Who's who

Dr Jessica Templeton
Director of LSE100

Room: KSW.4.06
Tel: 020 7107 5152
Email: J.B.Templeton@lse.ac.uk

Dr Chris Blunt

Room: KSW.4.12
Email: C.J.Blunt@lse.ac.uk 

Dr Jillian Terry

Room: KSW.4.11
Email: J.A.Terry@lse.ac.uk 

Dr Alessandro Castellini

Email: A.Castellini@lse.ac.uk 

I received my PhD in Gender Studies from the Gender Institute (LSE) in 2014. My research focuses on discursive representations of maternal filicide in postwar Japan and investigates areas as diverse as media coverage, the rhetoric of the Women’s Liberation Movement in Japan and women’s literature. Before this I completed an MA in Gender Studies at SOAS University and a BA in Languages and Civilizations of the Far East at Ca’ Foscari University (Venice, Italy). My interests range from gender and motherhood studies to history and translation studies. I worked as LSE Teaching Fellow in Transnational Gender Studies at the Gender Institute. I have always been deeply committed to an interdisciplinary approach to academic research and I am delighted to see that LSE100 aims to encourage students to develop a multidisciplinary perspective.

Dr Marina Franchi (Poverty and Inequality)

Email: M.Franchi@lse.ac.uk

I completed my PhD in the LSE - Gender Institute in 2015. My research focused on Italian news media discourse on the legal recognition of de facto couples in Italy. Focusing on Italian newspapers I questioned the way in which they produce narratives that both sustain and disrupt normative notions of family and kinship. I am convinced that the analysis of news media discourse is crucial to our understanding of contemporary Italian politics of sexuality. Before this, I completed an MSc in Gender and Media at the Gender Institute and a Laurea in Political Sciences at the University of Easter Piedmont (Italy). I have worked within various EU funded projects as a junior researcher in the Department of Social Research in the Faculty of Political Sciences of Alessandria. My experiences as a researcher taught me the importance of the strong interdisciplinary approach that is at the core of LSE100.

Dr Joe Lane

Email: J.P.Lane@lse.ac.uk 

I’m a business and economic historian with a PhD from the Economic History Department at LSE. My research focuses on the organisation and evolution of historical industrial districts and clusters with specific emphasis on the roles of knowledge and innovation in determining firm behaviour. 

Alexander Mayhew

Email: A.C.Mayhew@lse.ac.uk 

I recently submitted my doctoral thesis in the Department of International History, where I was a LSE PhD Studentship holder. My thesis – Making Sense of the Western Front: English Infantrymen’s Morale and Perception of Crisis during the Great War – was supervised by Professor Heather Jones (now UCL) and Professor David Stevenson (LSE). It was awarded a prestigious international scholarship by the Historial de la Grande Guerre in 2017. My work straddles military and cultural history but is also highly interdisciplinary. It engages with a broad array of theory from anthropology, psychology, and sociology as it unpicks soldiers’ morale. Broadly, my research looks to understand combatant’s mentalities and explores how their environment (social, physical, and psychological) informed their frames of reference and conditioned their perceptions of crisis. My other research interests include national identity. I completed my undergraduate degree at King’s College, London, where I won the Brewer Prize for Modern History in 2013. Before embarking on my PhD, I was on the management fast-stream of an international travel company and also interned for the Royal United Services Institute, a military/foreign affairs think tank. I have previously taught HY226: The Great War, 1914-1918, but moved to LSE100 in 2016.

Dr Maria Norris (Crime and Punishment) 

Email: M.C.Norris@lse.ac.uk 

I hold a PhD on UK counter-terrorism strategy from the European Institute at the LSE. Broadly speaking, my research interests include nationalism, security, terrorism, citizenship, gender, immigration and human rights. Outside of academia, I am interested in ballet, comics, Tottenham Hotspur and science fiction.

Marta Wojciechowska

Email: M.Wojciechowska@lse.ac.uk 

I am in a final year of PhD at the Government Department, LSE. My work is interdisciplinary and aims to create better, more democratic and equal cities. Within the LSE100 I am responsible for the design and delivery of the module ‘What is the Future of Democracy? A Case Study of Social Change’. From the academic year 2018/19 onwards I will be a part of the team responsible for equality and diversity mainstreaming within the course. Before joining LSE100, I was teaching at the University College London and King's College London. Beyond teaching I have a diverse research experience in European, urban and educational affairs.

Dr Sarah Ashraf

Email: S.Ashraf2@lse.ac.uk

I have a very varied background both academically and professionally. Having worked in the sectors of human resources, technology, not-for-profit and corporate social responsibility, I am now focusing on counter-terrorism and public policy. Within academia I have a Bachelors degree in International Relations from Sussex University, a Masters degree in Theory and History of International Relations and am now near the end of my PhD with the department of International History at the LSE. My PhD looks at the 'Rise of the Praetorian Military System and its Relationship to Islamist Militancy in Pakistan.' My current research interests therefore focus on militant Islamism, counter-terrorism and associated public policy. I have enjoyed teaching LSE100 for several years, particularly its interdisciplinary aspects, and look forward to challenging the next cohort of bright minds here at the LSE.

