Roehampton faculty on reading for engagement and escape equally

Roehampton faculty on reading for engagement and escape equally

Ian Kinane is Reader in Literature and Popular Culture and Director of the Centre for Society, Culture, and Social Change at the University of Roehampton, London. His books include Bisexuality and Popular Culture (2026), On the Very Edge: Bidentities in Michelle Cliff’s Fiction (2024), Ian Fleming and the Politics of Ambivalence (2021), Isn’t it Ironic?: Irony in Contemporary Popular Culture (2021), Didactics and the Modern Robinsonade (2019), Theorising Literary Islands (2016), and (with Downey and Parker) Landscapes of Liminality: Between Space and Place (2016). Ian is also the general editor of the online, open-access International Journal of James Bond Studies and the forthcoming Cambridge Companion to Ian Fleming.      Panel Bios:    Carrie Winstanley is Professor of Pedagogy at the University of Roehampton. Her research and practice engage with challenge in education and with widening inclusion and diversity across all phases. Before Higher Education, she worked as a teacher with a range of age groups, in different types of schools, including a few years in Colombia, South America.   Tom Callaghan is Lecturer in Mental Health Nursing at the University of Roehampton, having previously worked clinically in emergency services, community psychosis and adolescent mental health care.   Amy Waite is Senior Lecturer in English and Creative Writing. Prior to joining Roehampton, she worked as a literary agent for several years, specialising in middle-grade and YA fiction. For her own children's writing, she is represented by Hellie Ogden at WME Books.  Nevena Nancheva is an academic whose research focuses on migration, difference, and international relations. Her current research is on difference and diversity in food insecurity and food support systems, and she leads a project on ethnic food and urban communities of difference funded by the Greater London Authority, which featured a V&A Museum interactive exposition.      Links mentioned:  Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves [https://roehamptonuniversity.on.worldcat.org/oclc/49791680]    Chapters  00:09 Introduction  00:26 Carrie on preferring reading to writing  03:50 Amy’s industry insider take  07:22 Tom on the tension between the escapist and grounding role of reading  11:43 Nevena’s on reading for pleasure vs reading for resarch (not mutually exclusive!)  15:00 Decline in literacy and decline in empathy – coincidence?  16:05 Tom’s take  17:39 Nevana’s  18:39 Amy’s  21:06 Carrie’s  23:38 How to facilitate better reading habits  24:26 Tom’s time travels in trains  26:18 When “for pleasure” becomes a burdensome duty - Nevena  28:02 Amy on reading habits  31:06 Carrie on unlearning habits picked up in reading for study  33:20 Instrumental reading, performative having-read  35:11 Panel recommentations  35:38 Nevana’s  36:22 Carrie’s  38:25 Amy’s  41:23 Tom’s    The Roey Grad Podcast is a presentation of the University of Roehampton’s Graduate School. [https://www.roehampton.ac.uk/study/academic-areas/graduate-school]   Our theme music is by DiamondTunes [https://pixabay.com/users/diamond_tunes-25553362]    Our hosts are two PhD students at Roehampton, Charles Miller and Will Berard, who also edits and mixes the podcast. It was produced by Aaliyah Hassan.  Comments, questions, want to appear on the show? Get in touch at graduateschool@roehampton.ac.uk [graduateschool@roehampton.ac.uk]      Nevena Nancheva links mentioned  Angela Hui’s Takeaway: Stories from a childhood behind the counter  Babita Sharma’s The Cornershop  Krishnendu Ray’s The Ethnic Restaurateur  Cheryl Strayed’s Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail   Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods  Raynor Winn’s The Salt Path

