Emily Falconer is a Senior Research Assistant at the Weeks Centre for Social and Policy research, London South Bank University working in the areas of gender and sexuality. Having completed a PhD in gender and tourism at Manchester Metropolitan University (2012), Emily’s research explored the embodied and emotional experiences of independent women travellers. Her research interests focus on feminism, affect and emotion, incorporating theories from across the disciplines of sociology and human geography, and especially how changing feminist identities are tied in with emotional and embodied encounters and relationships. Within this, Emily draws on methodologies which attempt to capture the sensual and affective experiences of everyday life and powerful moments of visceral politics. Emily currently holds a position on the executive committee for the Feminist and Women’s Studies Association for the U.K and Ireland as Conference Liaison Officer and Chair of the Equality and Diversity Working Group.
Contact: falconee@lsbu.ac.uk
Maud Perrier teaches Gender Studies in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at the University of Bristol since completing her PhD in the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Warwick. She has written about feminist theory and pedagogy, emotions and contemporary families. Her latest research looked at how age and class positions are intertwined in younger and older mothers’ maternal moralities. In 2014 she was awarded a World Universities Network fellowship at the University of Western Australia to undertake research on the affective politics of women’s relationships, this project critically interrogates the trope of sisterhood to transform the ethics and aesthetics of female intellectual companionships. She has used psychosocial and arts based methodologies such as collective biography in her research. She sits on the executive committee of the Feminist and Women’s Studies Association, UK as book Prize Officer. My aspiration is to help make this conference a space of deep learning, one where feminist theory provide us with ways of knowing that enable us to know ourselves and others better and live in the world more fully (hooks, 1994).
Helen Snaith is a part-time doctoral student studying in the College of Arts and Humanities at Swansea University. Her thesis is entitled ‘Japanese cultural and literary influences in the work of Angela Carter’, and specifically focuses on Carter’s relationship with the author Jun’ichirō Tanizaki. By analysing archival records, essays, and reviews, Helen’s research investigates the semi-autobiographical narrative that the two authors integrate within their literary works. Highlighting the relationship between social and cultural context, and critical/literary publications, her thesis aims to demonstrate the striking similarities between Carter and Tanizaki’s work, arguing that they both produced work as a direct reaction to historical circumstances. Helen is currently the Honourary Treasurer of the FWSA, and will be taking on Claire Callaghan’s responsibilities as of September 2014. Working part-time as a Finance and Resources Officer at the School of Management at Swansea University, she has the relevant experience in dealing with book-keeping, account expenditures, and general financial enquiries.