Karin’s main interest is African everyday culture, with a central focus on verbal texts, both oral and written, in African languages. Most of her research has been concentrated on the Yoruba speaking area of southwestern Nigeria, but she has also done broader comparative work on popular culture across sub-Saharan Africa.

She is interested in supervising topics located in any part of Africa on:

• Oral and written genres in African languages
• Popular culture including music, visual art, theatre, media and the culture of everyday life
• African religion

Recent and current topics under supervision include:

• The youth culture of Kano, Nigeria;
• African cultural survivals in Antigua
• Tanzanian hip-hop 

Staff profile for Professor Karin Barber

Leslie is particularly interested in Late Antique, Byzantine and early medieval gender, art, architecture and material culture, the relationship between word and image; the study of illuminated manuscripts; theories of perception and interpretation; the transmission of cultural capital, in particular the movement through trade, gift exchange or diplomatic gift of luxury products; gender.

Her fields of supervision include:

• Byzantine art history and cultural production
• Iconoclasms
• Gender (women, men and eunuchs) in Byzantium

Staff profile for Professor Leslie Brubaker

John is an archaeologist with an interest in what archaeology ‘does’ in the world – how it came to be as it is, why we study what we do in the way we do it, and what that means in terms of understanding ourselves.

He particularly welcomes postgraduate research applications in the following areas:

• Heritage and its management
• Socio-politics of the past
• Phenomenology of landscapes
• Conflict Archaeology
• Battlefield archaeology
• Archaeological approaches to warfare and violence

Staff profile for Dr John Carman 

 

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Mark is a practical theologian and an Anglican priest who has spent most of his academic career teaching and researching in the fields of Church ministry and Pentecostal and Charismatic studies.

Some of the postgraduate research he has supervised includes:

• Ordinary Indian Pentecostal Christology
• African Pneumatology in a British Context: A Contemporary Study
• Towards a Black British Pastoral Theology
• The Nature and Significance of Prophecy in the Pentecostal Experience: A Kenyan Study
• The Experience of Suffering in the Contemporary Charismatic Movement
• The Spirituality of Black British Pentecostal Women

Staff profile for Dr Mark Cartledge

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David’s main research interests lie within the theology and philosophy of religions. Currently, he is researching for a new book entitled Ways of Meeting and the Theology of Religions where he is exploring new ‘models for meeting’ with particular reference to theologies of creation, the self and aesthetics.

He welcomes postgraduate research applications in the following areas:

• Philosophy of Religion
• Inter-religious Relations
• Contemporary Theology

Staff profile for Dr David Cheetham

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As a senior Lecturer in History of Art, Richard specialisies in aspects of eighteenth- or early nineteenth-century French and, to a lesser extent, British visual cultures.  He has also published on contemporary jewellery and leads a collaborative research project about the history of Birmingham’s suburbs (1880-1960).

Richard currently supervises the research of a number of students working on eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century British or French visual culture

Staff profile for Dr Richard Clay

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Joining the Law School from Exeter this summer, Sean is Professor of Jurisprudence.  His main research interests lie in the area of Jurisprudence and Political Theory. His current work examines the nature of law and of politics, and their place within human societies.

Sean will be happy to supervise doctoral research students in any of the above areas.

Robert’s major interests are in international law and criminal law. In addition to a number of articles and book chapters he is the author of Prosecuting International Crimes: Selectivity and the International Criminal Law Regime (Cambridge: CUP, 2005) and co-author of An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure (Cambridge: CUP, 2nd ed,. 2010) 

Robert welcomes postgraduate research proposals to do with both international law and criminal law.

Staff profile for Professor Robert Cryer

Richard specialises in the political and cultural history of late sixteenth and early seventeenth century England.

The doctoral dissertation topics he has recently supervised include:

• ‘Images of the Royal Court under Queen Elizabeth’
• 'The Lieutenancy and Elizabethan Warfare 1585-1603’
• ‘Urban gentility in Stratford upon Avon 1560-1640’
• ‘Thomas Hall and his Library: a Puritan Minister in the English Revolution'

Staff profile for Professor Richard Cust

Ewan is Chair of Shakespeare Studies at the University, the author of Shame in Shakespeare, editor of Spiritual Shakespeares and Co-ordinating Editor of Reconceiving the Renaissance.

