socio-cultural aspects of the kardashians. she hosted a scholarly kimposium! in 2015 and kimposium! the sequel was held in september 2021. meredith is active in the creative industries and founded the trunk series of books with artist and designer suzanne boccalatte, which includes curated collections of artworks and essays about hair and blood. currently she is collaborating with taylor & francis group to deliver a series of projects around new and innovative modes of publishing. the goal is to develop more digitally relevant, flexible, inclusive and faster ways of publishing for academics as well as community, industry, and ngo groups. qualifications phd in cultural studies, university of western sydney, 2006 ba hons. in women's studies, 1st class, university of sydney, 1998 meredith's work is in the broad fields of feminist theory, cultural studies, gender studies, and cultural sociology. she has researched and written about cosmetic surgery and other body modifications for more than two decades. her book skintight: an anatomy of cosmetic surgery is a key text in feminist thinking about makeover culture, bodies, and media. in sun, sea, sand and silicone, an international esrc funded research project that explored the phenomenon of cosmetic surgery tourism, meredith and a team of academics from australia and the uk followed people from the uk, australia and china who went to thailand, malaysia, tunisia and south korea seeking cosmetic surgery. the book based on this project, beautyscapes: mapping cosmetic surgery tourism, won the 2020 foundation for sociology of health and illness prize. meredith is the editor of the routledge series gender, bodies and transformation. she welcomes proposals for the series. animal/human studies, body modifications, especially cosmetic and plastic surgery, cultural studies, digital studies, embodiment, fashion theory, feminist theories of the body, gender studies, media studies, popular culture, trans studies, visual studies

building on an academic transdisciplinary background in natural sciences (marine biology, resource management) and social sciences (climate adaptation, social justice, environmental policy), shona’s guiding focus remains the generation and translation of defensible research informed by the needs of society and co-created with the intended beneficiaries. her research is motivated by international frameworks such as the un 2030 agenda, the sendai framework for disaster risk reduction, and the cop21 paris agreement. she has spent her working career building partnerships and knowledge exchange networks with local communities and stakeholders to achieve mutually beneficial social and ecological goals. with a special interest in marginalised communities and social justice and equity, shona’s recent research has focused on global flood risk and resilience, climate risk assessments, adaptation and adaptive capacity in urbanising coastal areas. embracing a transdisciplinary approach, shona works at the interface of science-policy as well as effective and fit-for-audience communication of data and knowledge to ensure increased impactful discourse around risk. she has research experience in the caribbean, usa, uk and ireland, as well as a global perspective through involvement with future earth and its associated global research project future earth coasts. shona seeks to engage with a range of emerging global challenges through collaboration and co-production of knowledge by employing a transdisciplinary and applied bridging of science, social science, the arts and humanities at local, national, and international scales. co-production enables science and research to have greater impact on sustainable development outcomes. shona works to facilitate iterative and collaborative processes involving diverse types of expertise, knowledges and actors to co-produce context-specific pathways towards sustainable futures. there is a real and urgent need to understand and tackle intractable global challenges in the face of constantly shifting biophysical and social realities. shona’s work, with a range of partners across the globe, embraces this need, recognising that sustainability and equitable development, as illustrated by the un agenda 2030 sustainable development goals (sdgs), requires transformative social and economic pathways co-created with intended beneficiary communities. the overall achievement of the sdgs depends not only upon responsible economic development administered through the lens of environmental sustainability, but perhaps more significantly, through enhanced social inclusion and resilience building at all scales. at brunel, shona is the director of the centre for global lives, the co-lead of the equitable development and resilience research group as well as a member of the centre for flood risk and resilience. examples of on-going research projects include the eske project and catching a wave and the co-curation of an unwavering immersive virtual installation on long covid in partnership with artists and scientitsts through the new york gallery/forum relational space. she is also a partner in the ukri maximizing climate adaptation hub lead by kings college london. the macc hub aims to inform a national climate change adaptation plan by addressing current barriers around public awareness, policy, legislation and climate data that might be hindering the uk’s ability to adapt to global warming.

gareth is associate head of the department of social and political sciences. he worked at birkbeck, the lse, and swansea university before joining brunel university in 2005. his most recent books are the edited collections revolutionary rehearsals in the neoliberal age (haymarket 2021) and exploring the thought of karl polanyi (agenda 2019). in 2016 he published karl polanyi: a life on the left (columbia up) and reconstructing karl polanyi: excavation and critique (pluto), and karl polanyi: the hungarian writings (manchester up), and a critical appraisal of ‘green growth’ strategies (zed books), and the politics of east european area studies (co-edited; routledge). his earlier books were on karl polanyi (polity, 2010), the political economy of eastern europe (pluto), migrant labour in the european union (berg), and a trilogy on east germany: its economic history, protest movements, and 1989 revolution (peter lang, routledge, and manchester up). he tweets at gareth_dale his articles are accessible either on this page or, at greater range, here and here. some talks are here. his work has appeared in arabic, bengali, catalan, chinese, croatian, danish, dutch, french, german, greek, hungarian, japanese, korean, farsi, hindi, indonesian, kazakh, polish, portuguese, romanian, russian, spanish, turkish, and ukrainian. gareth has supervised doctoral dissertations on topics including the petrodollar system, the decarbonisation agenda, environmental political theory, karl polanyi, the political economy of hungary, european communism, the new institutional economic history, the geopolitics of the arctic, and the eu's management of the greek crisis. he has examined doctoral dissertations on topics including the ideology of economic growth, the life and work of karl polanyi, social democracy, migration and class conflict in post-communist europe, australia’s military interventions, and the ‘thought-practices’ of plaid cymru. qualifications: ba (combined studies) university of manchester phd (government) university of manchester gareth’s current research focuses on the growth paradigm, and the political economy of the environment, particularly technology fetishism and climate change. his previous interests include the life and work of karl polanyi, otto neurath, the history of east germany, the political economy of eastern europe, social movement theory, and international migration. environment / climate change karl polanyi central & eastern europe social movements undergraduate programmes module convenor climate politics (yr 2) making the social (yr 2, yr 3) empire, imperialism, hegemony (yr 3) postgraduate programmes module convenor international political economy administration associate head of department

