Dr Merle Patchett
MA(Aberd.), Mres(Glas.), PhD(Glas.)
Current positions
Associate Professor in Human Geography
School of Geographical Sciences
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
A cultural-historical geographer by training, my research broadly focuses on theories, histories, and geographies of practice. This focus has led me to engage empirically with a range of specialised skills (e.g. taxidermy and plumasserie), practitioners (e.g. artisans, artists and architects), and places of practice (e.g. museums, galleries and archives) and to develop practice-based methodologies.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Idea Exchange with a view to co-designing sensitive, non-confrontational methodologies for gaining insight into ongoing sexual trauma for those living with FC/FGM
Principal Investigator
Role
Co-Investigator
Description
Women who have had FC/FGM often experience life-long consequences in relation to health, wellbeing and sexual functioning. However, current policy in the UK tends to ignore these needs in favour…Managing organisational unit
School for Policy StudiesDates
24/05/2023
Does Motherhood Need Mitigating? A Collective Examination of Parenting and Academic Practice
Role
Collaborator
Managing organisational unit
Department of History (Historical Studies)Dates
01/01/2023 to 31/07/2023
Always more than one: how can puppetry/robotics help rework an ethics of relation (between human and non-human)?
Principal Investigator
Role
Principal Investigator
Description
Funded by Brigstow Ideas Exchange: an interdisciplinary symposium bringing together researchers and practitioners across the southwest to discuss puppetry and its ethos of interpersonal relationshipManaging organisational unit
Department of EnglishDates
01/08/2022 to 31/07/2023
STITCHING - OBSESSION - WELLNESS: Reclaiming the therapeutic value of stitch
Principal Investigator
Description
Aims:
1. to explore the therapeutic benefits of stitching
2. to contribute to a re-valuation of the C19th asylum as a therapeutic space, and
3. to add to our understanding…Managing organisational unit
School of Geographical SciencesDates
08/01/2020 to 31/07/2020
LITTLE THINGS RULE THE WORLD: THE ENLIVENING PRACTICES OF APICULTURE AND HAND-MADE FILMMAKING
Principal Investigator
Description
This project recognises parallels between crafts of beekeeping and a specific branch of analogue animated filmmaking, in which organic matter is applied directly to the filmstrip, in two key regards:…Managing organisational unit
School of Geographical SciencesDates
03/01/2018 to 31/07/2018
Thesis supervisions
Publications
Recent publications
01/01/2026From Sexual Selection to Sex and the City
Animal Fashions
Glamour
The promise of cultural geography
Fashion’s Relation to the "Geo"
Annals of the American Association of Geographers
Flights of Fancy
Speculative Geographies
The Secret Life of Taxidermy
The Architectural Review
