Research groups

Staff in English Literature and Creative Writing are involved in four research initiatives:

• The Centre for Iris Murdoch Studies
• The Centre for Life Narrative Studies
• The Centre for Suburban Studies
• Victorian Popular Fiction Association
• Collaboration with Historic Royal Palaces

The Centre for Iris Murdoch Studies

Launched in 2004, the Centre was set up to oversee research into the Iris Murdoch archives acquired by Kingston University in 2003/4. These archives currently comprise:

• Iris Murdoch's Oxford library (over 1,000 volumes, many of them heavily annotated by Murdoch)
• Documents and materials collected by Peter Conradi when research his biographical study of Iris Murdoch
• Part of Iris Murdoch's London library
• Various letter runs and documents donated by well-wishers

Peter Conradi is consultant to the archives and Dr. Anne Rowe, Senior Lecturer in English, is Director of the Centre.

Please see the Centre for Iris Murdoch Studies website for further information about Iris Murdoch and Centre activities, including conferences, research publications and postgraduate research into the life and work of Iris Murdoch.

The Centre for Life Narrative Studies

Launched in 2006, the Centre for Life Narrative Studies (CLN) brings together a variety of disciplines that produce and analyse life narratives in order to define and promote best practice in the production of and reflection upon all genres of life narrative work.

CLN is a meeting place for those producing life narratives in various forms (such as memoirists, biographers, witnesses, documentary film-makers, bloggers, journalists, visual artists etc.) and for those who analyse and reflect on such narratives (arts critics, academics, trainee researchers, interested members of the local community). By fostering debate and discussions among critics and practitioners, CLN seeks to initiate research projects centred on the experience, methodology, formats and meanings of life narratives across written, visual, and virtual cultures.

Dr. Meg Jensen is the Director of CLN and researchers involved in the centre's activities include internal Kingston University Staff from both the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the Faculty of Art and Design as well as a number of visiting and external researchers and research associates.

Please see the Centre for Life Narrative Studies website for further information about activities, conferences, publications and research opportunites.

The Centre for Suburban Studies

Launched in 2004, the Centre for Suburban Studies is directed by Professor Goldsworthy, who was awarded an HEFCE-funded Promising Young Researcher Fellowship in connection with this initiative.

The Centre has strong links with the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL) and the Kingston University Centre for Local History.

Please see the Centre for Suburban Studies website for further information about activities, including conferences, research projects and publications.

Victorian Popular Fiction Association

The Victorian Popular Fiction Association has been established to offer a regular forum for the dissemination and, hopefully, publication of the vast amount of research currently being done on Victorian popular fiction.

Please see the Victorian Popular Fiction Association website for further information about Centre activities, conferences, publications and research opportunites.

Collaboration with Historic Royal Palaces (Hampton Court Palace)

Staff in English Literature and Drama collaborate with Hampton Court Royal Palace in various research projects; this collaboration has been marked by a number of events, including:

• The Fourth International Tudor Symposium held at Kingston University and Hampton Court Palace in 2004
• A series of public lectures held in the Great Hall at Hampton Court in 2004 on the theme of Drama and Debate. Lectures were given by: Professor Brian Cummings ('Luck in Hamlet'); Professor Nigel Smith ('The art of the Protectorate'); Professor Patrick Collinson ('The Hampton Court Conference'); Professor Andrew Hadfield ('Shakespeare and Republicanism')
• An international conference entitled 'Tudors and Stuarts in Film' held in September 2005
• An international conference entitled 'New Perspectives on Mary Tudor' held in September 2006

A major conference on women and history is planned for 2008.

In September 2006 the Unit was awarded a three-year joint grant for 2007-10 with Historical Royal Palaces under the Knowledge Transfer Partnership Scheme (KTP) through the Department of Trade and Industry. The grant provides £170,502 funded equally by the AHRC and Historic Royal Palaces. Much of this is being used to employ Suzanna Lipscombe, a post-doctoral researcher, as the KTP associate; she will work with the Curatorial team at Hampton Court Palace to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the accession of Henry VIII in 2009. The funding also pays for 10% of the salary and associated expenses for Dr. Erica Longfellow, who will supervise Lipscombe's research into representations of daily life at Hampton Court during Henry's reign. The partnership will result in a number of publications, a major international academic conference, and significant contributions to exhibitions, multimedia displays and web resources.

Please see the Historic Royal Palaces website for further information about the collaboration.