Rosie Hughes

Performing the 'Rural' Through Materialities: Thinking Critically about Cars
Supervisors: Dr. Matt Watson and Professor Peter Jackson
Funded by Economic and Social Research Council (1+3) Studentship

Education

MA Human Geography Research, University of Sheffield (2009) Distinction
BA Geography, University of Sheffield (2008) First Class

Research

Building on my MA thesis, entitled Consuming (in) the Countryside: Ramblers' Narratives, my doctoral research seeks to explore performances of engaging with countryside space. The research considers how things intervene in peoples' engagements with the countryside, following one particular materiality – the car. I explore how the car both provides a means to access rural space whilst simultaneously shaping how that space is (at least initially) encountered. Critically, my research aims to develop understandings about the social, material and imaginative relations embedded uses of rural space.

Research interests

• Rural geographies
• Performance
• Consumption geographies, particularly around Material Cultures and Theories of Practice
• Landscape theory, particularly Landscape Phenomenology
• Mobilities, particularly theories of walking and driving
• Creative qualitative methodologies

Funding Awards

• ESRC 1+3 Studentship Competition Award (2008)
  Chosen as the Department of Geography's entrant (successful)
• University of Sheffield Part Scholarship (2008)
  Awarded for Masters Course (forfeited as other funding secured)

Teaching Experience

• GEO163 Information and Communication Skills for Geographers (Spring Semester, 2010)
  For this module I work with first-year students in small tutorial groups to advise them on their chosen topic for a presentation project
• GEO264 Research Design in Human Geography (Spring Semester, 2010)
  I was a workshop tutor for sessions that aimed to develop the students' research design skills
• GEO265 Research Design in Human Geography (Autumn Semester, 2009)
  For this second-year module I was a tutor working with a group of around 20 undergraduate students. For a series of five one-hour workshops I facilitated discussion between students on pre-given topics to support the material explored in their lectures.
• GEO363 Social Geography of Europe (Autumn Semester, 2009)
  I provided assistance for this third-year undergraduate module for a workshop on presentation skills

Contact Details

Address: D5, Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, Winter Street, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
Tel: +44 (0)114 222 7973
Fax: +44 (0)114 222 7907
Email: r.emeny@sheffield.ac.uk