Dr Emmanuelle Blanc

Email: e.blanc1@lse.ac.uk

I am in the final year of my PhD in international relations at LSE. My research looks at the EU foreign policy and examines the practice of political dialogues in the specific context of the transatlantic relations. My work is highly inter-disciplinary as it draws from socio-psychology and communication studies. At LSE, I have taught Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) in the Department of International Relations for several years. Before coming to LSE, I completed an M.A. in International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel and worked in a think tank related to security issues in the Middle East. 

Dr Rosie Coffey

Email: R.S.Coffey@lse.ac.uk 

I passed my PhD in International History (LSE) in November 2015.  My thesis was entitled ‘The British Press, British Public Opinion and the End of Empire in Africa, 1957-60’.  It examined the relation between British newspaper coverage of Africa and the process of decolonisation.  It is the first broad study of the role of the British press in, and in relation to, Africa at the end of empire and spans three regions.  It underscores the significance of British newspapers, journalists and editors to politicians and the public in Britain and Africa.  Further, the thesis offers a reassessment of the view that the broader British low political and cultural context to the end of empire was extraneous to the process; and presents a ‘different’ (non-official) history of decolonisation as seen through the eyes of the press.  This academic year, in addition to teaching LSE100, I am teaching in the International History Department on the course entitled ‘From Empire to Independence: The Extra-European World in the Twentieth Century’. In 2014, I won the LSE Student Union Student-led Teaching Excellence Award for Excellent Feedback and Communication and shared the International History Department’s Martin Abel Gonzalez Prize for graduate teaching assistants.

Sarah Correia

Email: S.M.Correia@lse.ac.uk

I am a PhD candidate at the LSE's Department of Government. My main research interests are the relationship between memory and identity from a political perspective, with a particular focus on the experience of violence; ethnic cleansing and genocide. My doctoral thesis is a political ethnography focusing on the case of the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Based on one year of fieldwork, I explored the inter-relations between public and private aspects of collective memory, as the residents of a town in the 'entity' of Republika Srpska struggle to make sense of the transformation their country, and themselves experienced. Before joining LSE100, I have taught 'Theories and Problems of Nationalism' at the LSE's Department of Government; I am passionate about education as an intersubjective exercise which will expand not only the students' knowledge but also their realm of possibilities, whilst also enriching the teacher's life experience.

Emily Cousens

I completed both my BA (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) and MA (Women’s Studies) at The University of Oxford. In 2015 I was awarded a PhD studentship to undertake my PhD in Philosophy at Oxford Brookes University. My doctoral thesis explores Feminism and the Politics of Vulnerability. It interrogates and historicises the notable absence of sexual violence as a theme in the recent vulnerability literature and argues for a renewed conceptualisation of vulnerability which can illuminate the emergent ‘sexual politics’ discourse articulated by the MeToo Movement. I am a dedicated lecturer and have extensive teaching experience. In 2017 I updated and delivered both the Feminist Philosophy module at The University of Hertfordshire and the Sex, Gender and Politics module at Oxford Brookes University. I was awarded teaching award at Oxford Brookes on the back of nominations by students. From September I will be teaching on the Women’s Studies Master’s at The University of Oxford. My academic career has been characterised by interdisciplinarity and so I am a great supporter of LSE100 where students can learn from the diverse knowledge bases and perspectives of their peers. I hope to be able to bring the interdisciplinary insights and nuanced approaches of feminist theory to bear on some of the debates and discussions.

Jacqueline Gibbs

Email: J.N.Gibbs@lse.ac.uk

I will be submitting my PhD with the Department of Gender Studies at LSE in September 2018. My doctoral research explored the concept of vulnerability in relation to gender, disability, illness, citizenship, and the nation in the context of recent UK welfare policies. My interdisciplinary project approaches queer and gender theory, feminist disability studies, cultural studies, sociology, political science and philosophy in its analysis, and employs critical discourse and cultural analysis methods. Prior to joining the Department of Gender Studies at LSE, I completed an MA in Gender, Media and Culture at Goldsmiths University, London, and a Bachelor of Arts (hons) in Political Science and Sociology at the Australian National University, Canberra. I have previously worked as a policy researcher for an advocacy organisation, and taught with the Department of Gender Studies on the core MSc module.

Dr Athanasios Gkoutzioulis

Email: A.Gkoutzioulis@lse.ac.uk

I hold an MA in Politics and International Relations from the University of Cambridge and a PhD from Kings College of London. I acquired professional experience not only in academia but also in the military and the corporate sphere. I currently teach at the LSE 100 course, whereas in the past I extensively taught at King's College London, Birbeck, SOAS and the University of Buckingham as a Lecturer in the field of politics and international relations. I was an exchange research fellow at the National University of Singapore, where I focused on Southeast Asian Studies and the current sociopolitical affairs of the region. Outside academia I worked for Weber Shandwick, focusing on the field of public affairs and corporate communications.

