Personal statement

I am currently Lecturer in Education Studies at the Strathclyde Institute of Education in Glasgow, Scotland and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

My research interest lies in the area of Philosophy of (Arts/Aesthetic) Education. I am particularly interested in understanding the formative nature of film and theatre production and reception, through hermeneutic-phenomenological investigation (e.g. drawing on continental pedagogy/philosophy/aesthetics), as well as through practice-based research in collaborative filmmaking. 

My most recent publications (2023-24) look at the German concept of education as 'Bildung' (self/formation) through the French film 'Des Hommes Et Des Dieux' (Of Gods and Men) and medieval theologian Meister Eckhart's Bild-based theology (read here); explore philosophers Hans-Georg Gadamer's and Jacques Maritain's understanding of the formative potential of art/film-making (read here); investigate German theatre maker Bertolt Brecht’s philosophising theatre pedagogy of estrangement/Verfremdung (read here); and look at Latvian director and actor Asja Lācis' 'porous' educational philosophy in her proletarian children's theatre in post-WWI Russia (read here).

As performer, producer and educator, I regularly participate in film projects in collaboration with non-academic stakeholders in the creative and charity sector.

The Science Fiction Short Film "Refuge" was a (acting) collaboration with filmmaker Simon Bishopp. The short was exhibited at Bafta-qualifying film festivals, selected for the BFI's "shorts in support scheme"  and can be watched on Alex Proyas (director of The Crow, Dark City, I-Robot, Gods of Egypt) Streaming Platform Vidiverse.

The Sci-Fi feature film "The Silent Messenger" (Dir. Simon Bishopp), for which I acted as lead performer and co-producer, was premiered and award-nominated for the Heimspiel section at BIFF (Braunschweig International Film Festival, Germany) in November 2024.

Our film-making and digital animation education projects for care-experienced children and young people in Scotland (Little Animation Studio; UAnimate and Scotland Our New Home) received funding through Creative Scotland, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the School for Social Entrepreneurs.

Previously Lecturer in Theatre at Brunel University London, I taught Applied Theatre, Performance Theory & Directing for the BA Theatre.

In my role as Research Associate at the University of Glasgow for the 3-year, Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC)-funded, £2 mill. large grant project 'Researching Multilingually at the Borders of the Body, Language, Law & the State', I theorised the role of arts-based research methods in multilingual settings.

I was awarded a fully funded 3-year PhD research scholarship in the area of aesthetic/intercultural education (focus: applied theatre) from the College of Social Sciences/School of Education at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. 

My PhD project explored international students' lived experiences of 'interculturality' through a performance-based research pedagogy, based on German theatre maker Bertolt Brecht's theatre/actor training theory and practice. I passed my viva voce in May 2013.

Prior to my academic career, I worked as a language (English, German) and drama educator in secondary, adult & community education, in Germany, Venezuela, Ireland and Scotland.