Reading in Roehampton: poetry, translations, and archives

It’s another takeover episode, in which Ian Kinane (do listen to his interview earlier in the feed) hosts a (different) panel of Roehampton staff and lecturers to talk about reading for pleasure. They talk about reading in different languages, on different formats, one’s library as autobiographical archive, poetry, translations, and their intersections, from the humorous to the literary.    These were recorded as part of #GetRoeReading, a week celebrating reading in all its forms, as part of the National Year of Reading [https://literacytrust.org.uk/about-us/national-year-of-reading-2026/].      In order of mention:  Tim Atkins’ Nothing [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58148663-nothing-conclusive-has-yet-taken-place-in-the-world-the-ultimate-word-of] (...)  Tim’s Koto Y Yo [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31250476-koto-y-yo]  Tim’s On Fathers < On Daughtyrs [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43666646-on-fathers-on-daughtyrs]  Ivan Illitch’s Deschooling Society [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223403.Deschooling_Society]  Paolo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/72657.Pedagogy_of_the_Oppressed]  Rutger Bregman’s Utopia for Realists [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/40876575-utopia-for-realists]  Gerald Durrell’s The Bafut Beagles [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/401761.The_Bafut_Beagles]  Elizabeth Strout’s Tell Me Everything [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/204811915-tell-me-everything]  Strout’s The Things We Never Say [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/242082631-the-things-we-never-say]  Simon Van Booy’s Sipsworth [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/113877384-sipsworth]  Mrs Moneypenny’s Career Advice for Ambitious Women [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/13415294-mrs-moneypenny-s-careers-advice-for-ambitious-women]  Moneypenny’s Financial Advice for Independent Women [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24876751-mrs-moneypenny-s-financial-advice-for-independent-women]  Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/27494.Leaves_of_Grass]  Susan Sontag’s Regarding the Pain of Others [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52373.Regarding_the_Pain_of_Others]  John Berger’s Ways of Seeing [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2784.Ways_of_Seeing]  Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33.The_Lord_of_the_Rings]  Poems of the Late T’ang [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/2376086.Poems_of_the_Late_T_ang] (tr. A.C. Graham)  Eliot Weinberger and Octavio Paz’s Nineteen Ways of Looking at Wang Wei [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/235926.Nineteen_Ways_of_Looking_at_Wang_Wei]  Erik Didriksen’s Pop Sonnets [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27390203-pop-sonnets]    Chapters:  00:09 Introduction  00:37 Tim Atkins on editing, reading, writing, and family  06:34 Jo Peat on reading in different languages  10:41 Claire Li on reading media and reading habits  12:07 Flick Kemp on digital vs. analog and library work  14:56 Claire on ebooks, fiction and non-fiction  16:40 Tim on the paradoxes of reading  18:22 Jo, Flick, then Tim on the sensory aspect of books  20:28 One’s library as one’s archive (Flick, Tim)  23:48 Jo’s recommendations  25:32 Claire’s recommendations  29:24 Tim’s recommendations  27:26 Flick’s recommendations    Guest Speakers  Tim Atkins is the author of many books. He has read and performed his work in the Houses of Parliament (for Pussy Riot), in concert at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and all over North America and Europe. Tim teaches Creative Writing at the University of Roehampton and his most recent book Nothing Conclusive Has Yet Taken Place In The World The Ultimate Word Of The World And About The World Has Not Yet Been Spoken The World Is Open And Free Everything Is Still In The Future And Will Always Be was published by Crater Press in June 2022.   Flick Kemp works as the Digital Learning Development Librarian in the Library. He is a passionate reader of everything and hopes to share the joy of reading with the people around him. Notable achievements include finishing a knitting project in 11 days (a record he has not beaten yet), publishing an article in the Think Pieces Magazine, and perfecting his grandmother's pie recipe.  Claire Li is Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Finance and School Career Lead from Roehampton Business School. Her academic interests are about digital accounting and financial management. She enjoys books in different areas such as philosophy, finance, visual arts, wildlife, health, biography. She also is currently hosting a reading club in London.   Jo Peat is Head of Educational Development at the University of Roehampton, where she works with colleagues across the institution to enhance the quality of teaching, learning, and student success. Her background is in modern languages, and she originally joined the School of Education at Roehampton after a career in teaching languages in school, before moving to the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Unit.

PhDs and Lecturers on Reading for Pleasure, Growth, and Inspiration

Ian Kinane, hosts a panel with faculty and grad students on the topic of reading for pleasure. They talk about the difficulty of balancing types of reading, the impact of the reading format, the importance of recommendations and community, the cross-pollination of reading with creation, and much more...   National Year of Reading [https://literacytrust.org.uk/about-us/national-year-of-reading-2026/].     In order of mention:  * The National Community of Researchers in Children’s Literature (NCRCL) [https://ncrcl.wordpress.com/about/]  * Roehampton’s MA Children Literature [https://www.roehampton.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-taught-courses/childrens-literature-distance-learning/] (distance learning)  * James Allen’s As a Man Thinketh [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/81959.As_a_Man_Thinketh]  * James Clear’s Atomic Habits [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/40121378-atomic-habits]  * Charlie Mackes’s The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/43708884-the-boy-the-mole-the-fox-and-the-horse]  * Benjamin Myers’s The Gallows Pool [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/31325980-the-gallows-pole]  * MyNoise [https://mynoise.net/] for ambient sounds - no adblocker needed (Will’s recommendation)  * Emma Brodzinksi [https://thephdliferaft.com/] (of PhD Life Raft fame) has a book club  * Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24453082-big-magic]  * Norman Vincent Peale’s You can if you think you can [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13472]  * Ursula K. Le Guin’s Steering The Craft [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68024.Steering_the_Craft]  * Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13651.The_Dispossessed]  * R.F. Kuang’s Babel [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57945316-babel]  * Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/70947.Northern_Lights]    Chapters:  00:09 – Introduction  00:39 – Lisa Sainsbury on reading and community  03:35 – Louistas Nyuyse on his reading journey  05:40 - Reading on paper, on screen, in audio? (Louistas)  06:12 - Cristina Motoca on reading habits  09:34 - Benoît André on balancing reading with the rest  11:40 – Crafting reading routines   17:53 – Reading, music and sound  18:36 – Cristina's recommendations  21:01 – Louistas's recommendations  22:34 – Benoit's recommendations  25:46 – Lisa's recommendations  27:50 - Benoît on reading as inspiration    Host  Ian Kinane is Reader in Literature and Popular Culture and Director of the Centre for Society, Culture, and Social Change at the University of Roehampton, London. His books include Bisexuality and Popular Culture (2026), On the Very Edge: Bidentities in Michelle Cliff’s Fiction (2024), Ian Fleming and the Politics of Ambivalence (2021), Isn’t it Ironic?: Irony in Contemporary Popular Culture (2021), Didactics and the Modern Robinsonade (2019), TheorisingLiterary Islands (2016), and (with Downey and Parker) Landscapes of Liminality: Between Space and Place (2016). Ian is also the general editor of the online, open-access International Journal of James Bond Studies and the forthcoming Cambridge Companion to Ian Fleming.      Guest Speakers  Lisa Sainsbury is Associate Professor of Children’s Literature in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Roehampton. She is Series Editor of Bloomsbury’s Perspectives on Children’s Literature and Chair of the National Community of Researchers in Children’s Literature. Her ongoing research focusses on the philosophical remit of children’s books, as explored in her monographs Ethics in British Children’s Literature: Unexamined Life (Bloomsbury: 2013) and Metaphysics of Children’s Literature: Climbing Fuzzy Mountains (Bloomsbury: 2021).  Louistas Nyuyse is a UK-based healthcare lecturer, transformational career coach, and AI strategist with over two decades of experience in emergency nursing, education, and personal development. He specialises in purpose-driven careers, digital innovation in healthcare, and the application of artificial intelligence to enhance wellbeing, learning, and human potential.  Cristina Motoca is a part-time PhD (Prof) Education research student at the University of Roehampton. Her research explores how policies on the early years workforce are developed and implemented, and whether there may be a disconnect between policy intentions and the practical realities. With over a decade of leadership experience, she represents the private and voluntary sector (PVI) in Wandsworth through the Education Advisory Strategy Group.    Benoît André is a composer, researcher, sound designer, and audio editor based in London, UK. He is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of Roehampton in the School of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. He is exploring narratives of flood-affected communities through sound.

