Barbara Grabher

Dr Barbara Grabher is a trained Anthropologist with a specialisation in Gender Studies and interest in Critical Event Studies. With this background, she investigates event-based urban/ regional regeneration and associated socio-cultural value transformations.

Her educational trajectory is informed by the Universities of Vienna (BA), Granada (MA), Utrecht (MA), Oviedo (PhD) and Hull (PhD). In 2020, she completed her doctoral research project, Gendering Cities of Culture, investigating the case studies of Hull UK City of Culture 2017 and Donostia/San Sebastian European Capital of Culture 2016 in their potential to negotiate of cultures of gender equality. The results of her ethnographic study are published in her monograph ‘Doing Gender in Events: Feminist Perspectives in Critical Event Studies’ (Routledge, 2022).

In current research, Barbara is strongly influenced by the event of Bad Ischl-Salzkammergut European Capital of Culture 2024. Hereby, she investigates the relations between events, socio-ecological sustainability and the Anthropocene.

I am interested in supervising doctoral students in their research projects linking to the field of Critical Event Studies, urban/ regional regeneration, gender/equality/diversity, ecological sustainability as well as community and identity creation. Due to my thorough education and extensive experience of ethnographic fieldwork in event settings, my supervisory interest strongly grounds in this methodological approach. If you're interested in undertaking research that examines the above mentioned themes, please feel free to contact me. 

In my role as a lecturer in Events Studies, I understand myself as a facilitator of knowledge in as well as beyond the classroom setting. My teaching is very informed by the principles of the flipped classroom and aspires to enable students to think outside the box and therefore critically about their subject of study. Hereby, this facilitator’s role is guided by the following key approaches:

• Research-informed teaching: As a university lecturer, I am teaching as well as researching in the subject area of Event Studies. Therefore, my teaching contents are very much informed by my past and current research projects. The case studies, analytical perspectives as well as study materials often derive from my continuous engagements with my research field. Simultaneously, I also let my teaching influence my research. Therefore, classroom-based debates as well as students’ critical inquiries strongly impact my research trajectory.
• Game-based learning: The role of facilitation requires me to think about the best ways to communicate taught contents. One of my preferred strategies, hereby, is the usage of role plays, gaming principles and digital methods in my teaching approach. Game-based learning allows me to construct a learning environment, which allows experimentation and risk taking as well as empathy and emotional understanding. Games construct narratives, which allow to grasp abstractions in a more accessible way.
• Creative didactical resources: The handling of complexities in the field of event studies influences as well my final approach to teaching. Hereby, my interest lies on the usage of creative tools as pedagogical approach. On selected occasions, I employ techniques of creative writing, crafting and drawing in order to lighten the mood but as well deepen the understanding of the thematic enquiries.