School of Social and Political Science

Background

My research explores the socio-legal regulation of women's bodies, the politics of knowledge production (particularly as it relates to policy making) and feminist utopianism. I have expertise in sex-work, violence against women and girls, reproductive governance, social and political theory, critical discourse analysis, and utopia as method. 

At present, I am pursuing two research agendas concurrently. The first explores the reproductive politics of UK fiscal policy, particularly the controversial 'two-child limit' and its non-consensual conception exception, i.e. the rape clause. As part of this work, I am undertaking BA/Leverhulme funded research that critically evaluates how eligibility for the rape clause is certified in practice. The second explores the promise of radical utopianism as it relates to the production of feminist social policy. As part of this work, myself and colleagues have formulated an innovative methodological approach, which brings together critical policy analysis and utopia as method in the hopes of producing exciting new forms of speculative knowledge. See here for more details. 

I am a member of the GENDER.ED core team, and lead the 'Gender and Sexuality Studies Reading Group', a multidisciplinary network of gender and sexuality scholars who meet regularly to discuss canonical and cutting edge texts. 

I hold a PhD in Social Policy from the University of Edinburgh and I am a qualified (non-practicing) barrister in the jurisdiction of England and Wales.