About
Melanie is a Research Officer in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Her research interests coalesce around identity/subjectivity, affect, social class, gender and marginalised communities. As a qualitative researcher she is particularly interested in psychosocial research methods and participatory approaches to research.
Her PhD thesis; Class, Motherhood and Mature Studentship: (Re)-constructing and (Re) negotiating Subjectivity drew on a range of relational psychoanalytic work. It considered the emotional/affective and unconscious elements of aspiration and motivation, and the consequences for subjectivity as working class women, and as mothers and students within the landscape of contemporary neo-liberalism.
The thesis aimed to offer nuanced understandings of aspiration, motivation and transformation as a complex psychosocial phenomena, centred around a web of intergenerational and affective practices in relation to classed relational, cultural, historical, geographical, and temporal contexts.
As a thesis it argued that; aspiration, motivation and participation in higher education needs to be understood within the context of real women’s lives and the relational and affective landscape of family, class, gender and culture if issues of aspiration are to be addressed. It contends that aspiration, motivation, participation in higher education and social mobility are complex processes containing painful aspects, conflicts and contradictions. It argued also that the way in which higher education is used by the women as a space in which to (re)-negotiate subjectivity is more complex than government agendas of social mobility take account of.
Melanie has also worked on a range of health and wellbeing research Projects at the Centre for Trials Research, Cardiff University.
More recently, Melanie’s work has focused on combatting hate visuals in communities throughout Wales using digital solutions. StreetSnap is an initiative to transform the capture, recording and intelligence gathered about hate graffiti via an app invented by Dr Lella Nouri and developed in collaboration with the Legal Innovation Lab (Wales) and Bridgend County Borough Council Community Safety Partnership through SMART Partnership Funding.
Participation, engagement and understandings of subjective lived experience is at the heart of her research practice. Melanie has published a book chapter, journal articles and research reports.