I am a Senior Lecturer in Fine Art and former Course Leader of MA Inclusive Arts Practice. As an artist and researcher, I work across sculpture, video and performance and on collaborative, participatory and community-based projects.

My research and practice are situated at the intersection between inclusive arts and fine art. I am interested in the role of arts-based research in developing, understanding and evidencing the potential of arts practices in a range of settings and in the lives of older people, people living with dementia and those living with other disabilities. During my practice-based PhD I developed multi-sensory activities and environments that combined everyday activities and arts practices to engage those living and working in residential care settings in order to question and shift experiences of institutional care. More recently I have begun to explore remote, socially-distanced and telepresent performances and arts projects.

I have published articles and book chapters about my research that contribute to the rethinking of negative understandings of walking undertaken by people living with dementia, the role of objects in supporting and communicating a sense of self, and the conceptualisation of performances of everyday activities in arts sessions as a form of inter-relational self-care. I am currently working on articles and papers that explore presence, attention and ethics in remote and socially distanced practice.

My practice traverses academic, arts and community work. I have a BA and MA in Fine Art and 20 years’ experience working with arts, social care and community-based organisations. In 2016 I completed a practice-based PhD in the Department of Theatre and Drama at Royal Holloway, University of London, supervised by Prof. Helen Nicholson. My research focussed on the role of reminiscence arts in the lives of care home residents living with dementia. It was funded by Guy’s and St Thomas Charity and engaged with RADIQL, an Age Exchange Theatre Trust project.

Recently I was a Co-Investigator on AHRC funded Telepresence Stage for Disability Performing Arts with Principal-Investigator Prof. Paul Sermon. The research worked with Birds of Paradise Theatre and CRIPtic Arts to create new pieces of telepresent theatre. The project has been presented at the SPARK Festival in Hong Kong, DaDa Festival in Liverpool and I will be giving a paper on it as part of a panel presentation at the DARCI Conference, September 2025.

Previously, I have written papers that have been presented at conferences and published in academic books and journals including the Journal of Applied Arts in Health and Research in Drama Education. I have exhibited and completed residencies and site-specific commissions nationally and internationally including at Fondation d’entreprise Bernardaud (France), The Musée Ariana (France) and 501 Artspace (China) as well as spaces as diverse as day centres for people with complex learning difficulties, an empty office block and a furniture warehouse.

My current teaching on BA Fine Art is informed by 8 years teaching experience in HE and nearly 20 years’ experience of facilitating and collaborating on arts workshops and informal education in community settings. My experience of leading MA Inclusive Arts Practice and working with learning-disabled artists and people living with dementia has supported me to develop creative, visual and performative ways of communicating, co-creating and making information and knowledge exchange accessible, which I have found are transferable to all areas of teaching. I particularly enjoy supporting students who are making the transition into higher education during their first year at university and value working with PhD students and engaging with research and practice at all levels. 

My main supervisory interests are in disability-led arts, inclusive arts research projects and arts with people living with dementia, older people or learning-disabled people and research that takes place in and responds to health and social care settings. I am interested in arts research that engages with participation, social engagement, remote or socially distanced practices and/or themes of presence, attention, care and sensory engagement.

I have supervised one PhD to completion: Dr Muna Al-Jawad, Using Comics-Based Practitioner Research in the Healthcare Humanities , 2024, and I am currently supervising Jo Bell (PhD, School of Art and Media) with Amy Cunningham. I have acted as internal examiner for Dr Victoria Painting’s PhD: Reperforming the Fourth Age: Moving Beyond a Prevailing Construct of Abjection, Lack of Agency and Failure. I have been part of annual progression review panels for three PhD students.

In 2021-2023 I received AHRC UKRI funding through the University of Brighton’s Community University Partnership Project’s Ignite programme to develop workshops with Grace Eyre, Brighton CCA and MA Inclusive Arts students and graduates. We co-produced a  Working Together Toolkit, which aims to support people to work with each other to make art, explore exhibitions and have creative conversations and an event at the Towner Gallery to launch the toolkit and share knowledge and ideas about arts and gallery access and engagement.

Previous knowledge exchange and community engagement activities include sitting on the Engagement Committee for the charity, Paintings in Hospitals and advising on the development of the research and evaluation of their work and delivering creative projects in a range of health and social care, education and community settings including the John Soane’s Museum, Nottingham University and Bow Arts studios in Wapping.