Our staff
The NSC has a director, five permanent members of academic staff and two members of administrative staff. We are also fortunate to have a number of experienced associate staff who also provide teaching on some of our courses. You can find out more about who we are either by clicking on the relevant name below, or simply scrolling down the page.
The Director
Academic staff
Administrative staff
Recent and Associate staff
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Professor Jena Habegger-Conti Email: nsc-director@york.ac.uk +44 (0)1904 32 3239 Professor Jena Habegger-Conti began as Director of the Norwegian Study Centre in August 2023. In her permanent position at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (Høgskulen på Vestlandet) in Bergen, Norway, Jena researches and teaches multimodal literacy in English education, with a focus on intercultural education. She sits on several scholarly boards and is an external member of research groups at Nord University and University of Bergen. Jena’s relationship with the NSC began in 2014 when she began accompanying students of English on short courses. From 2019-2023 she served on the NSC Board, including a short period as Acting Chair of the Board in Spring 2022. Career
Recent publications Brown, C. W. & Habegger-Conti, J. (2022) “Intercultural learning and images in ELT: Exploring Hoff, H. & Habegger-Conti, J. (2022) “Film and the intercultural multimodal reader: Expanding (2021) “‘Where am I in the text?’ Using positioning in refugee comics for intercultural education”, (2021) “Not Reading the Signs in Nick Drnaso’s Sabrina,” Aesthetic Apprehensions: Silences and |
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Dr. Terry Hathaway Email: terry.hathaway@york.ac.uk Terry has worked at the NSC since 2015. He teaches on a wide variety of subjects, including:
His approach to teaching is founded in radicalism – that is, his approach is centred on contextualising what is within a broader framework of the fundamental meaning and purpose of things. Scholarship and Research Activity Terry’s recent focus has been on writing a book concerning the corporation and its political, social, and economic power. Part of this project has involved constructing the conceptual foundations of an approach to political economy that is inclusive of law, with law often working as a counterpoint to political and economic discourse. Recent publications, some of which are spin-offs from this project, include:
You can also see a recent talk Terry gave at the Paris School of Economics here. |
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Email: gweno.williams@york.ac.uk Office: QUH/006 Gweno holds an Emeritus Professorship from York St John University where she was Professor of English and Academic Head of C4C Collaborating for Creativity, a HEFCE-funded Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. Research and teaching interests include literature in English in the Norwegian curriculum, early modern literature, particularly drama by women and Shakespeare, women’s writing, and contemporary YA fiction. Publications include Literature for the English Classroom: Theory into Practice (Fagbokforlaget, Norway) The first edition (2013) was co-edited with Anna Birketveit of HVL Bergen, the second edition (forthcoming March 2021) is co-edited with Anita Normann of NTNU. Gweno has also published extensively on early modern drama by women; her academic DVD Margaret Cavendish: Plays in Performance (2006) was awarded the international SSEMW Media Prize. Gweno has had a long and happy academic connection with the NSC and Norway. She joined the permanent NSC staff team in 2013, teaching literature and pedagogy, following regular guest lectures on literature, drama, film. She first lectured for the NSC (at Micklegate House) in 1982. She was Visiting Professor at NTNU for two years teaching on the MA programme. She has given guest lectures and spoken at conferences at Norwegian HEIs including Oslo, Bergen, NTNU, Agder, UiT, Halden. She recently co-supervised a PhD awarded at INN University in Hamar; the first co-supervision in partnership with the NSC. Other international partnerships and teaching include a Fulbright year in the California State University system, a Visiting Professorship at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and recent Erasmus teaching visits to the Universities of Aarhus, Bologna and Lund. Gweno was NSC Project Co-ordinator for the DIKU-funded 2018-19 applied Intercultural research project with HVL Bergen and 2 York schools. Gweno was awarded a UK National Teaching Fellowship in 2002; she is committed to interactive learning as a key element in successful classroom pedagogy. She is passionate about the importance of literature and theatre in culture and society. She introduced and co-ordinated the Royal Literary Fund Writer in Residence scheme at York St John, and regularly supports Yorkshire Literature Festivals by interviewing contemporary writers and chairing literary events. |
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Associate Lecturer in English Studies Email: gina.lyle@york.ac.uk Office: QUH/002 Gina’s PhD research at the University of Glasgow centred on the roles of meat in contemporary Scottish writing with an emphasis on class and gender. She specialises in Scottish fiction, and is an editor for The Literary Encyclopedia’s Scottish Culture and Writing Post-45 volume. Her research is highly concerned with food, and she enjoys identifying and analysing recurrent interests and motifs across a period or an author’s corpus. Gina’s teaching interests include contemporary writing, discussions of food in literature, genre fiction, creative engagements with form, writing for children, and folktales. Each of her modules are designed to introduce participants to interesting concepts in literature and encourage their critical engagement with literary texts with dedicated space for nuanced discussion. |
