Research

My main research interest lies in the analysis of figurative language production to provide insights into physical, psychological and social experiences, with a current focus on the experience of grief and bereavement.

From 2016-2018, I was a postdoctoral research fellow on the ESRC-funded project ‘Death Before Birth’. This project explored socio-legal intersections of decision-making processes in the experiences of miscarriage, termination, and stillbirth and investigates the ways in which the bereaved communicate their choices to those around them, with a particular focus on their use of metaphor and metonymy. This project led to a number of academic outputs which can be accessed via my ‘Publications‘ page, and informed training materials for midwives and funeral directors.

From 2018-c.2021, I was Co-Investigator on a project funded by the True Colours Trust, investigating communication with parents and carers who had lost a child. As well as a range of academic outputs, this project led to the creation of CPD materials for the National Association of Funeral Directors, and the delivery of a workshop for the UK Humanists Association.

I am currently part of the PERINAT project, based at the University of Lille, which explores effective care and communication following pregnancy loss in the French context.

I am also involved in a range of projects in collaboration with researchers at the University of Birmingham examining the use of figurative language in various contexts, including:

• The use of metaphor by synaesthetes;
• The use of metaphor by senior members of the UK Civil Service (in collaboration with the Birmingham Business School);
• The use of embodied metaphor and gesture in religious testimonials;
• The use of metaphorical thinking in children’s understanding of mathematics and music (in collaboration with Northumbria University).