He presently has students working on:

• Shakespeare and the American imagination
• Shakespeare and the Qur’an
• Androgyny in Renaissance drama
• undressing in early modern literature and culture. 

He would be particularly pleased to hear from students interested in working on literature and religion, literature and creativity or on how Shakespeare may be read in conjunction with great European and / or Russian traditions, including music.

Staff profile for Professor Ewan Fernie

video transcript

Marie joined Birmingham Law School in September 2011 from Keele University. With interests in the fields of Health Care Law, Animal Law and Criminal Law, her research is framed by a feminist theoretical analysis, and examines the socio-legal regulation of embodiment. It focuses on how law interprets, regulates and constructs different bodies; for instance, the bodies of criminal women, pregnant or reproductive bodies, children’s bodies or animal bodies. 

Marie is keen to supervise doctoral students in the fields of animal law, heath care law, feminist legal theory and aspects of criminal law.

Danielle’s main research areas are contemporary Canadian writing, particularly Atlantic Canadian literary culture; the politics of cultural production in Canada, and reading communities in present-day North America and the UK.

Danielle has supervised PhD students on a variety of topics:

• Maritime short fiction
• the publishing history and institutionalisation of Margaret Atwood’s work in Central Europe,
• South-East Asian Canadian literature
• Canadian film
• Asian-American film

Staff profile for Dr Danielle Fuller

video transcript

Dave specialises in the contemporary period, particularly black British and British Asian writing. He also has interests in contemporary Irish writing, early-twentieth-century Caribbean literature, and the literatures of South Asia (especially Pakistan).

Dave supervises postgraduate research students on a range of literary and cross-disciplinary subjects and welcomes applications in the following areas:

• Black British and British Asian literature and culture
• Comparative postcolonial literature and theory
• Representations of race and minority identity
• His current PhD supervisions include:
• A micro-history of black Handsworth
• Local and global identities in the cntemporary Irish noveloo

Staff profile for Dr Dave Gunning

Tara is RCUK / Roberts Research Fellow in the Department of History meaning that whilst she shares the same role and responsibilities as a Lecturer, much of her time is focused on developing research projects. She has broad interests in the cultural history, visual arts and material culture of Tudor and Stuart Britain.

Tara currently supervises or co-supervises doctoral researchers working on a range of topics:

• Privacy and community in early modern Stratford-upon-Avon
• Household religious practices in seventeenth-century England
• The material culture of dining in early modern England

Staff profile for Dr Tara Hamling

A Professor of Social History, Matthew’s work focuses on the history of consumer society and on the history of social activism and non-governmental organisations, both in Britain and globally.

He offers supervision of research postgraduates in the following fields:

• Consumer society in Britain and the rest of the world
• British popular culture
• Non-government organisations and civil society groups

Staff profile for Professor Matthew HIlton

video transcript

Susan’s research focuses on two areas: Corpus linguistics, especially the interface between lexis and grammar, phraseology, and the contribution of corpus linguistics to Applied Linguistics and to discourse studies; and Discourse Analysis, in particular the study of evaluative language and the analysis of written academic.

She regularly supervises Doctoral Researchers in the following areas:

• Corpus-based approaches to the study of the discourse of academic disciplines
• Applications of corpus studies to language learning and language teaching
• Evaluative language and stance in a variety of discourse types
• Pattern grammar and phraseology
• And particularly welcomes applications interested in stance/evaluation, disciplinary discourses, and in grammar patterns

Staff profile for Professor Susan Hunston

video transcript

A Reader in French film and gender studies, Kate’s interest lies in French, auteur and women's cinema, and feminist and film philosophy.

She has PhD students working on the couple in contemporary French cinema, French, Italian and anglophone feminist theory, and cultural memory/ies of Paris in Modiano, Daeninckx, Haneke, Maspéro and Sebbar, but is keen to supervise a broader range of topics in cinema and French/film philosophy.

