Members
Dr Kath Browne
Dr Kath Browne has research interests and experience in geographies of sexualities/queer geographies; geographies of gender, including trans (gender/sexuality); activist-academic research intersections; participatory action research; feminist/Queer research methods and methodologies; feminist spiritualities; lesbian lives. Her work on the 'Count Me In Too' project has been recognised through nomination for the LGBT history award. Recent publications include Queer Spiritual Spaces and Queer Methods and Methodlogies.
Chris Burgess
Counsellor, student services, University of Brighton
Chris has worked as a counsellor and psychotherapist in private practice since 1992 and has combined this with working in both university and mental health settings. He identifies as a gay man and has worked extensively with gay and lesbian clients, as well as many others from diverse backgrounds.
Affiliations: United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapists (UKCP); British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
Contact: chrisburgess@netcom.co.uk.
Dr Katherine Johnson
Dr Katherine Johnson is a Principal Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Brighton, and Director of Postgraduate Studies in the School of Applied Social Sciences. Her research interests include post-structuralist and phenomenological understandings of self, identity and embodiment, qualitative methodologies, medical and psychiatric practices, LGBT people’s experiences of mental health, community psychology, issues of marginalisation and social inclusion, practices for personal and social transformation, gender non-conformity, transsexualism/transgenderism, and the relationship between gender and sexuality in the fields of queer theory, feminist theory and psychosocial studies. She has produced two community-university projects with a local mental health support group for LGBT people and findings have been disseminated as a report on suicidal distress and as a photographic exhibition aimed at challenging stigma about mental health in the Brighton and Hove annual Pride Festival. She has published widely and is currently completing a single authored book with the working title Sexuality and the Psychosocial Subject (Polity Press).
Irmi Karl
Irmi Karl's research is concerned with the inter-relationship between media, technology and society. In this context, she specialises in exploring the ways in which information and communication technologies (ICTs) are integrated in people’s everyday lives. Drawing on feminist and queer theory perspectives, questions of sexuality and gender in relation to media and ICT consumption and use are of particular concern. She has undertaken research into lesbian and gay households and their perceptions of (new) media technologies. Leading on from here, she has conducted a longitudinal ethnographic study into women-headed households, mapping technological change against social change, again, with the emphasis on destabilising taken-for-granted notions of the hetero/homo, masculine/feminine binary in relation to ICTs use. Researching non-normative (non-nuclear) or alternative families and households also opens up more general questions around forms of living and kin-ship in the twenty-first century, shifting perceptions around the home and the public/private divide, ICTs, mobility and virtuality as well as the (mediated) cultural geographies of gender and sexuality.
Other research areas include the body and class politics of popular media, found for example in reality television programming. She is currently re-evaluating questions of consumerism, audience agency and the role of technology in the processes of mediation and lived experiences.
Dr Aidan McGarry
Lecturer in Politics, University of Brighton
Aidan's research is primarily focused on social and political movements. He is currently writing up research conducted on LGBT activism in Northern Ireland, which examines how the LGBT community mobilises in a post-conflict political context. In order to unpack the relationship between activism/advocacy and representation, concepts such as identity, voice, and rights are analysed with reference to semi-structured interviews with prominent LGBT activists. In the future he intends to examine motivations for the participation in LGBT activism/advocacy specifically asking why individuals chose to get involved in LGBT community activism.
Contact: a.mcgarry@brighton.ac.uk.
Jennifer Montague
Project Coordinator (International Students), University of Brighton
After graduating from Boston College (USA) with a BA in Communications and a focus in Sociology, Jennifer completed an MA in Applied Research and Consultancy at Lancaster University (UK). She is currently working full-time for the University of Brighton in international student support and is a part-time PhD student researching same-sex domestic violence and migration issues.
Alex Pollard
Research Fellow, Brighton and Sussex Medical School
Alex has an extensive background in Sexuality Studies, HIV and Sexual Health services. Having worked primarily in direct sexual health services with community organisations in the UK and Australia, his work focused on the health promotion, especially small and mass media interventions.
Post Graduate work in Sexual Dissidence/Cultural Studies under Professor Alan Sinfield at Sussex University focused on mediated cultural identities.
Research work has focused on: patient experiences of, and access to, sexual health services; and the application of cognitive behavioural approaches to health promotion, especially paper-based interventions.
Contact: a.pollard@bsms.ac.uk.
Dr Lee Price
Lee lectures in Occupational Therapy across a range of mental and physical health topics. He has a specific interest in issues of culture and diversity in health and social care, pain management and Medically Unexplained Symptoms; a phenomenon of physical health care. Lee has presented his work at various national and international conferences.
Lee is currently working on a research project concerning older gay men’s health and social care needs. This current research activity is funded by Community University Partnership Programme (CUPP), University of Brighton and University of Brighton Brief Encounters and Research Innovation awards.
Dr Nigel Sherriff
Senior Research Fellow, International Health Development Research Centre (IHDRC), Faculty of Health and Social Science, University of Brighton
Nigel is a Chartered Psychologist and Chartered Scientist and has a range of research interests mainly around health, young people, social justice, gender (masculinities and femininities), identity, and parenting. He is involved in a number of multi-partner European and International public health/health promotion projects as well as more local research projects. Recent local research work has focused on exploring the support needs of LGBTU young people living in rural parts of Sussex and on developing training for practitioners who work with LGBTU young people.
Contact: n.s.sherriff@brighton.ac.uk.
Matt Smith
Matt Smith is a Postgraduate Research Student at the University of Brighton exploring the Visual Identity of Queer Craft and the ability of Craft to Queer Museum and Gallery spaces.
His project, 'A Critical Intervention into the Queer Potential of Craft Objects and their Role in "Queering" Museum and Gallery Spaces' looked at the gender roles within craft and what is implied when these are overturned as well as whether craft with its 'outsider' status in the art world can learn anything from gay activism.
Matt has a history of working in museums (V&A, Science Museum, British Film Institute), curating exhibitions and is a practicing artist. Exhibitions include 'Milk' (Aspex Gallery, 2010) for which he was awarded the ARC Award for designer makers and 'Unravelling the Manor House' (Preston Manor, 2010), which was funded by the Arts Council.
Matt curated an exhibition entitled 'Queering the Museum' at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
Dr Olu Jenzen
Dr Olu Jenzen’s research interests span Critical Theory (esp. feminist and queer theory); the politics of aesthetic form; cultures of trauma; the representation of gender and sexuality in film, literature and popular culture; and social aspects of non-normative epistemologies (the uncanny, the paranormal etc). She has strong research interests in twentieth century and contemporary writing generally, but in literary form and debates on the politics of sexualities in particular.