I am a Senior Lecturer in Drama and Arts Management in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures at the University of Manchester.

I am interested in the way theatre and performance engage people with ideas and how the arts more broadly affect society. This is reflected in my research into collaborations between artists, communities, health and care practitioners, policy-makers and researchers. It also influences my teaching about arts in health and education, activist performance, arts management and contemporary performance practice. A lot of my research has emerged from my experience of working with creative practitioners in a variety of contexts.

My current research focusses on the relationship between creative and cultural practices and health inequity. Much of this work is collaborative through the GM Creative Health Place Partnership, Organisations of Hope project and the GM Arts and Trauma network.  

This builds on my previous work on the aesthetics and politics of science and health in performance. This work has ranged across science in contemporary theatre, experimental collaborations between scientists and performers, activist performance in health and science, theatre in science education, and theatre as a context for engagement between communities, scientists and/or health professionals. My book Science in performance: theatre and the politics of engagement  (2020) maps out some of this territory. I have continued work in this area co-editing the Routledge Companion to Performance and Science (2026) with Paul Johnson and Adele Senior. I have also worked with Contact theatre and Theatre of Debate on producing health and science in the theatre.

I currently teach on the BA programmes in Drama, Drama and Film and Drama and English specialising in performance practice, activist performance and drama in education. I was previously involved in setting up and teaching on the MA Arts Management, Policy and Practice.

I have supervised PhD projects in theatre and drama in education, dance in the art gallery, performance and biotherapy, audience development and socially engaged arts practice. I would welcome PhD proposals that explore: relationships between creative practice, science and health; theatre or drama in health or education; activist performance; and some aspects of arts management.   

I have worked at University of Manchester since 2009 within Drama and Film and also the Institute for Cultural Practices. I am committed to interdisciplinary collaboration and approaches to research and teaching that engage with partners outside the university. 

I was Associate Director and then Director for Social Responsibility within the School of Arts Languages and Cultures (2019-2024). I am on the steering group for the Global Humanities Alliance and co-chair the GHA's public humanities working group.

I worked with Contact Theatre on their development of health and science programming (2018-2022). This work built on my time as a board member of the theatre (2011-2018) helping to embed such themes within their work and draws on my book on Science in Performance.

I also spent some time (2015-2019) exploring how theatre and performance might offer new perspectives on mental health. This involved collaborations with artists including Mad 'Ed Theatre, the vacuum cleaner, Manchester Camerata, Louise Wallwein and Jaydev Mistry as well as Dr Helen Pusey and Dr Tommy Dickenson in Nursing. A strand of this resulted in the Dementia Voices project and the award-winning performance Hidden by Louise Wallwein.

I have also worked on the role of theatre in science education over a long period of time with the pioneering theatre in education company, Theatre of Debate.

I worked with Jenny Hughes (2013-2015) on a project exploring the role of gesture in activist performance. This resulted in a blog, co-edited special issue of Contemporary Theatre Review, a website and a chapter in an edited collection on Citizen Media and Public Spaces.

Before coming to Manchester, I worked at the charity The Wellcome Trust (2002-2009) where I developed a range of national and international programmes promoting public and community engagement with biomedical research, particularly collaborations between scientists, education and artists. This work is documented in the Creative Encounters publication. I have taught at Royal Holloway University of London and University of Klagenfurt (Austria) as well as managed and evaluated a number of arts and education projects across the UK and Europe. I have a BA in Modern Languages (Nottingham), MA in Text and Performance Studies (King’s College London / Royal Academy of Dramatic Art), and a PhD in Drama (Royal Holloway University of London).