Dr Joanne Kalogeras

Email: J.Kalogeras@lse.ac.uk

After a career in software development, I received my MSc and then PhD from LSE’s Gender Institute in 2014 under the supervision of Professors Anne Phillips and Clare Hemmings. My doctoral thesis, entitled “Troubling Cosmopolitanism”, develops a critical cosmopolitan theory that relies on an intersubjective approach. My research involves integrating the normative moral philosophy and political theory theories with more critical approaches from feminist, gender, queer, and postcolonial theorists on cosmopolitanism’s primary components: autonomy, universality, and anti-nationalism. It is highly interdisciplinary, which is a perspective I bring to all my teaching. I have taught several courses in LSE’s Sociology Department, LSE Groups, and at the University of Westminster and King’s College London. My work is informed by many years of LGBTQI, feminism, and disability rights activism.

Dr Patrick  Kimunguyi

Email: P.P.Kimunguyi@lse.ac.uk

Dr Aura Lehtonen

Email: a.c.lehtonen@lse.ac.uk

I completed my PhD at the LSE Department of Gender Studies in 2018, focusing on the role of sexuality and intimacy in the political and cultural formations of austerity in the UK since 2010. My research and background are strongly interdisciplinary, and my broader research interests include welfare and immigration policy, the state, politics of work, epistemologies of sexuality, and cultural studies. I hold an MSc in Gender from the LSE and a BA in Politics and Chinese from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Previously I have taught both undergraduate and postgraduate courses at the LSE Gender and Sociology Departments, as well as acted as a guest lecturer on courses both within and outside the LSE.

Dr Rahoul Masrani

Email: R.B.Masrani@lse.ac.uk 

I received my PhD from the LSE Department of Media & Communications in 2016. My research is interdisciplinary, blending media studies, sociology, film studies, urban studies and urban geography. I currently teach on the Research Methods course in the Department of Media & Communications, where I also supervise MSc students as they complete their dissertations. I have a great deal of enthusiasm for the multidisciplinary approach of LSE100, where students can draw from one another’s wide range of expertise to enhance and formulate their own perspectives on the world. 

Dr Magdalena Mikulak

Email: m.mikulak@lse.ac.uk

In September 2017, I completed my PhD in Gender Studies at LSE. My doctoral thesis examines the ways processes of neoliberalisation impact upon the politics of sexuality in contemporary Poland. With empirical focus on the Polish LGBT movement, Christian LGBT organising and reparative therapy, my doctoral project is interdisciplinary, bringing together insights from gender and sexuality studies, sociology and study of religions. I also hold a BA in Study of Religions and an MA in Contemporary Religions from University College Cork, Ireland. 

I am an editor for Engenderings, the Department of Gender Studies' blog. My research interests include, but are not limited to, sexualities, neoliberalism, LGBTQ activism, class, Central and Eastern Europe, social change and social movements.

Dr Rian Mulcahy

Email: r.mulcahy1@lse.ac.uk

To follow.

Priyanka Pandey

Email: p.pandey1@lse.ac.uk

I completed both my MSc (Management Information Systems and Innovation) and MPhil (Information Systems) at the LSE. I am currently in the final year of my PhD (Management and Information Systems) at Royal Holloway. My research looks at the social implications of technology on rural health worker management in developing countries. It engages with a broad array of theory from technology, management and development studies. I am trying to understand how the use of mHealth technologies is affecting the way the health worker now collects health data and delivers the prescribed health services within rural areas. Do mHealth technologies enhance and improve the role of the health worker? If so, then how? I am a dedicated lecturer and have extensive teaching experience. I have been teaching market economics to postgraduates at Queen Mary University. I have also been teaching a variety of management modules at the LSE summer school for the past 2 years and now looking forward to teaching the LSE 100 to bright young LSE undergraduates!

Dr Michiel van Ingen

Email: M.Van-Ingen@lse.ac.uk 

Michiel van Ingen is a Graduate Teacher on the LSE100 course. His doctoral thesis – which was funded by Loughborough University – was concerned with the philosophical underpinnings of the conflict studies literature. More specifically, it drew on critical realism in order to address the philosophical, methodological, and social theoretical controversies and dualisms which currently both divide this discipline and impede its development. Previously he spent 6.5 years as a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Westminster’s Department of Politics and International Relations.

For general enquires regarding LSE100 please email: lse100@lse.ac.uk 

For enquires related to assessment on LSE100 please email: lse100.assessment@lse.ac.uk

Simon Jolly

Email: s.jolly@lse.ac.uk

Course Manager

Christina Ogunwumiju

Email: c.ogunwumiju@lse.ac.uk

LSE100 Assessment Manager

Peta Ellis

Email: a.p.ellis@lse.ac.uk

Communications & Educational Projects Manager

Fatima Jeetoo

Email: f.jeetoo@lse.ac.uk

Course Administrator