ECR Research Café: London Special

The British Academy Early Career Researcher Network brings together ECRs across the humanities and social sciences disciplines, regardless of their funding source or background.

Event Organiser: British Academy ECRN Team 

The British Academy Early Career Researcher Network team are planning an ECR Research Café: London Special on Tuesday 23rd April 12:00-1:00 on Zoom. 

The aim of the session is to bring London based ECRs together to share their work and experiences, fostering collaboration, networking, creativity, and the exchange of ideas. There will be short presentations from ECRs, followed by an open discussion and Q&A session chaired by Professor Lynda Mead FBA.

For the ECR presentation section we are looking for three ECRs who would be willing to take part and present in this session. For a more creative element, we are looking for presentations which describe your current research linking it to your favourite art work, image, building or text. 

If you are interested in presenting your research, please let us know by emailing ecr_network@thebritishacademy.ac.uk by Monday 8th April 2024.

Chair: Professor Lynda Mead FBA 

Lynda Nead joined the Department of History of Art at Birkbeck in 1986, where she is currently a Professor of History of Art Emerita. She was the Director of Postgraduate Studies for History of Art and was responsible for all elements of the curriculum for postgraduate research students. She was also on the Steering Group of the Birkbeck Institute of the Moving Image (BIMI). Lynda was co-founder with Patrizia di Bello of the History and Theory of Photography Research Centre at Birkbeck.

Her research has explored a wide range of issues relating to the history of British art and culture. She has been awarded funding by the Leverhulme Trust and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. She has also worked as a curator on the 2016 exhibition, 'The Fallen Woman', which was held at the Foundling Museum, London, 2016-17. Her current research project is called 'British Blonde: Women, Desire and the Image in Post-War Britain,' and from September 2024 Lynda will be Visiting Professor at the Courtauld Institute of Art.

ECR Presentations

Dr Molly Ackhurst

Molly Ackhurst joined the University of Greenwich as a Lecturer in Criminology in 2023. With over a decade of experience in sexual violence support, Molly’s work conceptualises, and reckons with, the stuckness within feminist politics around sexual violence and justice. In doing so, she contributes to a broader abolitionist feminist project that seeks to unstick from carceral systems, structures, and logics. Prior to joining Greenwich, she worked as an Associate Tutor and Lecturer at Birkbeck College and Associate Lecturer at LSBU. She holds a BA 1st Class (Hons) degree in History from the University of Warwick, an MA in Human Rights Law from SOAS, and a PGCert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education.

There exists a state of stuckness within feminist scholarship and service provision when it comes to the topic of justice after sexual violence. Defined by the urge to move forward and enact change to “get justice” for survivors, whatever that justice may be, this stuckness makes getting this justice both feel and seem impossible. With reference to feminist art, in this talk Molly Ackhurst will touch upon one part of this stuckness. This being the hostile solidarity that is produced by and through the attachment feminists have to the figure of the wounded survivor.

Dr Michiko Oki

Dr. Michiko Oki is a London-based researcher and writer in art history (Modernism and Avant-Garde Studies), critical theory and cultural anthropology. Her research explores the representation of violence and power in allegory and fiction in modern/contemporary art, culture and literature, revolving around the ‘endarkening’ imagination and its constructive effect on the human psyche and society. Her recent research explores the non-Westernised methodology of narrating avant-garde spirits/movements in non-European countries. She is currently launching a new interdisciplinary and transcultural research project, exploring the polytheistic perception of the world that remains in contemporary art and performance culture, and its hedonistic manifestation as a form of resistance, with a particular focus on Japan, Spain, and the UK. She holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and Art (University College London, 2014). She is a Senior Lecturer on the BA Performance: Design & Practice, Central Saint Martins, UAL.
https://www.michikooki.com/

In this presentation, Michiko will talk about their latest research project, which aims to explore the manifestation of the polytheistic and animistic imagination in various forms of popular cultures, religions, rituals, folklore, festivals and carnivals, and its innate characteristics of hedonism as a form of resistance and critique to the normalisation of life in the contemporary socio-political landscape. In particular, the project investigates three countries - Japan, Spain and the UK - in which the polytheistic imagination survives alongside/behind the dominant monotheistic belief system. The project is interdisciplinary and transcultural, involving UK-based artists and researchers from a wide range of disciplines and multicultural backgrounds. This presentation focuses on the first phase of the project, which involves our participation in the annual performance festival, the Shinano Primitive Sense Art Festival, which takes place in August in the forests of central Japan.

Dr Ayse Burcin Baskurt

Dr Ayse Burcin Baskurt is a chartered psychologist and senior lecturer in the Department of Professional Psychology at the University of East London (UEL). Having a background in Sociology and Comparative Studies in History and Society in her undergraduate and graduate studies, she completed her PhD degree in Social and Organisational Psychology at Koc University, Turkey. Her doctorate research concentrated on career change intentions of Millennial professionals. She also recently completed a MSc degree in Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology (MAPPCP) at UEL. Her main research, teaching and practice focus on the interrelations between gender, work, family and education, using the lenses of gender, culture and Positive Psychology. She has published research on work-family interface, career calling, wellbeing and leadership. She is currently a module leader in the MAPPCP programme, teaching Final Project module and supervising MSc and PhD dissertations. She is also delivering a psychoeducational support module in the Sparks Leadership Programme for university students in Turkey.

https://uel.ac.uk/about-uel/staff/ayse-burcin-baskurt

In her presentation, Dr Baskurt will talk about her research studies on career calling, which aimed to understand the role of social support in the relationship between career calling and wellbeing for immigrant women and the role of career calling in career change intentions of Millennial professionals.

Thank you for your interest. We understand that plans may change. If you sign up and can no longer attend let us know by emailing ecr_network@thebritishacademy.ac.uk and your ticket can be offered to someone else

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