Visiting Research Fellows

Research Lead:

Prof Rob Ellis is a Professor of Modern British History at Manchester Metropolitan University with research interests in the histories of mental-illness, learning disability and wellbeing. He was formerly the Academic Lead on a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with the University of Huddersfield and is now a Trustee of Pennine Heritage. His work with us builds on his long track record of public and applied histories.

Research Fellows:

Dr Cate Benincasa-Sharman is a Senior Lecturer in Design & Architectural History at the University of Huddersfield. She is interested in how identities of place are valued and expressed through architecture and design - particularly in 'the North'. Cate has been an invited speaker at several prestigious organisations including the Modernist Society and the Twentieth Century Society.

Dr Andy Cook is a researcher working in support of the University of Huddersfield’s undergraduate “Hands on History” module, helping students utilise material in the South Pennine Archives at Pennine Heritage. He has been involved in this collaborative project as part of the Knowledge Transfer Partnership between the University and Pennine Heritage since early 2022.

Dr Jeremy Hopwood is an independent scientist and affiliate of the University of Huddersfield. His research is the chemistry of natural waters, drinking waters and lead in tap water. He helps run the What's in Our water WIOW workshops at the National Coal Mining Museum and is currently designing an environmental workshop for Pennine Heritage on the Ibbot Royd Clough stream that runs near the Heritage centre. He is passionate about promoting science to the public. https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-hopwood-38814b79

Dr Glynn Jones is a Subject Leader for Postgraduate Taught Courses in the School of Education, University of Huddersfield where he started work in 2009. He has a background in secondary education, further education and TEFL in the UK, Indonesia and Japan. His research focuses on professional training, the development of workplace skills and non-formal learning.

Professor Jodie Matthews lectures in English at Manchester Metropolitan University. She researches the cultural significance of Britain's industrial waterways representations and the experiences of people who travelled around Britain (including Romanies/Gypsies and canal boat people). The texts she examines date from the eighteenth century to the present. In 2016 she was appointed the Canal & River Trust’s first Honorary Research Fellow. In the course of her research she has worked with TV producers, charities, museums and heritage organisations, and schools.

Dr Iona Murphy is a lecturer in English Literature at the University of Huddersfield. Her research interests are in disability studies, twentieth-century female writers, and queer theory. Her current research focuses on representations of ableism in Sylvia Plath's psychiatric hospital prose: The Bell Jar, 'Tongues of Stone,' and 'Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams.'

Dr Robert Piggott is a lecturer in History at the University of Huddersfield with research interests in religion and voluntary action, media history, and heritage studies. His recent research focusses on the role of voluntary organisations in the provision of non-medical care in medical settings, such as the National Health Service, and in social prescribing.

Alex Smith is the Director of History for the Teaching and Learning Trust and Senior Practitioner leading the Secondary History PGCE at the University of Huddersfield. Alex has completed her NPQ in leading teacher development and is currently working towards her Masters in Education where she is focussing her research on student motivation.

Dr Roxanne Taylor is a lecturer in English Language at the University Huddersfield. Her research interests are in linguistic structures and the history of the English language, from the medieval period to the present-day. She is currently exploring different ways the word “of” was used in earlier stages of English.