Katie Masters

• MRes Sexuality and Gender Studies (University of Birmingham)
• BSc Physics (First class, University of Leicester)

I have been interested in issues of gender and feminism since my late teens, but only realised it was something I could pursue academically in my final year as an undergraduate. After graduating, I began the MRes Sexuality and Gender Studies programme here at Birmingham. During this time I became fascinated with the gender dynamics associated with mental health and psychiatry, and this formed the basis of my MRes dissertation. I started my PhD, on a similar topic, on a part-time basis in 2016, self-funding for over a year whilst working. Since being awarded the CAL doctoral scholarship this academic year, I have been able to resume my research full-time.

• ‘Feminist Political Ideas’, 2nd year, School of Government and Society, 2019.
• 'European Cultural Theory', 2nd year, Department of Modern Languages, 2016
• Lab Demonstrator, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Autumn term 2014- Spring term 2017

My research examines the interaction between gender and social anxiety disorder, using anti-psychiatry and feminist discourses about women's 'madness'. I interview women who identify as having social anxiety disorder and in doing so, provide a platform for their voices. My work intends to act as a corrective to the existing psychiatric literature by exploring the exogenous structural factors, such as heteropatriarchy, which may contribute to the presentation of social anxiety disorder among women.

I am still recruiting participants: if you would like to know more, please get in touch.

I currently hold a College of Arts and Law Doctoral Scholarship.

After graduating from my BSc, I was awarded an ESPRC studentship which allowed me to complete a project in medical physics during the vacation period.

I am an Assistant Editor for the postgraduate journal Midlands Historical Review.

I have worked as Graduate Research and Editorial Assistant for Cambridge University Press, helping with the preparation of the final manuscript of Professor Lisa Downing's edited volume, After Foucault.

I have previously co-convened the University of Birmingham's Postgraduate-led Sexuality and Gender Forum, ROLES.

My research blog can be found here.