Bio
Irine is a Research Associate at the University of Wolverhampton. She joined Institute for Community Research and Development in 2022 after finishing her appointment as a visiting lecturer at the University of Wolverhampton (campus in Leicester), which she held since 2018. A professional violinist, she specialises in performance of repertoire for violin and electronics, which she has explored through her doctoral research at the University of Huddersfield. She has presented numerous premieres across Europe and North America and appeared at festivals including Huddersfield Contemporary, Borealis, Gaudeamus, and Wonderfeel. Studied with some of the most sought-after violin pedagogues as Elisabeth Perry (Utrecht Conservatoire, NL) and Ilya Kaler (DePaul University Chicago, USA), Irine is a passionate improviser and a co-founding member of the acclaimed Frame Ensemble. Irine is one of the directors of Yorkshire Sound Women Network and chairwoman of Norwegian-Malagasy NGO – Music Forandrer Liv.
Bio
I joined the Institute for Community Research and Development (ICRD) in November 2021. My background is in Human Geography, and I completed my PhD at the University of Liverpool in 2017. Following this I was Lecturer in the Department of Geography and Environmental Science at Liverpool Hope University before moving to the University of Exeter to work on two ESRC-funded projects exploring identity, inequality and the role of the media in Brexit-COVID-19-Britain. My research sits at the intersection of socio-cultural, economic, political and urban geographies. My PhD, entitled “The Politics of Anti-Austerity in Liverpool: A More-than-Cuts Approach”, examined anti-austerity activism and alternatives to austerity in Liverpool. The research explored how austerity was being experienced, managed and contested by a wide range of societal actors including grassroots ‘anti-austerity’ campaigns, communities, third sector organisations and the city council. More recently, my research has explored how different individuals and communities are responding to the dual processes of Brexit & COVID-19 within different field sites across England. This entails a focus on how people experience Brexit & COVID-19 with respect to their own everyday lives and the place they live as well as their wider attitudes towards social and political polarisation, inequality, immigration and multiculturalism working alongside broader media and government narratives. Drawn together, my work explores how communities in different places respond to social and political transformation. My research expertise therefore lies in identity formation, place-based politics and political contestation understood through ethnographic methodologies and participatory and co-produced research. I also have research interests in urban governance, urban regeneration, local economic development and community engagement. Through my research I have also worked with a diverse range of stakeholders outside of academia including neighbourhood, community and voluntary organisations, charities, political parties, third sector organisations and local authoritie.
Bio
Dr Mary-Rose Puttick joined the Institute for Community Research and Development (ICRD) in November 2022. Prior to joining the ICRD, Mary-Rose worked as a Research Assistant in the Centre for the Practice and Study of Culture in Education (CSPACE) at Birmingham City University on two Erasmus+ funded projects ‘Collaborative Community Mapping: exploring young people’s learning experiences during Covid-19’ (CoMAP) (2021-2023) and Open Schools Doors (2017-2019), both in partnership with Birmingham City of Sanctuary charity. She also worked on an interdisciplinary team for the ’Enhancing Teacher Education Programme’ (ETEP) funded by the Vietnamese Government-World Bank. Mary-Rose is now Principal Investigator for a British Council funded project ‘Waiting for School: exploring transitory educational provision for children and young people from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds’ and is a Research Assistant for a City of Sanctuary national evaluation project. Mary-Rose’s PhD explored family literacy provision in the third sector from the perspectives of women from refugee backgrounds, using a participatory arts-based ethnographic approach. Mary-Rose’s research activities interconnect with her voluntary experiences over the last six years spanning advocacy and teaching roles with two refugee charities, a homeless charity, and a Somali community centre. She currently volunteers as an asylum guide for a Refugee Action project.
Bio
James Rees is Reader and Deputy Director of ICRD. He joined the University in Summer 2019; prior to that he was at the Open University and also worked at the Universities of Birmingham and Manchester in a range of disciplines including Geography, Politics and Social Policy. His work is notably inter-disciplinary and is concerned with the voluntary sector in its broadest sense, but also more specifically in its relationship with current transformations in public services in the UK. At the Third Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham, he led the public service delivery programme, research from which helped set the agenda for debates on the involvement of voluntary organisations in public services. His jointly-edited collection on The Third Sector delivering Public Services was published by Policy Press in July 2016.
Bio
Dr Rachel Massie joined the Institute for Community Research and Development (ICRD) as Research Fellow in July 2018. Rachel previously worked as Research Officer in the Centre for Health and Development at Staffordshire University. Here, she worked with many vulnerable groups (including individuals living with multiple and complex needs, individuals with experience of mental distress, perpetrators of domestic abuse, and young people) and relevant stakeholders to reduce health and social inequalities and improve the health and wellbeing of the local population through translational research. Rachel completed her PhD in Paediatric Exercise Physiology at Loughborough University in 2016. This research examined dietary and physical activity compensatory behaviours in response to a longitudinal exercise training programme in adolescent girls. During this time, Rachel gained relevant experience in developing and piloting complex intervention studies, using a mixed methods research approach and evaluating intervention fidelity.
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