In addition to the below profiles, you can see the PhD students who are affiliated with the Cultures of Disability research cluster here.
Haseeb Khan
Thesis Title: Seeking a long history of British Muslim identity in north-west England, c. 1870-1950: Converts, Sailors and Merchants
Supervisors: Professor Heather Shore and Dr Shirin Hirsch
My research seeks to understand whether British Muslim identity existed before the Rushdie Affair. Scholarship on Islam in Britain has posited that a communal, public and political British Muslim identity developed through the 1990s and early 2000s in response to events such as the Rushdie Affair, 9/11, the War on Terror and the Iraq War. I argue that distinct forms of British Muslim identity existed in Britain much earlier. This study considers British Muslim identity for different groups including converts and sailors in Liverpool, and Arab merchants in Manchester, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Shuwen Wang
Thesis Title: Giuseppe Castiglione’s Paintings: The Transmission and Transformation of European Techniques in Eighteenth-Century China
Supervisors: Dr Carl Kilcourse and Professor Jon Stobart
This research examines how Castiglione formulated a new genre of painting in the Qing court in the eighteenth century. To assess the application of European techniques and models in Castiglione’s Chinese paintings, this study identifies the influence of Milanese art—particularly the impact of Federico Borromeo’s collections—and religious education in Genoa on his horse paintings and collaborative works with local court painters. Moreover, this study illustrates how the Qianlong emperor’s tastes influenced Castiglione’s paintings by analysing Qianlong’s education. The study of Giuseppe Castiglione’s paintings not only serves as a visual reminder of the Qianlong emperor’s authority, Qing’s military power and the Manchu identity but also conveys the interplay of religion, culture, and art in Sino-European relations.
Isaac Israel Carreon III
Thesis Title: Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici and Dynastic Identity: A multi-faceted inheritance that inspired the preservation of Florence’s artistic past for its citizens
Supervisors: Dr Jonathan Spangler and Professor Catherine Fletcher
My research explores the role of Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici in shaping the preservation and display of the Medici art collection during the 18th century. I examine how her efforts to safeguard Florence’s artistic heritage aligned with Enlightenment ideals and transformed private collections into early public museums. By analyzing archival documents from the Florence State Archive, my work contextualizes the Medici approach to cultural stewardship in relation to other European dynastic collections, including those of the Farnese and Della Rovere families. My project contributes to the broader discussion of proto-museums, civic identity, and the role of women in cultural heritage preservation.
Jodie Neville
Thesis Title: Female Football Coaches: Revealing, Recording and Representing an Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Supervisors: Dr Marie Molloy and Dr Samantha Oldfield
This research explores the experiences of women involved in football coaching in the UK prior to the year 2000, with a particular focus on how memory and cultural knowledge are transmitted and preserved outside of official records. While oral history is central to the project, it also draws on a range of methodologies, including archival research, to examine the ways women’s contributions have been recorded, remembered, or overlooked. In addition to football, the research incorporates insights from women who coached in other sports, enabling a broader understanding of gendered experiences across sporting contexts. While much existing scholarship has focused on the experiences of women football players, comparatively little attention has been given to women coaches. This project seeks to redress that imbalance by foregrounding coaching as a vital, yet often invisible, site of cultural knowledge and influence. Framed through the lens of intangible cultural heritage, this research challenges dominant narratives in sport history and contributes to wider discussions in gender studies, heritage studies, and the sociology of sport.
