The Cultural Lives of the Middling Sort, 2019-present.

Research Associate on the AHRC-funded research project with Kings College London, University of Birmingham and University of Kent.

• Planning, project-management and evaluation of three major digital engagement projects:
  1. Online exhibition featuring over 80 objects (forthcoming).
  2. Digital reconstruction of a room at the Weald and Downland Living Museum (forthcoming).
  3. A KS3 school’s resource utilising the above resources (forthcoming).
• Audience development, research and segmentation.
• Social media planning and evaluation.
• Commissioning and coordinating creative writers to deliver the practice-led element to the digital room.
• Writing accessible and engaging interpretation for the project’ digital outputs.
• Distilling academic research and findings into accessible content for a variety of audiences and levels, ranging from KS3 pupils to adult learners.
• Budget and timeline management for online resources, including image and copyright permissions.

PhD, 2017-2022.

University of Birmingham.

‘Shakespeare’s self-fashioning: social identity and the interiors of the ‘new gentry’ house in early modern England’.

• The planning, coordinating and delivery of a self-directed 4-year research project.
• Management of a large AHRC Doctoral Studentship Award.
• Successful application, forecasting and management of grants in the form of Student Development Funds.
• Organising, budgeting and recording numerous fieldwork trips. This included travel across the country, communicating with various heritage sites and gaining access to private and public properties. Through this activity, I have successfully built partnerships with numerous heritage sites and museum collections.
• Creative commissioning of artistic illustrations of Shakespeare’s lost townhouse, New Place, based on my research.
• Making my research as relevant and accessible as possible to the wider public through the publishing of numerous blogs and conference papers.

Shakespeare’s Lost Interiors, launched March 2021.

Research project and online exhibition with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

• Responded to the COVID-19 crisis through the digital presentation of research into the SBT collections, including a series of blogs and an online exhibition entitled ‘Shakespeare’s Lost Interiors’. This exhibition received positive feedback from staff as well as wider engagement across various social media platforms.
• Improved access to the collections online through the development and writing of entries for the online catalogue.
• Provided recommendations via a research report, which highlights key findings and potential areas of development and public engagement. A number of these recommendations are being incorporated into the SBT’s collections policy.
• Delivered a public talk as part of the SBT’s ‘Research Conversations’ series. I delivered the talk via Zoom to over 250 participants worldwide. A recording of this event is available via SoundCloud.

Shifting Practices: contemporary collecting and communications, 2019.

Collaboration with the Museum of London.

Three-month AHRC-funded research project with MoL exploring the space between community collecting and social media.

• Selected and approached a series of case studies.
• Ran workshops explaining research, methods and findings to staff.
• Organised and conducted interviews with external partners.
• Established an ethical review procedure relating to the interview process and the storage of personal information.
• Authored a 45-page report summarising my research findings, along with future recommendations and interview transcripts. This report was circulated to members of the senior management team and the recommendations incorporated in the museum’s social media and collection policies.

Shakespeare Connected, launched April 2018.

Online exhibition with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

• Creation of an online exhibition – ‘Imagining Shakespeare’s New Place‘.
• Produced as part of a wider project, Shakespeare Connected, undertaken with the Museums and Universities Partnership Initiative funded by the Arts Council.
• Delivery of a public talk at the Shakespeare Centre in Stratford-upon-Avon as part of Shakespeare Connected.

Model of New Place, launched 2018.

Advisor for the Shakespeare Birthplace.

• Advisor for The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust during the research and development stages of a project on Shakespeare’s interiors.
• Resulted in the production of a series of graphics of the interior decoration of Shakespeare’s house, New Place, which have been installed onto a large 3D model of the house currently displayed in the New Place Museum.