Staff profile for Dr Kate Ince

Conrad’s main research interests are Twentieth-Century Spanish Caribbean literature, race and migration in Latin America and the Spanish Caribbean, and gender politics in contemporary Caribbean culture. 

He welcomes postgraduate research applications in any of these areas.

Staff profile for Dr Conrad James

Jeannette’s research focuses on the use of metaphor and other types of figurative language by second language learners. She is also interested in applications of cognitive linguistics to second language learning and teaching.

Jeannette is interested in supervising PhD research in the areas of:

• Teaching and learning figurative language
• Language learning and cognitive linguistics
• Analyzing figurative language

Staff profile for Dr Jeannette Littlemore

video transcript

A Reader in Assyriology, Alasdair’s focus is on the literature, mythology and cultural history of the Sumerians, Assyrians and Babylonians. He also has a longstanding research commitment to Arabian archaeology and in particular the languages and cultures of Ancient Arabia. Recently, he has been devoting a lot of attention to cuneiform palaeography.

Current students supervised by Alasdair are working on Babylonian cultural history, in particular the position of women in the Old Babylonian period, on Mesopotamian cults of healing, and on palaeography.

Staff profile for Dr Alasdair Livingstone

As a Senior Lecturer in Classics, Niall’s research is in the broad areas of Greek intellectual culture, history of ideas, rhetoric, and drama.

He welcomes research students in:

• Drama and democracy
• The Greco-Roman traditions of pedagogy and rhetoric
• The reception of Athens and its culture from the Hellenistic period to the 21st century

And currently supervises doctoral theses on:

• What doesn’t happen in the Homeric epics - roads glimpsed by the narrative but never travelled
• The European reception of Demosthenes’ political speeches and, through them, of Athenian democracy as a political ideal or anti-ideal.

Staff profile for Dr Niall Livingstone

Ruth is a Senior Lecturer in Byzantine Studies.  Her main areas of interest lie in Byzantine historiography; late Roman and Byzantine law, esp. relating to marriage, inheritance, dowry, criminal law; social and kinship structures in the middle and late Byzantine period; western travellers to the east Mediterranean; the reception of Byzantium in Britain and Greece in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Ruth’s areas for postgraduate supervision include:

• Byzantine literature and historical writing
• Social and legal history
• 11th-15th centuries
• Byzantium and the crusades
• The reception of Byzantium in 19th and 20th century Greece and Britain

Staff profile for Dr Ruth Macrides

A Reader in European Intellectual History, Nicholas is primarily interested in German cultural and intellectual history from the Enlightenment to the Second World War.

He welcomes postgraduate research applications in any aspect of German intellectual / cultural history from the Enlightenment to the present day and is currently supervising two PhD projects:

• ‘Effects of commercialism on East German theatre production of Shakespeare following re-unification  in 1990’
• ‘Nietzsche, Goethe and Nineteenth-Century Traditions of “Bildung”’

Staff profile for Dr Nicholas Martin

Primarily a Professor of Health Care Law, Jean is also Director of the Centre for Health Law, Science and Policy. Jean is interested in supervising doctoral research in:

• Health Law and the EU
• Health Care Privacy and Confidentiality
• Legal Regulation of Genetics
• Law and Nanomedicine
• Legal Regulation of Use of Human Material
• Legal Regulation of Clinical Research
• Mental Health Law
• Organ Transplantation

Staff profile for Professor Jean McHale

Alex works mainly in the areas of philosophy of language and mind, metaethics and metaphysics and has published widely on these topics.

He is supervising/has supervised doctoral research in the following subject areas:

• Normativity
• Realism
• Wittgenstein
• Rule-Following
• Ethics (co-supervision with Professor Heather Widdows)

Staff profile for Professor Alex Miller

A major focus of her research to date has been medieval music, and she is writing a series of monographs on medieval song traditions.  A longer-term project is a large study of songs associated with the Cult of Mary. Other areas of research include performance practice in a range of repertoires from the Middle Ages to the late eighteenth century.

She is happy to supervise doctoral research in any of these areas, whether as purely musicology PhDs or as PhDs or in Performance Practice (involving a combination of thesis and performance, the performance tuition being provided by professional practitioners in CEMPR).

