Amy Blaney

Biography

After graduating in 2007 with a first-class honours degree in English Literature from the University of Wales Aberystwyth, Amy spent several years working in business and administration before enrolling on the MA English Literatures programme at Keele in 2018. Amy stayed on at Keele to undertake her NWCDTP AHRC funded PhD, entitled 'King Arthur in British Literature, 1660-1815', under the supervision of Professor Nicholas Seager, Professor David Amigoni, and Professor David Matthews (University of Manchester). She passed her viva without correction in August 2024.

Whilst completing her PhD, Amy worked as an Associate Lecturer in English Literature at Staffordshire University, a Sessional Tutor in English Literature at Keele and a Research Development Officer within the Keele Doctoral Academy. She was also a P. J. C Field Visiting Fellow to the Centre for Arthurian Studies at the University of Bangor in 2023.

Research and scholarship

I am currently preparing my doctoral thesis, which examined literary engagements with Arthurian legend across the long eighteenth-century, for publication.

I am developing research interests and funding bids on the nationalisation of British cultural mythologies and am particularly interested in exploring this topic within non-elite cultural spaces. 

My wider research interests include British folklore and mythology, eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth-century medievalisms, cultural memory, and the intersections between literature and history.

Subject associations

I am currently working on a project sharing and showcasing pedagogic practice alongside fellow members of the International Arthurian Society and International Arthurian Society British Branch. I am a member of the British Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies, British Association of Romantic Studies, and British Association of Victorian Studies.   

Participatory research and collaboration

I am an advocate of open research and accessibility within higher education and have previously worked with Tamworth Castle & Archives and The Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum to improve public access to their collection material through digitisation. I have also worked with The Brilliant Club and Higher Horizons programmes whose work supports students from less advantaged backgrounds to access the most competitive universities and to succeed when they get there.

Teaching

I am an Associate Fellow of Advance HE and have previously worked as an Associate Lecturer in English Literature at both Keele and Staffordshire University.

In the 2024/25 academic year, I am convening FIL-10019 Film Style, FIL-20001 Gender and the Cinematic Gaze, FIL-20005 Science Fiction Cinema, FIL-20021 Global Popular Cinema, and FIL-30019 British Social Realism. I am also contributing teaching on ENGL-10062 Self & Society in Post-War British Children’s Fiction and supervising final year undergraduate students on ENG-30112 English Independent Study Project. 

Further information

Recent conference and events organisation

• Lead Project Officer, The PGR Café Retreat, Castleton Losehill Hall, 11-13 September 2023
• Researcher Development Officer, The PGR Café Retreat, Keele Doctoral Academy, 2022/3
• Organising Committee & Session Lead, Archival Skills for Postgraduate Researchers, 25 March 2022, Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum

Academic service

• Student Representative (HUM), Faculty Research Committee, 2022/23
• PGR Faculty Rep, School of Humanities 2022-2024
• Facilitator and Session Lead, Keele Researcher Summer School, 2021-2023
• Co-Editor and Finance Officer, Under Construction: The Postgraduate Journal for Keele Humanities and Social Sciences, 2019 – 2021
• Committee Member, Keele Humanities and Social Sciences Work in Progress Seminar Series, 2019-2021

Collaborations and grants awards

Collaboration

I am an advocate of open research and accessibility with higher education and have previously worked with Tamworth Castle & Archives and The Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum to improve public access to their collections material through digitisation. I have also worked with The Brilliant Club and Higher Horizons programmes whose work supports students from less advantaged backgrounds to access the most competitive universities and to succeed when they get there.

Awards and honours

• The Centre for Arthurian Studies P J C Field Fellowship, 2023
• Bob Beattie Postgraduate Student of the Year Award, 2023
• International Arthurian Society British Branch Ray Barron Award, 2022 & 2023
• Literary Encyclopaedia Travel Award, 2022
• British Association of Romantic Studies Stephen Copley Research Award, 2020
• British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Postgraduate Bursary, 2020
• Best Overall Student on an English PGT Programme, Keele University, 2019/20

Grants

• International Arthurian Society British Branch Ray Barron Award 2023
• The Centre for Arthurian Studies P J C Field Fellowship, 2023
• Keele Doctoral Academy Peer-Led Initiative Funding, 2022/23
• Literary Encyclopaedia Travel Award, 2022
• NWCDTP Fieldwork and Conference Fund, 2022
• International Arthurian Society British Branch Ray Barron Award 2022
• NWCDTP Cohort Development Fund, 2021
• NWCDTP Fieldwork and Conference, 2021
• Bob Beattie Postgraduate Student of the Year Award, Keele Postgraduate 
  Association, 2021
• British Association of Romantic Studies Stephen Copley Research Travel Award, 
  2020
• British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Postgraduate Bursary, 2020
• NWCDTP AHRC PhD Studentship, 2019