I am currently postdoctoral researcher on the ERC Synergy MANTRAMS Project at the University of Vienna.  I conduct interdisciplinary research specialising in embodied praxis and the textual and material culture around it, with a grounded regional specialism in Kerala in South India and its martial art, kaḷarippayaṟṟ˘.  My distinctive approach and skill set mobilise somatic, ethnographic and philological knowledges to open out their implications in South Indian religion, medicine and society, exploring contemporary strategies for its transmission as the teacher-student relationship shifts in response to India’s increasing entanglement in a globalising world.  My research brings to the fore local systems of knowledge and their resilience, and constitutes an innovative intervention in approaches to the body and materiality in religious studies, and the importance of embodied, somatic epistemologies.  My background in performing arts and journalism makes me uniquely qualified to engage meaningfully, accessibly, engagingly, and creatively with a broad diversity of audiences.

June 2024 |  organiser: The Yoga Studies Symposium  | online via CRIA-ISCTE (University Institute of Lisbon) |  Co-organised with Daniela Bevilacqua: a 2-day international symposium on new books in Yoga Studies to mark 20 years since the publication of A History of Modern Yoga by Elizabeth De Michelis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjhPZJqGXLg&list=PLOcX5JqaUDhflTd4g_KoPtuNneR8jw3Bd

• 2019-24 | Open-Oxford-Cambridge Doctoral Training Partnership AHRC Studentship | funding for the PhD at the Open University.
• 2019 | Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru/Arts Council of Wales Research & Development Award | for the creation & performance of Fighting Like A Girl and What It Taught Me, in partnership with Theatrau Sir Gâr/Carmarthenshire Theatres.
• 2017 | Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru/Arts Council of Wales Research & Development Award | for the creation & performance of Not Two, in partnership with Theatrau Sir Gâr/Carmarthenshire Theatres.
• 2016 | Wales Arts International Award | to support continued training and research in kaḷarippayaṟṟ˘ in South India and its integration into my dance practice in Wales.
• 2014-15 | Creu Cymru Dance Buddy | supporting a year of artistic residency at Theatrau Sir Gâr/Carmarthenshire Theatres. Outputs included monthly artists’ exchanges and workshops at Carmarthenshire’s galleries and theatres, and a week’s residency creating dance material with the students of Coleg Sir Gâr.
• 2012 | Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru/Arts Council of Wales Training Grant | to support training and research in kaḷarippayaṟṟ˘ in South India and its integration into my dance practice in Wales.
• 1994-95 | British Academy Award | funding for the M.A. in Text & Performance Studies at King’s College London & RADA.