About my current job
I actually have a number of roles currently, which is in line with how I've always worked (a hybrid academic - someone who has one foot in academia and one foot in a related profession). My main role is as an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education at Exeter University, leading the MA Education Creative Arts Programme though which I get to teach (and be inspired by) arts educators and academics from across the world, who then go on to fight for arts education and make a real difference through their practice and research in their home countries. I also lead the Creativity and Emergent Educational futures Research Network, co-convene the British Educational Research Association Creativities Special Interest Group, and am an Associate Editor of the Thinking Skills and Creativity journal. I also have an Adjunct Associate Professor role at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences which focuses on arts education. The rest of my 'hybrid' activities involve me as a Dance in Devon board member, a dance artist with Devon-based Dancelab Collective, and being a mum to my two children.
How did my education influence my career path?
My education in EP was just the beginning of a string of experiences that inform what I now do. I took what I learned during my undergrad and actually decided I needed to take a break and get a different perspective on the world, as EP was perhaps not the whole picture. So, I went to train in contemporary dance at London Contemporary Dance School (I'd always danced including having my own dance company whilst at Oxford) and then went on to work professionally as a dance artist/educator for around 5 years. But the academic in me wasn't going away, so I looked for an MA course which would allow me to integrate my EP learning with my passion for dance, and indeed education. I enrolled on the Laban Centre London MA in Dance Studies and after one module quickly converted to an MPhil, and then upgraded to PhD study. I completed in 2006 and went on to work as a freelance educational researcher focused on creativity and arts in education - still combining my EP skills with my understanding of arts, education and creativity from my PhD.
In 2012, I took on my first role as a Lecturer in Education at Exeter University; I have since worked my way up to my current post as Associate Professor, continually merging research/arts/creativity and education skills and knowledge, still dancing with Dance Lab Collective, and trying to work to benefit teachers and students in all sorts of education settings.
Do you have a lesson or advice that you'd give to current students/researchers at EP?
Stay true to what you're passionate about - there are jobs out there that you don't even know exist, and actually you can make your own job and career. Don't feel you have to stick to the obvious choices immediately in front of you around graduation. That point in your life is the best time to take a risk, when you probably have no dependents, or financial ties. See what you can make of the world, what you can give back, and go about it with kindness and respect. And perhaps most importantly stay balanced. Your family and friends - whatever relationships sustain you - are as vital to your success and happiness as your professional life.
