Meet our PhD students

Our community of more than 250 PhD students brings together doctoral researchers from multiple disciplines in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC) and beyond.

We've collated our student profiles into a single directory to showcase the range of topics studied.

The directory illustrates the often interdisciplinary nature of study at LLC. Supervisors and students are not always from the same subject area, and in some cases, supervisors are based at other schools or universities.  

To make it easy to navigate, the page is organised alphabetically by name of PhD programme.

NameThesis titleSupervisor(s)
Elizabeth CampbellThe Life and Work of John Morison, Iain Gobha na Hearadh, The Blacksmith of Harris

Rob Dunbar (Celtic and Scottish Studies) /

Anja Gunderloch (Celtic and Scottish Studies)

Meg HylandThe Musical Cultures of Itinerant Gutters in the British and Irish Fishing Industries, c. 1850 - c. 1975Will Lamb (Celtic and Scottish Studies) / Lori Watson (Celtic and Scottish Studies)
Ruth SalterThe Scottish Folk Revival and Marxist Cultural TheoryGary West (Celtic and Scottish Studies)
Lucie-Ly MeyTwice removed: the French translations of James MacPherson’s Ossianic poetry (1760-1842)Duncan Sneddon (Celtic and Scottish Studies) / Charlotte Bosseaux (Translation Studies) / Rob Dunbar (Celtic and Scottish Studies)

NameThesis titleSupervisor(s)
Beth PriceColonialism undressed: Negotiating nudity and the female body in media, arts, and popular medical science in Republican China (1910s – 1949)Natascha Gentz (Chinese) / Xuelei Huang (Chinese)
Feng GuoNarrating Western China during the War of Resistance (1931-1945)Xuelei Huang (Chinese)
Ryan ChoiCollaborationism in Wartime Hong Kong: The Cultural Production of Hanjian (Traitors) under Japanese Occupation, 1941-1945Christopher Rosenmeier (Chinese) / Aaron Moore (East Asian Studies)

Can't find what you're looking for? Students undertaking PhD research with one or more supervisors based in Chinese can also be found under:

  • Comparative Literature
  • Film Studies
  • Translation Studies

NameThesis titleSupervisor(s)
Anna ChiariSilent Trauma: The Case of Virginia Woolf and Marguerite DurasPaul Crosthwaite (English Literature) / Susan Bainbrigge (French)
Xingtong ZhouIn developmentFabien Arribert-Narce (French) / Marion Schmid (French)
Yi FuLeft-Wing Decadents: The Unnamed Society and Their Early Cultural Imagination of Russian Literature (1921-1931)Christopher Rosenmeier (Chinese) / Alexandra Smith (Russian Studies) 

NameThesis titleSupervisor(s)
Alex PenlandAntikythera / "Protagonist Lenses in the Songs of Achilles and Illium"Jane Alexander (English Literature)
Alice EavesArticulating Landscapes: poetry as a topographic method for mapping the Forest of BowlandJane McKie (English Literature) / Tim Cresswell (Geography)
Elmira ElvazovaThe Illusion of Presence in Articulation: Poetry's Reach Towards the IneffableJane McKie (English Literature)
Lexie AngeloCriminal spaces: Examining postcolonial places and their effect on criminality in contemporary Canadian and Scottish detective novelsJane Alexander (English Literature) / Jane McKie (English Literature)
Simon WestLiterary Fiction – Working Title 'Above the Dark' / Critical Analysis – Voice in the NovelJane Alexander (English Literature) / Allyson Stack (English Literature)
Chandeep WijetungeOut of Focus - Narrative Distance in FictionAllyson Stack (English Literature) / Jane Alexander (English Literature) 

NameThesis titleSupervisor(s)
Nick MillerThe CIA’s Analysis of Chinese and North Korean Politics During the Cold War: Forgotten and Set up For FailureDaniel Hammond (Asian Studies) / Chris Perkins (Asian Studies)
Tsz Ho WongRegimes of Attrition: Financial Infrastructure and Capital Mobilisation in Japan and its Colonies, 1931–1945Aaron Moore (East Asian Studies) / Felix Boecking (History)  
Changhao LiThe Conceptual-Material Architecture of Xiang 香 in Song Literati CultureXuelei Huang (Asian Studies) / Joachim Gentz (Asian Studies)

