About 

this website

Action for the Arts & Humanities (AAH) is a discussion forum aimed at identifying the role of the arts and humanities in facing the challenges of the 21rst century. We welcome ideas from university students and members of the public who wish to join and have a say in this conversation. 

AAH was created and developed as an interdisciplinary encounter between a group of postgraduate researchers from the University of Sheffield, Leeds and York (explore our profiles below!)

Our sponsors 

This project was possible thanks to the support of our sponsors, WRoCAH and Think Ahead.

About the artwork 

The artwork on this website, Let’s turn together it’s more fun, was created by Sheffield-based artist Heliya Badakhshan. To find out more about Heliya click here

Picture of wall decorations in the shape of a face with a crown

Maryam Shams
(she/her)

I am a postgraduate researcher based at the School of Languages and Cultures, University of Sheffield. My research looks at neo-colonialism and media constructions of conflict involving France. But I'm also interested in cities; how they've developed and how we experience them. I like cooking, learning languages and playing football.

Daria Lynch

(she/her)

I am a postgraduate researcher based in the Departments of Archaeology and the Department of History at the University of York. My work investigates the tangible and intangible heritages of marginalised communities in York, combining migrant and environmental history with the study of material culture. I am broadly interested in the spatial politics of urban landscapes, looking at how historical power structures have influenced our contemporary experiences of the City. Originally from Upstate NY, I like to spend my time knitting, hiking, and gardening.

picture of neon rainbow with the word love written in different fonts in the background

Davi Lemos

(he/him)

I am a postgraduate researcher based at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Sheffield. My research primarily investigates the role of LGBTQ+ carnival street movements (blocos) in shaping Rio's queer urban geography. I'm also interested in understanding everyday queerness in other areas of the world. 

Mary Dawson

(she/her)

I am a postgraduate researcher in the School of English at The University of Leeds. My research explores mid-century British fiction through theories of posthumanism and the work of Gilles Deleuze. Specifically, I am researching novels by Barbara Comyns, Muriel Spark, Angela Carter, Kamala Markandaya, and Barbara Pym with reference to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland too.

photograph of Casa Battlò in Barcelona - colourful Gaudi building

Matthew Oxley

(he/him)

I'm a postgradaute researcher in the School of Languages and Cultures at the University of Sheffield. My research bridges literature and urban studies. I am investigating the theory of urbanisation of 19th century Spanish engineer Ildefons Cerdà with a view to using this as a critical framework in literary studies. 

Elizabeth Hicks  

(she/they)

I am a post-graduate researcher in the Department of Archaeology at the University of York. My research combines my interest in ceramics and their production, with my passion for understanding foodways and the development of food cultures in the Islamic world throughout the Medieval period. I am investigating how we can integrate a Chaîne Opératoire approach to ceramics studies with Organic Residue Analysis to better understand consumption practices along the Swahili coast during the 1st millennium AD. 

Alessandra Sau

(she/her)

I am a postgraduate researcher at the School of Languages and Cultures at the University of Sheffield. My research project focuses on how nuclear technologies are represented in Visual Culture, in particular films, TV series, web series as well as two collections of paintings created by Japanese children at the end of the Allied Occupation of Japan housed at NAEA (YSP). Originally from Sardinia, I am passionate about cinema, art and sculpture, and I privilege open air spaces where artworks mix with and melt into the landscape, initiating a dialogue between humanity and nature.