PhD Research

We support a vibrant community of PhD researchers whose work explores comedy across diverse areas. Our doctoral researchers are central to the Centre’s research culture, contributing original scholarship, public engagement, and collaborative projects that connect academic research with industry and wider audiences.

 

Fran Riando
Fran Riando
Comedy, Humour, Working-class Culture, Television Studies, Television Industry, Cultural Inequalities, Social Justice, Comedy and Identity, Creative Labour, Gatekeeping and Access, Scriptwriting
Leily Kassai
Leily Kassai
humour/banter, masculinity, peer dynamics, mental health
Louis Marcus-Pooley
Louis Marcus-Pooley
stand-up comedy, comedy theory, ethics, freedom of speech
Peter Sharples
Peter Sharples
Performance, Disability, Comedy, Autobiography, Creative Writing, Trauma, Wellbeing, Health, Agency, Identity, Resistance, Storytelling, Lived Experience, Arts in Health
Sophie Lundberg
Sophie Lundberg
Dark comedy, Politics, Cultural sociology, Film, Crime
Vicky Proctor
Vicky Proctor
Humour, Mental Health, Creative Writing, Comedy Writing, Comic Novels

Name: Jaice Sara Titus

Research Title: Yes! And ... Between Freedom and Constraints in Improvisational Comedy

Research Keywords: Lacan; Psychoanalysis; Comedy studies; Marxism; Zizek

Links: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/25729

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaicetitus/


Name: Nicole Kypker

Research Title: Women, Comedy and Liberation: An Analysis of Representation of Second-Wave

Research Keywords: Critical Discourse Analysis; Norman Lear; Maude; The Golden Girls; Cybill

Links: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/22145

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-nicole-van-tongeren-838968381/


 Name: Christopher Molineux

Research Title: The Role of Humour in the Evolution of Hominid Cognition and the Emergence of Language

Research Keywords: Origins of language; Origins of music; Origins of art; Origins of humour

Links: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/18037

Name: Dr Rebecca Higgie

Area of research: Democratic Function of Political Satire and Comedy in Australia and Britain; funded by an Endeavour Research Fellowship; 2015-2016.

Links: https://rebeccahiggie.com.au/

Email address: rebecca.higgie@gmail.com 


Name: Dr Christelle Paré 

Area of research: International Survey of Comedy Festivals: Economic and Artistic Models, Publics and Territories; funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC); 2016-2018

Links: TBC

Email address: TBC

Name: Mateus Paul 

Home Institution: UNESP-Univ Estadual Paulista, Assis, Brazil

Visit funded by: Brazilian Higher Educational Personnel Improvement Coordination

Area of research: The Discourse of Politically Incorrect Humor in the Contemporary World

Links:

Email address:


Name: Nikita Lobanov

Home Institution: University of Bologna, Forli

Visit funded by: Self

Area of research: Language, Humor and Contemporary Political Issues: New Media and the British “Alt-right”


Name: Anastasiya Fiadotava 

Home Institution: University of Tartu

Visit funded by: Archimedes Foundation Dora Plus Scholarship

Area of research: Family Humour in Belarus: 19th Century to the Present Day

Links: https://www.etis.ee/CV/Anastasiya_Fiadotava/eng/

Email address: anastasiya.fiadotava@folklore.ee


Name: Lucy Spoliar

Home Institution: Radboud University Nijmegen

Visit funded by: Christine Mohrman Stipend 

Area of research: Representations and self-representations of Jewish and Muslim women in British TV comedies and stand-up comedy since 2010

Links: https://www.ru.nl/en/people/spoliar-a

Email address: lucy.spoliar@ru.nl