Dr Bethan Jones
| Biography | Bethan is currently engaged in academic research and Knowledge Exchange activities in the field of Disability (Blind) Studies. She is lead researcher for Project Insight, involving a collaboration between Hull University and the local charity 'Sight Support, Hull and East Yorkshire'. She has acquired two major grants from the Wellcome Trust for this project, which investigates and enhances the mental health of children and adolescents with visual impairments. Concurrently, she is writing a monograph entitled 'Sight Loss and the Tethered Self in 21st Century Texts'. In the context of blind studies and disability theory, this book explores the portrayal of visually impaired protagonists within recent literature and cinematic adaptations. Bethan also writes on literature and music, drawing on her expertise as a performing clarinetist and saxophonist. A recent collaboration with the American composer William Neil has resulted in new compositions and publications. This process culminated in a public recital at Hull University entitled 'Changing Altitudes' on 13 September 2022 (Bethan Jones - clarinet; William Neil - piano; Matthew Jones (Professor at Guildhall College of Music and Drama, London) - viola). The majority of Bethan's academic research has focused on the works of D.H. Lawrence, and she is an internationally renowned scholar within this field. Her monograph, The Last Poems of D H Lawrence: Shaping a Late Style (2010), was awarded a biennial prize from the D H Lawrence Society of North America. She co-edited 'The Virgin and the Gipsy and Other Stories' for Cambridge University Press (2006), was editor of the 'Journal of D H Lawrence Studies' from 2001 to 2006 and contributes regularly to international D.H. Lawrence journals, collections and conferences. |
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| PhD Supervision Availability | Yes |
| PhD Topics | Bethan welcomes PhD proposals from students intending to write on modern and / or contemporary literature. She specialises in Disability (Blind) Studies, the works of D H Lawrence, modernism and modernity, contemporary fiction, childhood trauma and the relationship between literary text and music. Completed PhDs - Sahidul Islam, Immigration in the works of Hanif Kureishi (2023) - Hassan Al-Kalo, Journeying, Self-Displacement and Conflict with the Other in Selected Works by Joseph Conrad, E. M. Forster, D. H. Lawrence and Graham Greene (2017) - Shu Zeng, Love, Power and Resistance: Representations of Chinese-Caucasian Romance in Twentieth-Century English Literature (2016) - Mamo Alo, 'I Hear Nothing, I Say Nothing': Contructions of Impotence and Ignorance in the Work of Samuel Beckett (2015) Current PhD supervisions - Kath Beal, The Arc of Disability in the Work of Wilkie Collins - Annabelle Moorman, The Representation of Carers for Disabled Children in Contemporary Fiction - Elizabeth Wright - 'The Kings of Navarre': Shakespearean Fan Fiction |