What’s your job title and how long have you been at Loughborough?

I joined Loughborough as Senior Lecturer in English and Drama in 2018, and have been Professor of Literature, Politics and Performance since 2023. I took on the role of Head of English in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities in 2024.

Tell us what a typical day in your job looks like?

Quite a few of your respondents say this, but it’s true for me too: every day really is different. As Head of Department there are usually quite a lot of meetings and emails – about both operational matters and strategic planning. This week I also delivered Part A lectures and workshops to Introduction to Drama students and finished final organisational work for a theatre trip to the Birmingham Rep for students on that module. I’ve spent time re-assigning some teaching and amending WAMS (workload allocation management system), meeting individual staff members about various matters including programme development, fellowship applications, and promotion, reading drafts of PhD work and holding supervisions, joining the Health Humanities Research Group for a planning meeting, and submitting a research funding application.

What’s your favourite project you’ve worked on?

Particularly enjoyable was a project called ‘The Good Age: Long Life, Literature and Utopianism’ (2016), which I worked on with a long-time collaborator and former colleague. I was able to bring together two research passions: literary age studies and utopian studies. The project culminated in an AHRC and British Academy Being Human festival, where we used utopian literature and theory to engage older local community members in imagining alternative futures.

I’m also having a lot of fun with a current project on old age, AI, and the uncanny in contemporary theatre. It was definitely enhanced by an invitation to participate in a VR/metaverse performance in Innsbruck, Austria, where I played the role of “Chartruse”, a small green alien!

What is your proudest moment at Loughborough?

It’s always incredibly nerve wracking when your PhD students undergo their Vivas, and absolutely fantastic when they pass.

A close second was when I heard the news a few weeks ago that I had been appointed as a sub-panellist to REF2029 UoA 27.

Which University value do you most resonate with and why?

I’d like to say ‘creative’, but many of my colleagues put me to shame on that one, so I’ll go with ‘collaborative’. I am lucky to lead a brilliant department with excellent colleagues, and I’ve enjoyed trying to develop a collaborative departmental culture.

Tell us something you do outside of work that we might not know about?

I run a few times a week, including a weekly 11-mile Sunday run with a colleague and my dog (a red fox labrador). But I guess that’s par for the course at Loughborough, so I’ll also mention that I love all kinds of cooking, baking, and fermentation, including making sourdough bread, and my own kefir and kombucha.

What is your favourite quote?

Angela Davis: “Freedom is a constant struggle.”

If you would like to feature in ‘5 Minutes With’, or you work with someone who you think would be great to include, please email Lilia Boukikova at L.Boukikova@lboro.ac.uk