Dr Susan Dray

Africa College Research Co-ordinator

Telephone number: +44(0) 113 34 31768
Email address: S.Dray@leeds.ac.uk
Room: 9.115

Biography

Before joining Leeds University in 2012, I was the Faculty Research Officer for arts, humanities and social sciences at Lancaster University. I have also worked as a researcher on a number of funded research projects, and have lived for several years in Jamaica where I worked as an interpreter (Creole-English-Italian).

Research Interests

I completed a PhD in the social sciences in 2004 at Lancaster University. This ESRC-funded doctoral research investigated the relationship between language education policy and everyday writing practices in Jamaica. It raised questions about how we know ‘language’ in spaces where these different ways of knowing clash. My current interest in knowledge practices (‘scientific’ and otherwise) is interdisciplinary, crossing disciplines such as Development Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Sociology and Anthropology, and I draw principally on material semiotic approaches developed in the discipline of STS (Science, Technology and Society). I am particularly curious about the ways in which knowledge moves un/successfully across different socio-cultural practices. I have recently written on North-South (mis)communication and methods for translating knowledge.

Support duties

As Research Coordinator for Africa College I support the development of inter-disciplinary research collaborations, partnerships and research grant applications.  I also support the development and strengthening of knowledge-transfer activities, and facilitate and enhance links in the UK and Africa with private sector, civil society organisations, government and the public.