PhD students

We have a number of PhD students studying in the Centre.

Becoming Ourselves Online: disabled transgender identity construction and intersection through social media. Using a qualitative interview-diary method, this research seeks to understand how transgender disabled people navigate online spaces and use social media in their daily lives to develop their identities, community and relationships to their bodies. Disabled and transgender people’s social media use have mainly been investigated in silos. However this research will investigate the intersectional ways in which transgender disabled people create meaning of their lived experience through interactions online. Twitter: @CJHResearch; Instagram: @CJHResearch; Facebook: @CJHResearch; YouTube: CJHResearch

Taoyuan Luo (she/her)

I have a BA in Journalism from Guangxi University and MA Cultural and Creative Industries from Cultural Media and Creative Industries, King’s College London. Before I started my PhD in October 2019 in CIGS, I worked as an intern journalist in Xinhua News Agency (Guangxi Branch) and People Daily (Guangxi Branch) in China. My research interests are primarily located in gender studies, attempting to explore the interrelationship of feminist theory, popular culture, mediated texts, youth, and identification. My PhD topic is 'Identification or alienation: a study of Chinese young women’s attitudes towards feminism'. If you have any interests in my research areas, please contact me via my university email (sstl@leeds.ac.uk) or my Twitter account at @TaoyuanL.

Qiqi Huang

I am a PhD student of Gender Studies in the School of Sociology and Social Policy. I have a background in feminist literature, literature theory and theatre studies. My current research focus on the intersections of feminism, social media, Chinese women, and cultural studies. My PhD thesis is about how feminism travels via social media from the West to China and different powers behind traveling feminism and digital feminism’s backlash. Outside of my PhD, I love cooking and I am also a catholic.

Rebecca Simmons

I am currently undertaking a PhD in Gender Studies in the school of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Leeds. My thesis is focussed on exploring the multiplicitous experiences of queer people who have experienced menopause, and how this interacts with their experience of their body, gender and sexuality. I have a BSc in Criminology and Psychology from Royal Holloway, University of London, and an MA in Gender, Violence and Conflict from the University of Sussex. My research interests include gender theory, queer theory, intersectional feminism, embodiment and corporeality, postfeminism, menopause, neoliberalism, sex work and pornography.

Faiza Tayyab

faiza

I hold an MA in Sociology and an MPhil in Women’s Studies from University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. My areas of interest include Feminist Theories, Gender based Violence, and Minority women’s rights. My PhD project focuses on women’s perceptions and experiences of domestic violence residing in the rural and urban settings of the Punjab Province, Pakistan. For further details regarding my PhD project, you can read more here. I have also published articles on the issue of gender-based violence in Pakistan (See here and here). I am on twitter as @fwaseem

Xingyi Li

I am originally from China. I completed my bachelor’s degree in journalism at the Yan’an University in China. During my BA degree, I studied in media and communication and worked at TikTok aftergraduating. During 2021-2022, I completed my MA Society, Culture and media at the University of Leeds. In this time, I had the opportunity to learn about sociology and combined media theory with sociological theory. My master dissertation was understanding a woman’s journey of becoming using The Queen’s Gambit through the lens of feminism. This research established my interest in sociology and gender study. In October 2022, I started my PhD at the University of Leeds with Professor Ruth Holliday and Dr Li Sun.

David En

My name is David. I started my first degree (Law with Journalism) at the University of Chester in 2008, finishing the degree with a credit transfer to the Open University where I studied courses on social psychology and political theory. I studies my MA at the University of Leeds, graduating in 2017. Since then, I started my PhD in October 2018 and recently finished guest editing a journal special issue for the first time (See here).

Sel Lee

I completed my undergraduate degree in Clothing and Textile and History of Art at Ewha womans University in South Korea. After a few years of experience including working as a fashion designer, staying in the US and working in Malaysia, I decided to go back to school. Consequently, I earned a MA in Area Studies after studying in Yonsei University in South Korea.

Eleanor Craig

My PhD research aims to explore the sexual abuse of children and child sexual abuse prevention methods, drawing on victims’ and survivors’ experiences. I am looking to identify why child sexual abuse prevention methods are not working for some children and what can be done to increase their effectiveness. There is a considerable amount of research available exploring the efficacy of CSA prevention methods but little research involving actual victims’ and survivors’ perspectives on the subject, an omission which my research aims to rectify.

Georgina Trace

I am currently a PhD student in the School of Sociology and Social Policy with connections to Work and Employment Relations within the Busness School. My research explores the experiences and working practices of young women and non-binary people selling sexual content on digital platforms like OnlyFans, AdultWork, Streamate, ManyVids, e.t.c.

My research takes an interdisciplinary approach, focusing on the material realities affecting digital platform workers, sex workers and content creators, alongside analysing the multiplicity of discourses that frame the experiences and subjectivities of these workers.

My main research interests include: gender, feminisms, popular culture, digital platform work, sex work, neoliberalism, digital consumer practices, self-presentation and the body.

Andi Misbahul Pratiwi

I am a young feminist scholar and activist with a specialization in gender issues in contemporary Indonesia. I have served as an editor for the Indonesia Feminist Journal for over six years and have conducted extensive research on a variety of topics, including gender, technology, environment, and social policy. In 2021, I joined the National Commission on Violence against Women, where I have been actively involved in advocating for gender-responsive policies at the national level. Additionally, I am a member of the Gender Research Centre at the University of Indonesia. I hold a Bachelor's degree in Informatics Engineering from Gunadarma University, which I obtained in 2015. In 2018, I received a Master's degree in Gender Studies from the University of Indonesia. During my Master's studies, I focused on aspects related to feminist science and technology studies, with a particular emphasis on the experiences of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education in Indonesia and how feminist theory critiques the process and product of technology as patriarchal culture and space. For my doctoral program, I am focusing on the intersection of gender, sexuality, technology, and climate change in the Global South, with a specific emphasis on the status of fisherwomen in the midst of the climate crisis era in Indonesia, specifically in the Central Java and South Sulawesi provinces. I will use a feminist-creative approach and method to explore the life experiences of fisherwomen and women in coastal communities across generations, and how they think, use, and produce various forms of technology to adapt with the multiple impacts of climate change. This research will not only add to our understanding of how marginalized communities, particularly women, are affected by climate change but also how they are utilizing technology to adapt and survive.

Raden Hariyani Susanti

Supervisors: Dr. Sharon Elley and Professor Yasmin Hussain

My academic journey began with a love for literature, where I explored the depths of authors' intentions during my bachelor's and master's degrees. As I immersed myself in various literary works, I became increasingly aware of pressing societal issues, particularly those concerning women and the environment. This awareness fueled my transition to sociology for my Ph.D., where I focus on unraveling the complexities of Modesty Culture and Rape Culture in Islamic Communities through an Intersectional Analysis.

Research interests:

I'm deeply passionate about intersectional feminism and its implications for understanding and addressing societal inequalities.

Qualifications:

- MA Literature (M.Hum.) from Universitas Indonesia (2016-2018)

- BA Literature (S.S.) from Brawijaya University, IIndonesia (2012-2016)