NameThesis titleSupervisor(s)
Ash JayamohanOn Being Grasped: Sexuality and Subjection in Queer ModernismBenjamin Bateman (English Literature) / Carole Jones (English Literature) / Peter Adkins (English Literature)
Alisha PalmerAbortion and Women's Writing 1900-1940Anouk Lang (English Literature) / Paul Crosthwaite (English Literature)
Carolina Palacios GuerraBroken Homes: Decolonial Epistemologies and the Fragmented Self in Chicana Life-Writing and Fiction.Keith Hughes (English Literature) / Celeste-Marie Bernier (History of Art)
Charley MatthewsThe Queer Woman Reader in the Nineteenth CenturyKatherine Inglis (English Literature) / Katherine Halsey (University of Stirling)
Claudia SterbiniAsexual Epidemics, Detectives and Spinsters: the construction of pathological asexuality in Victorian fictionKatherine Inglis (English Literature) / Anna Vaninskaya (English Literature)
Erin Symons Alexandra Lawrie (English Literature) / Paul Crosthwaite (English Literature)
Isabel SchuelerPoems from a Lost Generation: Roland Leighton's Poetry in the Context of the First World WarJonathan Wild (English Literature) / Anna Vaninskaya (English Literature)
Isabella Shields The Reparative Possibilities of Critique: Contemporary American Women's Life-Writing and the Culture WarsPaul Crosthwaite (English Literature) / Carole Jones (English Literature) / Alexandra Lawrie (English Literature)
June LaurensonSpace and Place in Anthony Powell's 'A Dance to the Music of Time' seriesJonathan Wild (English Literature) / Francis O'Gorman (English Literature) / Andrew Taylor (English Literature) / Simon Cooke (English Literature)
Kai Tjoon LimPost-queer Catalysts: Athwart Dynamisms of the In/OrganicBenjamin Bateman (English Literature) / Carole Jones (English Literature) / David Farrier (English Literature)
Lewis WoodPrecarious queers and queer precarity: cross-cultural literary responses to AIDS from David Wojnarowicz to CAConradBenjamin Bateman (English Literature) / Glyn Davis (Film Studies, University of St Andrews)
Mariane Gallet“Scrutiny of now”: Black American Poetics of Resilience, 1927-2020Keith Hughes (English Literature) / Andrew Taylor (English Literature) / Alexandra Lawrie (English Literature)
Matthew LearGathering the Mess: Repurposed Poetics and Anthropocene TimeDavid Farrier (English Literature) / Michelle Keown (English Literature)
Nadine BarakatThe Black Woman in American ‘Geographies’: Narrating Movement from Enslavement to Climate CatastropheKeith Hughes (English Literature) / Terri Ochiagha Plaza (English Literature)
Sara Yahya Hamed Robert Irvine (English Literature) / Timothy Milnes (English Literature) / Gerry McKeever (Scottish Literature)
Stephen M. PettAnglican Christianity and British Women Writers of the Mid-Nineteenth CenturyRobert Irvine (English Literature) / Alison Jack (Divinity) / Owen Holland (English Literature) / Frauke Matthes (German)
Yu-Hung TienA Re-Examination of the Role of John Keats, Emily Dickinson, and Their Multi-Layered Literary Entanglements within the Flow of the Anglo-American Literary ExchangesAndrew Taylor (English Literature) / Lee Spinks (English Literature)
Yunlong ChenModernist Entanglements of Urban Spatiality, Family Structures, and Queer Sexuality in James Joyce’s WorksAaron Kelly (English Literature) / Peter Adkins (English Literature)

NameThesis titleSupervisor(s)
Emma YoumansCommunity- Based Shakespeare for the 21st Century Stage: Actors and IntermedialityJames Loxley (English Literature) / Eoin Price (English Literature) / Nicola McCartney (Playwriting) 
Judith DrakeThe Case of Disability Theatre in Contemporary Scotland

Simon Malpas (English Literature) /

Eleoma Bodammer (German)

Olivia FischerTowards an Ethical Dramaturgy when representing female sexual trauma on the Post-MeToo British StageHannah Simpson (English Literature) / Suzanne Trill (English Literature) / Nicola McCartney (Playwriting) 
Rebecca MaharIrregular and Wild: Celtic Identity, Influence, and Interpretation in 1 Henry IVJames Loxley (English Literature) / Dermot Cavanagh (English Literature)

