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The University of Southampton
Humanities Graduate School

Our Postgraduate Researchers

The Humanities Graduate School has over 250 students researching a wide variety of topics across the disciplines of Archaeology, English, Film, History, Modern Languages, Music and Philosophy. Below are just a few examples of these research students and the projects they are working on.

Photo of Sarah Boak

I am a Teaching Fellow in 20th century music at the University of Southampton. I am currently writing up my PhD thesis on the relationship between bodies, voices and gender in the work of Tori Amos, Björk and PJ Harvey. My research interests are gender, voice, sexuality and embodiment in popular music. My forthcoming publications include a chapter on female singer-songwriters in the 1990s for the Cambridge Companion to the Singer-Songwriter, and a chapter on Björk for an edited collection on Icelandic music. My article on maternal bodies in the work of Tori Amos will be published in the journal Popular Music during 2015.

Sarah Boak -
Photo of James Camien McGuiggan

I went to NUI Maynooth, Ireland, for my undergraduate degree (graduating 2008), whither I went to study music, in order that I might become a composer. I took up philosophy because I was acutely conscious of the need to justify my writing music - because what is this thing called music? Why does it matter? And what have I to add to Bach and Schoenberg, that I have the impertinence to ask people to listen to my music rather than theirs? But this justificatory project ended up being much more difficult and addictive than I had anticipated, and its pursuit took me to St Andrews for an M.Phil. (graduated 2011), and thence to Southampton. I still write music, albeit only very occasionally; and I play guitar and piano.

James Camien McGuiggan - Philosophy PhD Researcher
Photo of Xin Ying  Ch’Ng

I completed my bachelor’s degree in Malaysia with a focus in Classical Music Performance before coming to the UK. Switching from performance to musicology was challenging, but one that I really enjoyed doing and being in a university that encourages research really helps. I received my MMus in Musicology at the University of Southampton under the supervision of Prof Jeanice Brooks. My master’s dissertation focuses on the singer, Kathleen Ferrier and her influence in Britten’s opera, The Rape of Lucretia. In the same year, I was very fortunate to receive a partial grant from the University of Southampton to continue my PhD studies.

Xin Ying Ch’Ng - Music PhD Researcher
Photo of Ana María Elisa  Díaz de la Garza

I am a full-time second language teacher educator based at the Tuxtla Language Faculty of the Autonomous University of Chiapas, Mexico. I obtained my BA from the Iberoamericana University (UIA), Mexico in 1981, and a Master in Education in Trainer Development (English Language Teaching) from MARJON, affiliated to the University of Exeter, United Kingdom in 2006 with the dissertation Asynchronous Discussion Forums as Life Rafts For Newly Qualified Teachers In Schools. Since 2012 I have been a full time Distance PhD student in Modern Languages at the University of Southampton. My thesis is Preservice Teacher Learning and Second Language Teacher Identity Construction in Disadvantaged Areas.

Ana María Elisa Díaz de la Garza - Distance Modern Languages PhD Researcher
Photo of Lizette Drusila  Flores Delgado

“I am a Distance PhD in Modern Languages student. I have a Masters degree in Higher Education and a B.A. in English Language from the University of Chihuahua in Mexico. I am a professor at the same University and I have a PRODEP scholarship from the Mexican government to do my PhD at the University of Southampton.”

Lizette Drusila Flores Delgado - Distance Modern Languages PhD Researcher
Photo of Shelick García-Galván

Shelick García-Galván is a full-time international postgraduate research student in Modern Languages. She completed a bachelor’s degree in Interpreting in the Institute for Interpreters and Translators (ISIT) in Mexico. A few years later she studied a Masters in Applied Linguistics in the Autonomous National University of Mexico (UNAM). In the same institution she completed studies to become a teacher of Spanish for speakers of other languages. Since 2001 she has worked as an English Teacher for different public institutions in Mexico, such as the Autonomous Metropolitan University (UAM) campus Iztapalapa, the Autonomous National University of Mexico (UNAM), and the National University for Educational Studies (UPN) Campus Ajusco, where she is currently a tenured professor. Her interests are on ICTs and materials development and evaluation from a critical stance. Since 2013 she has under the supervision of Dr. Karin Zotzmann developing a project on the social sepresentations in ELT textbooks from a critical discourse perspective.

Shelick García-Galván - Distance Modern Languages PhD Researcher
Photo of Austin Glatthorn

Austin Glatthorn was born and raised in suburban Philadelphia, USA. After completing his undergraduate degree in Music Education (B.M.) at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, he decided to leave the U.S. to pursue a masters degree in historical musicology at the University of Southampton. After a year of course work and archival research in Germany, Austin then completed his M.M. on the Harmoniemusik of the princely family of Thurn und Taxis (Regensburg, Germany). In 2012 he began his Ph.D. in historical musicology under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Irvine and Professor Mark Everist, where he is researching the music of the late Holy Roman Empire. Currently, Austin is a DAAD-Fellow at the University of Mainz where he is spending a year researching in various German and Austrian archives under the mentorship of Professor Klaus Pietschmann.

Austin Glatthorn - Music PhD Researcher
Photo of Minke Jonk

I started my BA degree in English language and culture at University of Leiden in 2008. I was selected for the Harting exchange programme during my second year and subsequently spent the third year of my undergraduate at the University of Southampton. At Southampton, the module ‘Literature of Islands and Oceans' boosted my interest in maritime literature, which since then has remained a great source of inspiration. I completed my undergraduate degree in 2011, writing my dissertation on ‘The representation of streets and the city in late-Victorian literature' (supervised by Dr Michael Newton). I also obtained my MA degree in English Language and Culture (with a specialisation in translation between Dutch and English) from the University of Leiden. In my dissertation ‘Words are all that we can translate: Untranslatability and Moby Dick' (supervised by Katinka Zeven MA and Dr Evert-Jan van Leeuwen), I explored issues of untranslatability by comparing two translations of Moby Dick with the original.

Minke Jonk - English PhD Researcher
Photo of Wasinrat Nualsiri

I am a full-time international postgraduate research student in Modern Languages. I have a background in English and American Literature with a focus on literature and the environment. I obtained my BA in English from Chiang Mai University, Thailand in 2002, and MA in English Literature from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand in 2006. Since 2012 I have received a scholarship from Naresuan University, Thailand where I have taught to do my doctoral dissertation at the University of Southampton.

Wasinrat Nualsiri - Modern Languages PhD Researcher
Photo of Liliana Pelayo Muńoz

I am an English Foreign Language Professor at Chontalpa’s Popular University (UPCH), Cárdenas, Tabasco, Mexico. I hold a Master in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) from Jaén University, Spain and CEPES, México.

Liliana Pelayo Muńoz - Distance Modern Languages PhD Researcher
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