Artificial Intelligence in Research and Practice (PGR Conference 17/6/26)

Are you a postgraduate researcher exploring the impact of AI in your field? Join us at the Artificial Intelligence in Research and Practice: Interdisciplinary PGR Conference 2026 - a space designed for research students to present, collaborate, and spark meaningful academic conversations.   🌍 Open to PGRs from all institutions and disciplines   🎤 Present your work or attend as a participant   💬 Connect with an interdisciplinary research community   💸 Free to attend (registration required)   📅 17 June 2026   🔗 Register now: https://lnkd.in/e5rG-j9a [https://lnkd.in/e5rG-j9a?trk=public_post-text]    The Roey Grad Podcast is a presentation of the University of Roehampton’s Graduate School. [https://www.roehampton.ac.uk/study/academic-areas/graduate-school]   Our theme music is by DiamondTunes [https://pixabay.com/users/diamond_tunes-25553362]    Our hosts are two PhD students at Roehampton, Charles Miller and Will Berard, who also edits and mixes the podcast. It was produced by Aaliyah Hassan.  Comments, questions, want to appear on the show? Get in touch at graduateschool@roehampton.ac.uk [graduateschool@roehampton.ac.uk]

Bridget Steenkamp: Facilitating child-led ecotheology

Charles, Will and Aaliyah talk to Bridget Steenkamp, Pentecostal minister, community organiser, and, relevantly for the pod, DTh student in Roehampton’s School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Bridget’s research is an interdisciplinary endeavour, combining theology and early years education. It starts from Friedrich Fröbel’s conception of spirituality as ‘life unity’: connection to oneself, each other, the natural world, and the transcendent, to consider whether pre-school children (3-4 years old) can be co-researchers in theological enquiry.     Links mentioned:  More on Fröbel (Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Fröbel])  The Froebel trust [https://www.froebel.org.uk]   The Godly Play [https://www.godlyplay.uk] foundation UK  Ecotheology [https://www.saet.ac.uk/Christianity/Ecotheology] (St Andrew’s Encylopedia of Theology)  Bridget’s Slow Workshops [https://www.roehampton.ac.uk/sustainability/education-and-research/] for Roehampton’s sustainability team (check out their episode earlier in the feed!)    Chapters  00:09 Introduction  00:39 Bridget’s thesis  02:51 Research co-led by children  06:00 Bridget’s data collection – in practice  08:01  Are young children closer to the divine?  08:52 What is ecotheology?  10:26 Presenting the children’s data  11:35 Defining “spirituality” in this context  15:51 Addressing the influence of the (adult) researcher  17:59 A natural spiritual sense in children?  20:09 Wrap-up    The Roey Grad Podcast is a presentation of the University of Roehampton’s Graduate School. [https://www.roehampton.ac.uk/study/academic-areas/graduate-school]   Our theme music is by DiamondTunes [https://pixabay.com/users/diamond_tunes-25553362]    Our hosts are two PhD students at Roehampton, Charles Miller and Will Berard, who also edits and mixes the podcast. It was produced by Aaliyah Hassan.  Comments, questions, want to appear on the show? Get in touch at graduateschool@roehampton.ac.uk [graduateschool@roehampton.ac.uk]