NameThesis titleSupervisor(s)
Emma Dussouchaud-EsclamadonFor an understanding of the representational dynamics of Indigenous languages in feature fiction films, in a globalised cinematographic landscapeCharlotte Gleghorn (Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies) / Guy Puzey (Scandinavian Studies) / Charlotte Bosseaux (Translation Studies)
Katarina ZabeckaIdentity and Belonging in Contemporary Film EncountersDavid Sorfa (Film Studies) / Ana Salzberg (Film Studies)
Yi SongVulnerability in the Works of Contemporary Women ArtistsMarion Schmid (Intermediality; French and Francophone Studies) / Francois Giraud (Intermediality; French and Francophone Studies)

NameThesis titleSupervisor(s)
Benoît LoiretThe Dynamics of Music, Language, and Poetry in Yves Bonnefoy's Critical WorksPeter Dayan (French) / Marion Schmid (French)
Madeleine BanatvalaBeyond the Margins: the Off-modern in the writings of Simone de Beauvoir and Violette LeducSusan Bainbrigge (French) / Claire Boyle (French)

Can't find who you're looking for? Students undertaking PhD research with one or more supervisors based in French and Francophone Studies can also be found under:

  • Comparative Literature
  • Film Studies
  • Intermediality
  • Medieval Studies
  • Translation Studies

Staff in French and Francophone Studies are also supervising PhD projects in the following subjects at the University of Edinburgh:

  • Philosophy
  • Design
  • History 

Can't find who you're looking for? Students undertaking PhD research with one or more supervisors based in German can also be found under:

  • East Asian Relations
  • European Theatre
  • Medieval Studies
  • Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies
  • Translation Studies

NameThesis titleSupervisor(s)
Julia LarsenThe Monster, the Body, and the Medium: Reimagining the Monster for Post-Millennial AmericaMarion Schmid (French) / Inma Sánchez García (Intermediality)
Lucy McMillanThe Femme Fatale in Contemporary Literature and the Moving Image: Adaptation, Intersectionality, and IntermedialityMarion Schmid (French) / Inma Sánchez García (Intermediality)

Can't find who you're looking for? Students undertaking PhD research with one or more supervisors based in Intermediality can also be found under:

  • Comparative Literature
  • European Theatre 

NameThesis titleSupervisor(s)
Eleanor BeatonTransnational family relationships and responsibilities among trans migrants from the MENA region living in GermanyDr Ebtihal Mahadeen (Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies) / Dr Giulia Liberatore (Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies)
Eva FerronNetworked Public: Islamic Twitter in Salman’s Saudi ArabiaFrédéric Volpi (Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies) / Ebtihal Mahadeen (Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies) / Walid Magdy (Informatics)
Bahar FayeghiEveryday resistance of Afghan women in Iran

Nacim Pak-Shiraz (Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies) /

Elvire Corboz (Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies)

Felícia CamposPalestinian futurities: rap, hip-hop and future-making of PalestineEbtihal Mahadeen (Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies) / Nicola Perugini (Social and Political Science) / Hana Sleiman (History, Classics and Archaeology)
Moh Zaimil AlivinMuslims in the Periphery: Intersectionality of Religion, Gender, and Sexuality in Contemporary Middle Eastern Diaspora NovelsEbtihal Mahadeen (Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies) / Ines Aščerić-Todd (Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies)
Rik JanssenThe Empire Built by ‘Turkish’ Bow: Revising Ottoman ArcheryInes Aščerić-Todd (Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies) / Marie Legendre (Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies)
Yi-Chia ChangThe Tafsīr of Hūd b. Muḥakkim al-Hawwārī: Formation, Reception, and Ibaḍī Intellectual History in the Medieval MaghribAndreas Görke (Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies) / Andrew Newman (Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies)

NameThesis titleSupervisor(s)
Elisa Vivaldi Federica Pedriali (Italian)

NameThesis titleSupervisor(s)
Arden TaylorLoveliness of the Lost: Alternative Masculinities in Noh as seen through Atsumori

Helen Parker (Japanese) /

Abigail MacBain (Japanese)

Frank FanTo understand the development of Kaidan in Tokugawa Japan as a vehicle for the transmission of Buddhist, Confucian and National learning ideologies. Ian Astley (Japanese)
Jorinde WelsThe Future of the Invisible and its Mediatization – ‘Deadly Germs’ in the Imagination of Infectious Disease Experts, the State, and Popular Culture in Japan, 1918-1958Aaron Moore (East Asian Relations) / Jan Schmidt (KU Leuven) / Kaat Wils (KU Leuven)
Mari Koch MurrayA translation with commentary of Saito Chiho’s manga series 'Torikae baya'Helen Parker (Japanese) / Yoko Matsumoto-Sturt (Japanese)

