Staff profile

Professor Katharine Cox


She/her

Head of the School of Humanities and Journalism

ORCiD ID

0000-0003-4434-0886

Email

k.cox2@derby.ac.uk

About

I am Professor of English and Contemporary Culture and Head of the School of Humanities & Journalism at the University of Derby. 

I have a strong record of translating Higher Education policy into strategy and practice as it relates to the Humanities and vocational subjects. I enjoy developing and empowering the individuals and teams I work with to strive for excellence in teaching, research, and external engagement, and place an emphasis on an excellent student and community experience. 

I have overseen a number of key projects in Higher Education including the development of industry-defining degrees developed with external stakeholders. I particularly enjoy the co-creation and interdisciplinary elements of my role and working with local and international partners to develop and implement an applied curriculum. 

My teaching responsibilities are typically in the area of contemporary literature and culture. In addition, I work closely with colleagues from Careers and Employability to ensure our students are confident and ready for their career journeys. 

Research interests

I research ideas of boundaries in contemporary text, primarily in literary studies. My research focuses on engagements with structure, from architecture to skin surface, across a range of genres, including work on sf, film, children’s literature and detective narratives.  An exploration of ‘textual architexture’ informs most of my work to date.

Most recently with Professor Dinusha Mendis, and Dr Rafaelle Nicolson, I have convened an interdisciplinary tennis research group combining the disciplines of Law, Journalism, Technology, Humanities, and Sports to explore the potential transformation of the sports post-match press conference. We are finalising an article entitled: 'Smashed rackets and broken press conferences: Tennis athletes’ voice in light of new media and immersive technologies'.   

I welcome PhD applications in the area of contemporary literature and culture. 

Membership of professional bodies

Selected memberships include - 

University English (2010-present): University English is the main professional body for the English subject community. I have been Deputy Vice-Chair  (2015-17), Secretary (2017-18), and member of the Executive Committee (2012-2018). My work for University English focussed on the co-ordination of the organisation’s OGM, and the co-ordination and delivery of the networking event for Heads of Department and Subject Leaders at the organisation’s AGM.

I have held various external examiner appointments including:

International experience

International highlights include Visiting Professor positions at Zagreb University (May) and Delhi University (Feb 2019), and interdisciplinary international co-creation projects with Annie Watson , Dr Chris Jones, Professor Sunita Toor, Wordlife and students.  I have also undertaken Quality Assurance exercises in Higher Education through partnership in Sri Lanka, and Erasmus exchange in Germany. 

Croatia Filmpoem: European Festival of the Short Story. Modelling interdisciplinary research practice that underpins Wordlife’s International Literature Showcase (funded by the British Council), this interdisciplinary cross-Faculty trip supported students to create their own filmpoems on the theme of relationships. 

Justice for Women and Girls panel at Jaipur Literature Festival, Humanities organiser on  Professor Sunita Toor's project. Justice for Her targets justice for women and girls, with the aim of combatting gender-based violence in India. Commissioned filmpoem and sponsored panel at JLF, January 2019.  

Montreal Filmpoem: Mile End Poets’ Festival. Modeling interdisciplinary research practice that underpins Wordlife’s International Literature Showcase (funded by the British Council), this interdisciplinary cross-Faculty trip will support students to create their own filmpoems on the theme of landscape.

In the media

Selected highlights include: 

Recent publications

Conference

Edited Collection

Books Chapters