Staff Profile: Dr Aidan Byrne

Summary

Aidan Byrne is a Senior Lecturer in English and Media and Cultural Studies based at Wolverhampton City Campus. His research covers Welsh literature, working-class writing, the literatures of 1939-45, children’s literature and new media. He is also interested in political discourse and theories of reading. He is a member of the English Society, the Association of Welsh Writing in English, a peer-reviewer for its journal, Almanac, and an Editorial Board member of Australasian Canadian Studies.

Qualifications

• BA (Hons) English, University of Wales / Prifysgol Cymru Bangor
• MA Welsh Writing in English, University of Wales / Prifysgol Cymru Bangor
• Ph.D: ‘Constructions of Masculinity in Four 1930s Welsh Novels in English: Lewis Jones’s Cwmardy and We Live, Richard Llewellyn’s How Green Was My Valley and Gwyn Thomas’s Sorrow For Thy Sons’. University of Wolverhampton
• PGC in Learning and Teaching in Further and Higher Education. University of Wolverhampton.

Teaching Approach and Responsibilities

Aidan has been teaching for 12 years across several departments. In the English department, he currently specialises in literature and identity, Shakespeare and Milton, while recently supervising dissertations on Arthurian literature, war fiction, and Irish literature. Recent teaching includes Mythology, Introduction to Poetry and approaches to British Culture. In the field of Media Studies, He is particularly interested in new media theory and practice, public space, the public sphere, media ethics and political campaigning. He has supervised dissertations on political communication, new media and gender in MMORPGS. He is currently developing a module on Victorian Celebrity Culture for the MA in Popular Culture.

His current teaching responsibilities include:

• Level 4: Media, Communication and Society
• Level 4: Literature and Identity
• Level 5: Media, Communications and Ethics
• Level 5: Analyzing Media Texts.
• Level 5: Shakespeare, Milton and the English Renaissance
• Level 6: Positions.
• BA and MA dissertation supervision

Research Interests

• Welsh writing in English
• Modernist and interwar fiction
• Working-class writing
• Editorial Board member, Australasian Canadian Studies, peer-reviewer, Almanac: the journal of the Association for Welsh Writing in English

Recent Publications

• Thelwall, M., Byrne, A. & Goody, M. (2007). "Which types of news story attract bloggers?" Information Research, 12(4), paper 327. [Available at http://InformationR.net/ir/12-4/paper327.html]
• The Last Word, Wordplay 3 (newsletter of the English Subject Centre), April 2010.
• ‘Taming the Red-Headed Stepchild: cultural integration in the Anne of Green Gables series’. Australasian Canadian Studies (forthcoming: 2012).
• ‘He will bid me cross the border’: O. M. Edwards, Cartrefi Cymru and the Exile’s Reconstruction of (forthcoming: 2012).

Recent Conferences

• Foreign Correspondences, University of Vilnius, Lithuania, 2008
• British Association for Canadian Studies, Cambridge University, May 2010
• Masculinity and Popular Culture, University of Southampton, March 2011
• Association for Welsh Writing in English, Gregynog (University of Wales), May 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
• Teaching Offence, HEA and University of Central England, 2010

Public Appearances

• Featured author, Times Higher Education ‘The Scholarly Web’ on 2011 Higher Education White Paper, 7^th July 2011. (http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=416715)
• Guest speaker, WCR Radio, 20^th July 2011 (on the phone-hacking scandal)
• Guardian Higher Education website diarist, 5^th August 2011.
• Panellist on various Guardian Higher Education live webchats.

Journals

Peer-reviewer for Almanac, journal of the Association for Welsh Writing in English.

Membership of Professional Bodies and Advisory Committees

• Association for Welsh Writing in English
• The English Society
• Higher Education Academy (Fellow)
• Canadian Studies Association

Favourite Links

• www.plashingvole.blogspot.com - my personal blog, covering teaching, books, politics, fencing and the continuing triumph of Stoke City. I can also be found on Twitter at @plashingvole.
• www.learnex.dmu.ac.uk - a site for the exchange of radical critiques of educational methods and theory.
• www.newwelshreview.com - Wales’ premier cultural periodical.
• http://musicfordeckchairs.wordpress.com - an Australian site discussing e-learning and educational policy.
• http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula - Pharyngula: Proper science.
• http://britishfencing.com - I’m involved in team management, coaching and refereeing for British Fencing and will be working at the Olympic Games next year. It’s a great sport: give it a go!