Staff in Japanese are also supervising PhD projects in the following subjects at the University of Edinburgh: 

  • Film Studies
  • Translation Studies

NameThesis titleSupervisor(s)
Estibaliz SaenzA Look at Life Success and Suicide: Critical Reflections from South Korean Young AdultsYoungmi Kim (Korean) / Amy Chandler (Health in Social Science)
Sarah Vickery Youngmi Kim (Korean Studies) / Holly Stephens (Korean Studies)

NameThesis titleSupervisor(s)
Ana Inés AldazabalMagic and Witchcraft in the Burgundian Literary ImaginationFionnuala Sinclair (Medieval Literatures and Cultures) / Julian Goodare (History)
Benni CampoleoniBecoming heroes: construction(s) of masculine identity in medieval French and Northern Italian epicFionnuala Sinclair (Medieval Literatures and Cultures) / William Aird (History) / Frauke Matthes (German & Comparative Literature) 
Moss PepeTransgender life in medieval French romanceFionnuala Sinclair (Medieval Literatures and Cultures) / Cordelia Beattie (History)

NameThesis titleSupervisor(s)
Madeleine Ferris“Grievable lives”: A Corpus-based analysis of the moral representation of Ukrainian refugees in British mediaLara Ryazanova-Clarke (Russian Studies) / John Joseph (Linguistics and English Language)

Can't find who you're looking for? Students undertaking PhD research with one or more supervisors based in Russian can also be found under:

  • Comparative Literature

NameThesis titleSupervisor(s)
Alex PayneBoundaries of Distance Through Time: Climate Change as a Driver of Historic Othering in the Nordic Circumpolar

Alan Macniven (Scandinavian Studies) /

Andrew Dugmore (Geosciences)

Joe WadeMaking Old Norse New: Nynorsk Saga Translations as a Tool for Corpus Planning from 1853 to 1917Guy Puzey (Scandinavian Studies) / Arne Kruse (Scandinavian Studies) / Hephzibah Israel (Translation Studies)

Can't find who you're looking for? Students undertaking PhD research with one or more supervisors based in Scandinavian Studies can also be found under:

  • Film Studies  

NameThesis titleSupervisor(s)
Elisabeth GoemansTranslating Gender-Based Violence: Argentinian Women's Writing in the Anglophone Book MarketIona Macintyre (Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies) / Fiona Mackintosh (Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies)
Inés ArtetaGender Constructs and Intersectional Relations: A Study of Liliana Heker's Fictional CharactersFiona Mackintosh (Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies)
Verónica MárquezThe Country I never went back: A critical discourse analysis of Chilean bilingual exiled children in the UKCarlos Soler Montes (Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies) / Kenneth Fordyce (Education)

Can't find who you're looking for? Students undertaking PhD research with one or more supervisors based in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies can also be found under:

  • Film Studies

Staff in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies are also supervising PhD projects in the following subjects at the University of Edinburgh:

  • History of Art
  • History 

NameThesis titleSupervisor(s)
David HayesEnglish and French Liturgical Translations in the Latin Rite Catholic Church - Analysing Theoretical Approaches and ReceptionHephzibah Israel (Translation Studies) / Véronique Desnain (French)
Katherine HellerFan Culture and Retranslation: The 'Sailor Moon' FranchiseCharlotte Bosseaux (Translation Studies) / Yoko Matsumoto-Sturt (Japanese)

Can't find who you're looking for? Students undertaking PhD research with one or more supervisors based in Translation Studies can also be found under:

  • Celtic and Scottish Studies
  • Scandinavian Studies

Edinburgh Research Archive

Browse the Edinburgh Research Archive (ERA) by title, subject, supervisor or date to find out more about past PhD projects undertaken in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC).

ERA is a digital archive of original research produced by or affiliated with academic authors based at the University of Edinburgh. The archive contains doctoral theses, masters dissertations, project reports, briefing papers and out-of-print material.

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As an online asset, with a place to talk about your research interests, expertise and thesis, and any teaching you do, your profile page is a useful digital footprint when establishing yourself as an early career researcher in a global community. To make the most out of it, you need to keep you profile up to date.

Your profile is searchable and findable by people all over the world, so manage it as you would all the digital footprints you leave online. 

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