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Senior Lecturer in English Linguistics, Literature and Culture. SFHEA Email: beck.sinar@york.ac.uk Office: QUH/003 Biography BA Linguistics with Literature (York), MA Syntax and Semantics (York), PhD in Historical Linguistic Variation and Change (York, ESRC funded) Beck is a senior lecturer (teaching and scholarship) in research-led interdisciplinary teaching across English Studies, specialising in contemporary and historical Linguistic Variation and Change. Her interests are many and varied, with recent modules covering:
Beck welcomes supervision or co-supervision of postgraduates in the fields of History of English, Sociolinguistics, and a diverse range of applied linguistics/didactics topics. Academic scholarship and research activity Beck is currently working with Dr Lalita Murty (India) and Dr Claire Cowie (University of Edinburgh) on an article for a special edition of the Journal English Language and Linguistics. The accepted article is due for final submission on 1st October 2024 and will consider the enregisterment and indexicality of English language speakers in Bollywood Films. Most recent publications
Beck is a member of the University of York's Learning and Teaching Forum, the INCLUDE Network and the leader of the NSC's Green Impact Team (awarded Gold in 2023). International Partnerships and Collaboration
Departmental Roles
Director of Studies (UG and PG Short Course Programme Leader)
Staff Representative
Member of the NSC Governing Board
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Email: oliver.bainbridge@york.ac.uk Office: QUH/006 Oli is a finance and short course administrator at the NSC. Starting in January 2024 on a temporary basis, Oli is now a permanent member of staff with his main responsibilities being with the finances of the NSC. He also works closely with the Office Manager (Michelle Rowland) and Director (Jena Habegger-Conti) to provide administrative support to ensure the NSC's short courses run successfully. |
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Email: michelle.rowland@york.ac.uk Michelle is the Office Manager at the NSC. A graduate of Spanish, she studied at Trinity & All Saints College, Leeds (University of Leeds). She has worked in a variety of different administrative and customer service roles as well as working abroad. Originally from Sheffield, she moved to York in 2010 to work at the University, where she's held a variety of different support roles in various departments. Outside of work Michelle enjoys cycling, going to the theatre, attending creative workshops to learn new skills, screen printing and working towards an Access to HE Art & Design course which she hopes to complete in 2021. |
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Part-time tutor, Department of English and Related Literature Email: jbn4@york.ac.uk Dr Jonathan Brockbank has worked short-term contracts for English and Related Literature since 1985, lecturing and teaching on various modules including Approaches to Literature, Shakespeare and His Contemporaries, Romantics, Seventeenth Century & Victorians. For the NSC he has provided teaching on the YorkCourse programme. |
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Professor Matthew Feldman teaches at the Norwegian Study Centre, and is a Visiting Professor at Richmond, the American International University in London. He works on cultural and political radicalism in the US and Europe since World War One, and has published more than 20 books and more than 40 book chapters or articles on these subjects.. His most recent collection of essays is entitled Politics, Intellectuals and Faith (ibidem, 2020) and he also co-edits the Wiley-Blackwell’s online journal, Modern Ideologies and Faith and, with Professor Erik Tonning (University of Bergen), edits two Bloomsbury book series, Historicizing Modernism and Modernist Archives. Matthew is also a specialist on fascist ideology and radical right extremism, and directs the Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right. He has appeared as an expert witness in more than a dozen terrorism cases in the UK since 2018, and has appeared before various national and international bodies, including the Home Affairs Select Committee and the Council of Europe.His work has also extended to submitting evidence to the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Anti-Semitism, and on Islamophobia, alongside consultation for various UK police constabularies; House of Lords and House of Commons debates; DCLG; the Ministry of Justice; the Home Office and other bodies. Recent policy engagement also focusses upon anti-Muslim prejudice, issues related to right-wing extremism online, and evidence led approaches to countering extremism. He has also appeared in more than 750 radio and television programmes to discuss fascism, the radical right extremism, and self-activating terrorism. |
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BA & MA (University of British Columbia), DPhil (University of York) Current research interests: Race Relations in the UK; History of Racism; Modern/Post-Modern Literatures; Critical Theory; Children's Literature. Meg worked with the NSC between 1998 and 2024, having previously taught in universities in Canada, Australia and in the UK in the areas of Literatures in English, Critical Theory and Cultural Studies. Her current research interests are in 'race' relations in Britain and in literature by British writers of colour and working-class writers. She is working on a series of blogs on the 'whiteness' of Children's Literature and gathering material for a book on using Critical Literacy and fiction by writers of colour in the classroom. |
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Lalita worked at the NSC for 20 years (Sept 2003 - Jan 2024). During this time she taught modules in Applied Linguistics, Discourse Analysis and Global Englishes to more than 23,000 visiting students from Norway, supervised more than 70 master's theses for the Department of Education and was an invited visiting Associate Professor at the University of Oslo. Prior to this she was at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands, and the University of Sheffield, as well as teaching Applied Linguistics at a teacher training institute in India (1991-1996). Her latest research is into Iconicity in Telugu and teaching Global Englishes in the English Classroom. |
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