since joining brunel university in 2013, dr. grant peterson has served in roles ranging from programme lead and admissions tutor to associate dean (student experience) for the college of business, arts, and social sciences. he is a co-leader of the human rights, arts, and society research group, and his academic interests span british alternative theatre histories, interventionist street theatre, musical theatre studies, intersections of gender and sexuality, and pedagogy in the creative arts. dr. peterson is an active researcher and supervisor, guiding postgraduate students in innovative areas of performance and politics. his current projects include a monograph on historical and contemporary interventionist street theatre practices in england and an article for contemporary theatre review titled ‘ai will reprise us: performance and recasting the academy’, exploring the impact of artificial intelligence on theatre and academia. recently, he was the first supervisor to ariel whitfield sobel, whose thesis, ‘the actor, the audience, and the spy: tracing actor training methodologies within twentieth-century espionage practice and performance’, received the vice chancellor's prize for excellent research. he has also co-authored articles with undergraduate students, including ‘harmonising neurodiversity in musical theatre training: a teacher-student dialogue’ for theatre, dance and performance training. dr. peterson co-founded and led the development of brunel’s musical theatre subject strand and degree pathway courses where graduates have progressed to advanced training at prestigious institutions such as the royal academy of music, royal central school of speech and drama, and the royal conservatoire of scotland. several have also established successful careers in acting and musical theatre on professional stages and the west end as well as in the education sector. prior to academia, dr. peterson enjoyed a two-decade career as a performer across theatre, musical theatre, television, and commercials in southern california. his accolades include the los angeles backstage garland award for best actor for his performance in the west coast premiere of dalton trumbo’s johnny got his gun (2003) which also received la weekly awards for best production. dr. peterson's autobiographical one-man show, performing cancer (2011-12), chronicled his personal experience with a stage iv rare cancer and his journey through the healthcare systems of both the uk and us. the performance was showcased at the bath fringe festival and academic conferences, demonstrating arts practice as a means of exploring resilience during the challenges of complex medical care. dr. peterson’s teaching and research focus on: british alternative theatre histories interventionist street theatre performance and politics gender and sexuality digital humanities and ai pedagogy, inclusion and the creative arts musical theatre studies dr. peterson maintains diverse research interests, including alternative theatre histories, musical theatre studies, gender and sexuality studies, theatre historiography, and the student experience in educational settings. his postgraduate work at ucla involved ethnographic fieldwork as a go-go dancer, using qualitative methods to explore shifts in gender and choreography in the face of hiv/aids and homophobia in dance clubs from 1970 to 2010. this research has been featured in two journal articles and two book chapters. his doctoral research offered a historiographical revision of british alternative theatre, with portions published in research in drama education: journal of applied theatre and performance and additional chapters appearing in british theatre companies: 1968-1979 and flower/power: british literature in transition. dr. peterson is currently developing a monograph on historical and contemporary interventionist street theatre practices in england, exploring the political and cultural impacts of these practices from the 1960s to the present. his recent and upcoming articles include ‘moore to theatre history: queer historiography and the partnership of john henry moore and jim haynes as foundational to british alternative performance practices’, appearing in contemporary theatre review in december 2024, and ‘ai will reprise us: performance and recasting the academy’, examining the implications of artificial intelligence on theatre and academia, also for contemporary theatre review. his work on student experiences in higher education is reflected in multiple co-authored publications, including ‘the internet: history 2.0?’ with professor jacky bratton in the cambridge companion to theatre history and ‘'democratising singing: teaching musical theatre to a mixed-ability higher education cohort’ with dr. broderick chow in theatre, dance and performance training. he has also collaborated with an undergraduate student on forthcoming article, ‘harmonising neurodiversity in musical theatre training: a teacher-student dialogue’. as principal investigator, dr. peterson led a fapesp-funded partnership with the university of campinas in brazil alongside professor larissa de oliveira neves, focusing on historiographical explorations of marginalised theatre practices and cultural exchanges between great britain and brazil. he also served as sponsor and mentor for professor neves during her subsequent fapesp-funded research fellowship at brunel university. british alternative theatre and outdoor performance histories, politics, and practices theatre historiography gender and sexuality musical theatre student experience and educational settings postgraduate research student supervision performance analysis and critical theory musical theatre histories, practices & theory acting histories, practices & theory gender & sexuality experimental/alternative performance histories & practices outdoor and street theatre performances & practices devising & ensemble work solo work and autobiographical approaches histories research methods