Our Doctoral Students
Meet a few of our doctoral students currently studying towards PhDs in the fields of creative media and digital arts. If you would like to find out more about studying for a research degree including PhD and Masters in Research (MRes) at SODA, contact d.j.jackson@mmu.ac.uk.
Katie Chatburn
I am a full-time PhD researcher in the faculty of Arts and Humanities and under the department of SODA. My supervisors are a mixture of SODA and Sociology which has been a very useful and interesting mix so far.
The working title for my research is ‘Dream Up’: The Role of Sound in Personal and Collective Urban Transformations. Prior to the PhD I worked as a composer/ arranger and music lecturer for 20 years so I am coming to my research from an interesting angle! I am looking forward to working with a diverse selection of groups across Manchester this year to explore their responses to sound in the urban environment and its connection to wellbeing.
My email is kathryn.chatburn@stu.mmu.ac.uk.
Mark I. Harrison
Mark I. Harrison is a postgraduate researcher in the faculty of Arts and Humanities. Mark is a member of MSARC and SODA.
Mark’s PhD looks to answer the question:
‘How does the marketing and box office success of stars differ between franchise and non-franchise projects?’.
Mark is also a member of BAFTSS and part of The Hive editorial board.
He has a BA (Hons) in Film Studies from the University of Salford and a MA in Film Studies from the University of Manchester.
Markus Hetheier
Markus Hetheier is an electronic music producer, researcher and arts facilitator.
Currently, he is undertaking a practice-based PhD at the School of Digital Arts (SODA) within Manchester Metropolitan University.
Markus is currently working on a digital soundmap project investigating queer sonic geographies in Manchester.
@industriesmcr http://www.industriesmcr.com #industriesmcr
Photograph by Norrisette
José Sherwood González
Jose is a full-time AHRC-funded practice-based researcher in the faculty of Arts and Humanities and under the department of SODA.
His working research title is “Motetzahui: How can the Mesoamerican indigenous knowledge practice of the Nahual in Milpa Alta, Mexico City interrogate the past, transform the present and cultivate more hopeful visions of the future?”.
Motetzahui, in the central-Mexican indigenous language of Nahuatl, translates to ‘I am seeing what others do not’; a word which evokes the imaginative and shamanic capacity of the Nahuales of the Calpulli Nahui Ollin in Milpa Alta who are participating in this project as key collaborators. His aim is to use practice-based methods to demonstrate how the Nahual navigates alternate modes of perception, to decolonise contemporary discourse about the Nahual as well as to disseminate the knowledge practice of the Nahual with a wider public.
Intersecting visual anthropology and experimental forms of media such as comics, film, photography and sound, his work has been published in Studies in Comics, Cultural Anthropology and Trajectoria. More information about his research and examples of his comics can be found at www.josesherwood.com. His email address is jose.sherwood-gonzalez@stu.mmu.ac.uk.
Benjamin Green
I am a part-time PhD researcher and Lecturer in SODA at MMU. My research is practice based, and explores the development of active collaborative methodologies in in documentary filmmaking, exploring how methods of co-creation and skill-sharing can help participants explore their relationships to place, identity and the socio-political.
As a practitioner I usually work with lens-based media, exploring the aesthetic intersections of documentary and artist film, and often explore the changing physical and social landscapes of the post-industrial Midlands, where I grew up. You can see examples of past work on my website.
Siân A. Williams
Filmmaker & Archivist, Siân A. Williams (they/them) is currently developing their creative practice through NWCDTP funded PhD Filmmaking research at Manchester Metropolitan University’s SODA (School of Digital Arts). Their work examines documentary and critical archive methodologies to address an absence of rural and gender-non conforming queer narratives within AV heritage. They are working with collections from North West Film Archive in experimental approaches to remix, reorientate and re-enact queer space within the archive. Siân co-redirected the Scottish BAFTA nominated and Iris Prize winning feature documentary Rebel Dykes (2021) and is working at Queer Britain as their freelance project manager on a Museums Association supported national oral history and podcast project.