I am a Senior Lecturer in Photography at the School of Digital Arts (SODA) and teach within the BA (Hons) Photography and MA Photography programmes, where I encourage students to explore enterprising approaches to creative practice, including responding to different contexts and audiences. I encourage collaborative environments for students and support live briefs within my teaching.
My practice-based research investigates how photographic practice can foster meaningful relationships with partners and communities, as explored within my practice-based PhD, ‘Close Encounters: Developing Photographic Outcomes in Collaboration with a Science Communication Organisation in Northumberland International Dark Sky Park’, undertaken in in partnership with Kielder Observatory, a dark sky charity and visitor attraction. Funded by the National Productivity Investment Fund (AHRC), this research tested what mutual benefits emerge when a creative photographic practitioner and dark sky visitor attraction collaborate. For this, I listened to dark-sky communities, constructed photographs and displayed creative outputs that catalysed new creative encounters with dark skies in Northumberland that supported Kielder Observatory’s charitable vision.