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Saffron Walkling
My thesis focuses on late communist and post-communist appropriations of Hamlet in China and Poland after 1989, under the excellent supervision of Prof Bill Sherman in the Centre for Renaissance and Early Modern Studies. The department has supported me in a successful funding application to the World Universities Network, which resulted in a six week research trip to Nanjing, Shanghai and Beijing last winter. I have also been funded by the Graduate Research Fund to attend the Worldwide Hamlet Festival and conference in Romania, the Globe to Globe international Shakespeare festival in London, and to take a course in Mandarin Chinese. This type of practical support offered by the University of York is essential for the intercultural and interdisciplinary work I am undertaking.
I first came to the University of York to do an MA in the mid-nineties, working with Geoff Wall on Shakespeare’s transformation of sources in Cymbeline. I chose York because, aside from its academic excellence, it offered the course part-time and had excellent nursery provision – essential as I was a single parent with a very young child at the time. As well as leaving the university with an MA, I also met my partner, now my wife.
Since then, I have taught in H.E., both overseas and at home. As part of my career development, I am currently working on my PhD part-time, as well as lecturing at York St John University, and I am once again making good use of the university’s childcare facilities!