Research Associate, Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, Brock University Ph.D. from the University of the Sunshine Coast Australia. Broadly my research explores sustainability at the nexus of food security and health through a lens of social-ecological change. I work with Indigenous Peoples, their food systems and their health. To date, my research has been largely focused on Pacific Island Countries including Fiji. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6019-5522
Senior Lecturer in History, University of Suffolk I am an interdisciplinary medievalist working at the intersection of history, law, archaeology, and literature, especially on topics like legalism, normativity, punishment, and personhood in Viking-Age Scandinavia and its diaspora. I have a passion for using innovative and culturally comparative methodologies for researching and teaching the medieval world – including Indigenous Studies, Posthumanist, and Game Studies approaches – with an eye towards fostering richer and more inclusive dialogue about this period and its many connections.
Assistant Professor of Rural Sociology, Penn State My research program looks broadly at gender and rural development, with both domestic and international areas of focus. In the U.S., I study how gender, legal status, and geographical isolation shape integration among immigrants working in agricultural industries. In particular, I look at social networks and transnational ways of life in non-traditional rural immigrant destinations. My international research examines the gender dynamics of sustainable agriculture initiatives, including voluntary certifications, responsible investment, and climate-smart agricultural programming in the Global South. My work has a community outreach and advocacy focus, although I do not have a formal extension appointment. Here at Penn State, I continue to build partnerships with outreach and advocacy organizations that support vulnerable populations in agriculture.
Research Fellow in Literary Studies, Australian Catholic University Killian Quigley completed his PhD in the Department of English at Vanderbilt University, where he was awarded the Robert Manson Myers and John M. Aden Awards, as well as the Drake Scholarship. Having defended his dissertation, he was appointed inaugural postdoctoral fellow at the Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney. In 2021, he became a Research Fellow at the Australian Catholic University's Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences. In 2023, Killian was an invited visiting fellow at the Institute of the Humanities and Global Cultures, University of Virginia.
Teaching Assistant Professor of Musicology, West Virginia University Katelyn Best is a Teaching Assistant Professor of Musicology at West Virginia University. A musicologist and vocalist by training, she earned her B.M. in vocal performance from Saint Mary’s College followed by her M.M. and Ph.D. in musicology from Florida State University. She served as a lecturer for the Department of Musicology at Florida State University as well as the Department of Anthropology and African Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University. She was also Co-Director of the Florida State University’s Andean Ensemble and Director of the World Music Ensemble Summer Music Program. As a scholar, her research explores music in Deaf culture, hip hop, sound studies, musical movements, and cultural activism. She received a Carol Krebs Research Fellow Award to conduct fieldwork throughout the U.S. and was awarded the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM) Crossroads Music and Social Justice Paper Prize and the SEM Applied Ethnomusicology Paper/Project Prize for work based on this research. She has presented this work both nationally and internationally and has published articles within Lied und Populäre Kultur and the Journal of American Sign Languages and Literatures, a peer-reviewed digital journal with publications in American Sign Language. Forthcoming book chapters include “Expanding Musical Inclusivity: Representing and Re-presenting Music and Deaf Culture through Deaf Hip Hop Performance” in Participatory Approaches to Music and Democracy and “Ethnocentrism 2.0: The Impact of Hearing-Centrism on Musical Expression in Deaf Culture” in At the Crossroads: Music and Social Justice. In addition to her work at West Virginia University, she is a member of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM), the British Forum for Ethnomusicology (BFE), and the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM). She served as a remote referee for the European Research Council and is an active member of the SEM Applied Ethnomusicology Section, the Crossroads Section for Difference and Representation, and the Popular Music Section. She was also a founding committee member and former chair for the SEM Disability and Deaf Studies Special Interest Group. She currently serves as Co-Director and Publicist for the Society for Ethnomusicology Orchestra and is co-editor of At the Crossroads: Music and Social Justice (Indiana University Press).
