Meet our research community

She is also interested in themes of Britishness and patriotic shopping, women’s lives and biography, and the interconnections between production and consumption.

She is Associate Professor of History of Fashion and Material Culture at DMU, where she also leads the Global Cultures: Material, Textile and Visual research cluster and is a member of the Fashion History and Recreative Research Group.

She is author and editor of many publications including Material Lives: Women Makers and Consumer Culture in the 18th Century (Bloomsbury, 2021) and Labour of the Stitch: The Making and Remaking of Fashionable Georgian Dress (Cambridge UP, 2024),

She is currently working on her next book, Georgian Fashion: Britishness and Dress in the Eighteenth Century (under contract with Yale UP).

She is project lead on the AHRC-funded Making Historical Dress project has brought together global collaborators to establish making as a historical methodology.

Alongside her academic work, Dr. Dyer is also a broadcaster and curator. Her most recent project, with BBC History Extra, is a documentary exploring the importance of the eighteenth-century mantua-maker in the establishment of the modern fashion industry. She also writes and presents the digital series, Fashion Through History, for English Heritage.

She has recently collaborated on exhibitions with the National Trust and Bankfield Museum, and she was previously a curator at the National Portrait Gallery and the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture.

I have published a number of essays on theatre history, early modern acting companies, Shakespeare and Renaissance drama, and I am the author of several books, including Travelling Players in Shakespeare’s England (2002), Acting Companies and Their Plays in Shakespeare’s London (2014) and The Progresses, Processions, & Royal Entries of King Charles I, 1625-1642 (2020).

I am also the chairman of the Malone Society – a learned society dedicated to advancing knowledge in the field of early English drama – and have edited two seventeenth-century manuscript plays for the Society, The Emperor's Favourite (2010), a political drama that uses Roman history to satirise infamous Stuart royal favourite, the Duke of Buckingham, and The Twice Chang'd Friar (2017), an Italianate city comedy which tells the story of a deceptive friar.

My latest book explores the story of early Shakespearean star actor: Richard Burbage and the Shakespearean Stage – A ‘Delightful Proteus’ (forthcoming with Arden Shakespeare, 2025). 

Tell us about your research

Given the increasing emphasis on corporate governance and performance, my study investigated whether having more women on corporate boards influences the outcomes of M&A transactions and whether their level of education and previous experience moderates the relationship.

Why this topic area?

I am passionate about this topic because under-representation of women at senior management level is widely documented by both researchers and practitioners. Women, who make up a substantial part of society, continue to face marginalization, even in corporate leadership. Growing up in my country, I witnessed first-hand how women were often confined to traditional roles, with societal norms limiting their opportunities and voices to the domestic areas.

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve done as part of your research degree so far?

The most interesting part of my research degree so far has been the opportunity to present my work at conferences both nationally and internationally, allowing me to engage with experts in my field. Additionally, I competed and won in the Faculty's Three Minute Thesis competition which was a rewarding experience. I have also had the opportunity to lecture which has been incredibly fulfilling.

What do you like best about studying at DMU?

I like the supportive and collaborative environment. The university offers numerous opportunities for professional development, from networking events to research conferences. The faculty’s encouragement, combined with access to a wide range of resources, and colleagues who are always ready to help, allows me to grow both academically and personally.

Tell us about your research

It contributes to research in the field of somatic-informed dance-making practice (Garrett Brown, 2007), practice-as-research (Nelson, 2013), and improvisation as a choreographic practice (Midgelow et al, 2019) through an embodied enquiry into the mechanisms of solo dance-making.

Why this topic area?

As an independent dance-maker I often found myself working solo, attempting to choreograph myself with no external input. I became curious about why this was so challenging and sought out other artists who had found ways to scaffold their solo making, according to their aesthetic concerns. Many more questions arose: Why is solo making so challenging? What are the mechanisms by which artists self-choreograph? What is projected, philosophically and politically, in the act of solo making? I distilled these concerns down to a single guiding question: What does it mean to self-choreograph?

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve done as part of your research degree so far?

The most interesting aspect of my research has been working with other solo dance-makers, particularly Amy Voris and Rosalind Crisp.