Principally a Lecturer in the Department of Italian Studies, Charlotte is also part of a university network of researchers with interests in Gender and Sexuality| Studies.  Her research focuses on how bodies, gender and sexuality are understood, constructed and represented in socio-cultural contexts

Charlotte is currently supervising several postgraduate students working on issues relating to gender and sexuality in Italian culture and would be happy to hear from prospective doctoral candidates wishing to pursue research in this area, or on other aspects of twentieth-century and contemporary Italian culture and society.

Staff profile for Dr Charlotte Ross

A specialist in race and immigration history, Gavin has a particular interest in racial science, race and the media and the history of racial violence. 

He is keen to offer supervision in the following areas:

• Racial Science and Eugenics
• British Immigration Histories
• Race Relations
• Social History of the Second World War
• Modern Jewish History

Staff profile for Dr Gavin Schaffer

Originally concerned with the social history of the British Army in the First World War, Gary has also researched and published on leadership, command and generalship; and on perceptions of the First World War in modern British media and popular culture.

He welcomes postgraduate research applications in these subject areas:

• The British Army in the 20^th century
• British social and political history in the era of the two world wars.
• British Commonwealth and US military history of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries

Staff profile for Professor Gary Sheffield

Martin is a Professor of European Law and Policy. His research aims to make a contribution to the understanding and development of the Law of the European Union, especially its economic and constitutional aspects, to establish ‘European Union Defence and Security Law’ as a separate legal subject, and to contribute to the understanding and development of European Union Public Procurement Law.

He welcomes postgraduate research applications in areas relating to European Law and Policy.

Staff profile for Professor Martin Trybus

As a Professor of Modern Greek Studies, Dimitris is particularly interested in the study of Greek Modernism in a comparative context; the study of Greek fiction informed by recent developments in critical theory; Greek diaspora and travel writing; politics, nationalism and Greek culture; the reception of Greek antiquity and Byzantium; the Greek language controversy; and the cultural encounters between Greece and the Balkans.

Areas for doctoral research supervision include:

• Modern Greek literature and culture
• Certain aspects of Greek history and politics
• Comparative studies in the areas of history, literature, translation and film with reference to Greece
• Reception of Greek Antiquity
• Greek Diaspora and Anglo-Greek relations

Staff profile for Professor Dimitris Tziovas

As Academic Director at the Ironbridge Institute, Roger has broad interests in historical archaeology and cultural heritage, especially in the presentation and interpretation of archaeological sites.  His primary focus for research is on the Roman period, and especially Late Antiquity.

Roger has supervised PhDs in:

• Heritage Tourism in Jordan (2010)
• Byzantine Towns in the eighth and ninth centuries (2008)
• Iron Age funerary feasting rituals (2003)

And currently supervises the following research topics:

• Heritage and Identity in Emilia Romagna
• The Mining Landscape of Frisco
• Utah, Iron Age and Roman Settlement in South Shropshire

Staff profile for Dr Roger White

Heather works on Global Ethics, Bioethics, Virtue Ethics and Feminist Theory. She is particularly interested in the ethical issues which arise in the context of globalization, including those of technological development, war and terrorism, poverty and development as well as bioethical issues; particularly, those of reproductive, research and genetic ethics.

Heather welcomes applications for postgraduate research in a number of areas:

• Moral theory, particularly virtue ethics
• Iris Murdoch
• Bioethics and public health; especially issues of global bioethics and health policy and including issues of genetics, reproduction, commodification and international research and governance
• Communication across value-frameworks and belief systems; including issues about the possibility and desirability of global ethics and issues of moral neo-colonialism and multiculturalism
• Women's rights and reproductive rights
• The application of moral theory to policy and practice  

Staff profile for Professor Heather Widdows

video transcript

A senior Lecturer in our Music Department, Scott is a composer in instrumental and electroacoustic genres and a specialist in live and interactive electroacoustics.  His music has been recorded on the '326' music label, he has been a guest at ZKM and has recently performed in Tokyo and Toronto.

Scott is keen to supervise doctoral researchers in instrumental and electroacoustic genres, including live and interactive electroacoustics.

Staff profile for Dr Scott Wilson