Ms Emily Lindsay Jackson

Biography

My research is at the intersection of politics, philosophy and geography. I joined the Department of Geography in 2007 to begin an ESRC-funded PhD with Professor David Campbell, Dr Louise Amoore, and Dr Ben Anderson, focusing on the bio-political aspects of contemporary security discourse in the UK. I previously gained a Masters in Political Research Methods from Queen’s University Belfast in 2007, and a first-class BA (Hons) in Politics and International Relations from the University of Hull in 2001.

Before beginning my PhD, I worked in radio and television production: including on the Sony award-winning current affairs show Talkback for BBC Radio Ulster; Heysel: the day football died for Channel 4; and Joe Cahill - IRA Man for RTE.

Research

In my PhD project, I explore how contemporary security discourse in the UK can be conceptualised as a form of bio-political imaginary, drawing on the work of Edward Said, Michel Foucault, Michael Shapiro, and Mick Dillon, amongst others. My empirical focus takes in a range of situated knowledges and experiences of security including The National Security Strategy of the United Kingdom (the subject of an upcoming publication in In-Spire journal, Autumn 2010), and participant observation and interviews at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead. My broader research interests include the politics and genealogy of security; European political theory and philosophy; and the politics of aesthetics / aesthetics of politics.

Communication & Networking

I have presented academic papers to politics and geography audiences, including at the annual conference of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS-IBG) in August 2009; the Aberystwyth-Lancaster Graduate Colloquium in June 2009, and for the ESRC seminar series ‘Contemporary Biopolitical Security’ at Keele University in November 2008.

I have taken a lead role in developing the Aberystwyth-Lancaster Graduate Colloquium, established by Professors Mick Dillon and Jenny Edkins as a UK-wide network for post-graduates to discuss and explore critical approaches to global politics. I am particularly interested in developing interdisciplinary links between the Colloquium and critical political geography, and to that end I convened a two-day event at the Department of Geography in May 2010 on the theme of Politics/Space. The event was attended by post-graduates from across the UK, and had keynote speeches from Professors Stuart Elden and Mick Dillon, and Dr Ben Anderson.

From summer 2010, I have also acted as events and communications co-ordinator for the Poststructural Politics Working Group of BISA.