My research interests centre around the cultures of storytelling and narrative structure. My PhD is in Creative Writing and is practice research, requiring me to write a novel, in part about Gertrude Bell, as well as a thesis, allowing both to influence and shape the other. My PhD title is 'Longing to Belong: an investigation into the potential for alternative storytelling techniques, in particular from the Middle East, to challenge narrative imperialism in the contemporary British novel through practice research'. I'm fascinated by the ways in which we use story in daily life and hope to interrogate the historical and cultural biases that lie behind how we structure these stories. As a published novelist and creative writing tutor with an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, an MA in 'Issues in Modern Culture' from UCL and an English Degree from Cambridge University, I'm looking forward to expanding my research and learning from others.