What do you enjoy about DMU?

I like the fact that you get to interact with and get feedback from other academics in the department via the annual reviews. This has made the experience of studying there particularly rich as I've been able to draw on feedback from a wider group of experts, bringing different viewpoints to the work.

Why this topic area?

I have always been curious as to why, with all the different scenes we see depicted in theatre, sex is so rarely explicitly shown, and why intimate acts occur through interpretive movement, off stage/between scenes, or full obscured from view from the audience. This is an interest which developed through my undergraduate research into the representation of male bisexuality in the media (film, television, radio and theatre) and which I further explored through my Master in Playwriting where I began to notice an absenting of intimate acts.

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve done as part of your research degree so far?

Over the course of my time at DMU, I have produced and toured three original plays across the UK which have all acted as part of my practice. Through these productions my work has won an award and been nominated for multiple others through my theatre company, Split Infinitive.

What do you enjoy about DMU?

Having the opportunity to work with other likeminded researchers and have the opportunity to present my research at the DMU postgraduate showcases and Borderline conferences.

Tell us about your research

I am pursuing practice-based PhD research in film and my study is interdisciplinary, drawing on different bodies of scholarship connected with de-colonial archival film practice, transnational feminism and subjectivity. I explore in my research and practice approaches that reckon with the limitations of the archive to create disruptive and future-projecting narratives.

Why are you interested in this topic/area?

This project builds on my integrated experience as a documentary filmmaker, researcher and educator. This project grows out of initial research I undertook in Israeli colonial archives while working on my film “Restored Pictures”, which exposed the work of Karimeh Abbud, the first Palestinian woman photographer (1893-1940).

Documentary film presents for me a “mode of resistance” against silences in meta narratives. In the context of Palestine and post-colonial communities, film may create representations of history that respond to local -on the ground- needs for cultural expressions that locate the “missing” in lost knowledge

What is the most interesting thing you’ve done as part of your research degree so far?

My research has a lot of interesting aspects to it, if I were to pinpoint to one aspect it would probably be tracing the driving elements between the practice and the theory and capturing the times that the practice leads the theory and vice versa.

What do you like best about studying at DMU?

I highly appreciate the support I receive from my supervisors and the expertise available at the Institute for Sonic Creativity (MTI2), the School of Humanities and Performing Arts and the School of Arts, Design and Architecture at DMU.

Tell us about your research

My research is about sustainable development

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve done as part of your research degree so far?

My journey at DMU has reshaped my understanding of sustainability and reinforced my commitment to real-world change. Reflecting on this path, I am proud to have:

• Co-authored over 10 publications, including journal articles, conference papers, and book chapters.
• Participated in 2 COP events, COP28 in Dubai and COP29 in Azerbaijan.
• Engaged in research and innovation projects valued at over £4 million, funded by UK Research and Innovation, the Ayrton Fund, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and the British Council, driving impact across the UK and Africa.
• Presented at more than 5 conferences across the UK and Europe.
• Received the DMU Climate Action Award as a Climate Action Hero Student from the DMU SDG Hub in 2024.
• Supported the PhD community as a Student Representative for two years.
• Supervised and second-marked over 20 Master’s dissertations.

Why this topic area?

As a practicing photojournalist, I developed a deep interest in photography’s role in shaping modern societies. While I was initially drawn to reading about Indian photography, I found myself gaining a broader understanding of colonial propaganda. Through my interactions with India's legendary photographers in the field, I realised that academic knowledge on Indian photojournalism is quite limited, often focusing primarily on canonical photographers. This led me to explore the photojournalistic work produced by the first-generation press photographers of independent India.

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve done as part of your research degree so far?

Fieldwork has been one of the most engaging aspects of my research, allowing me to explore crucial documents on public policies and meet individuals who were involved in the process of establishing the world's largest democracy—an experience that would not have been possible otherwise.

What do you like best about studying at DMU?

What I appreciate most about studying at DMU is the freedom and encouragement to take ownership of my research and produce meaningful work. Being part of the Photographic History Research Centre has been particularly valuable, as it enables me to engage with peers, the wider research community, and pioneering research in my field.