Members and associates

STAFF

Prof Jean Webb is Professor of International Children’s Literature and IFRCL’s Director. Her research interests include international perspectives on children’s literature and English children’s literature from the 19th century through to the work of contemporary authors.

Dr Stephen Bigger is archivist of the Malcolm Saville Society and a collector of children's books, especially books written between 1930 and 1960 and those that address war and children’s experiences of war.

David Broster is Head of Division for Drama, Performance and Film and is currently researching the ideologies and aesthetics of live performance and their impacts on children and young people and their development.

Prof Judith Elkin is Professor of Children’s Literature and Deputy Vice Chancellor Emeritus. Her research interests include children’s reading and literacy and the future role of libraries in the lives of children and young people.

Piet Grobler is an award winning illustrator who teaches Illustration and Graphic Design. His research interests include editorial illustration, picture book illustration (particularly postmodernist picture books), and post-colonial commentary in picture book illustration and graphic design.

Dr Rachel Johnson is the University’s Research Librarian, with responsibility for IFRCL’s research collections. Her research interests are in 19th century children’s literature and contemporary fiction, and in local author’s locality.

Dr Mikel J Koven is a Senior Lecturer and Course Leader of Film Studies. His main research area is the study of folk-narrative and popular cinema. He is currently editing a book on global mythologies and world cinemas. A member of the Committee of the Folk-Lore Society, he is currently editor of the journal Contemporary Legend, and is president-elect of the International Society of Contemporary Legend Research (ISCLR).

Dr Barbara Mitra is Senior Lecturer in Media & Cultural Studies. Her research interests include popular culture, new media and language, photos and advertisements.  

DOCTORAL RESEARCHERS

Branwen Bingle: Who Do You Think You Are? A study of the way that primary teachers are represented in children’s fiction, and the possible link with professional identity and role conceptions for the beginning ITE student  

Kate Flynn: Constructions of the Fat Child in Jackie Magazine and British Juvenile Fiction 1960-2010  

Laura Jones: Journalism, Fiction and History in the Work of GA Henty (1832-1902)