BCMCR Event Series – BCMCR Early PGR Showcase

BCMCR invites you to the research event ‘BCMCR Early PGR Showcase’.

Date: 19 March 2025 | Time: 16:00PM – 18:00PM UK TIME

Place: Parkside Building, P131 / Online via MS Teams

Tickets Available: In-Person/Online

This will be a hybrid event – for those who will be on campus please join us in P131, where refreshments will be served. Alternatively, please sign up to ensure you receive the link for MS Teams.

Event Bio:

As the PgCert in Research Practice has recently concluded for the September intake of new PGRs in the College of English and Media, we are delighted to have a selection of these new early Postgraduate Researchers join us for a research showcase. They will discuss their individual projects, providing potential new insights into research, and we hope this event will highlight the breadth of new research being performed in Birmingham City University. The event will run for one hour followed by a 30-minute Q&A session, with the remaining 30 minutes for socialising. 

Presenter Bios:

Andrew Bell is a Midlands4Cities PhD researcher, conducting their doctoral study within the College of English & Media.  His project explores queer modes of game design, with a particular focus on the avatar and the opportunities presented by crossing, or eroding, the monster-non-monster divide. Their work engages in game-making as research, utilising practical techniques developed within a commercial game development setting. Andrew graduated from Norwich University of the Arts with a BA in Visual Studies in 2009 and Brunel University London with an MA in Digital Games: Theory and Design in 2012, forming a creative practice at the intersection of fine art, game design and research.

Uttaran Das Gupta is an Indian writer and journalist, and currently, a first-year PhD student in Media and Culture Studies at Birmingham City University. He has worked for more than 10 years as a journalist in India and continues to write for Indian and international publications. His journalism has been recognised by the Robert Bosch India-Germany Media Fellowship in 2018 and the Chevening South Asia Journalism Fellowship in 2019. He has also published a book of poems (Visceral Metropolis, 2017) and a novel (Ritual, 2020). He was a resident at the Sangam House International Writers’ Residency in 2016. His PhD research focusses on art and culture festivals in urban spaces.

Having played saxophone from a young age Peter Newton has been involved in many different musical ensembles covering a multitude of different styles and this is where their interest in music began. They are currently a PhD researcher at BCU looking at the musical contributions of Jeff Lynne. They graduated from Nottingham Trent university with a 1st Class honours degree in music performance where they were able to start my academic interest in Lynne. They then graduated again from Nottingham Trent University with a master’s degree in creative technology. Having always been a huge fan of music since a young age they were then keen to continue my journey in discovering why music has so many wonderful effects on people and researching their favourite artists, this led them to BCU and trying to understand the impact of Jeff Lynne.

Lerelle Willden-Lewis is currently in the first year of her PhD research. Her main research interests are cultural studies, social psychology, sexual racism, queer studies and discrimination. Her doctoral research focuses on the marginalised queer population and explores dating platforms and discrimination experienced within these online spaces. Alongside her studies she is a research assistant on the “That’s Me” project, a foster carer and a parent.