Hannah graduated from Durham University in July 2010 with an Upper Second Class Honours degree in Sociology, before taking a year out from her studies to work in retail. In September 2011 she undertook a Masters degree in Sociological Research at the University of Manchester which ignited her passion for research. In 2012 Hannah was awarded an AHRC-funded Collaborative PhD studentship with the University of York and the British Museum, which has brought her back to her hometown of York.
Hannah’s research is focused around the subject of museum shopping, and the practices and meanings related to this. The research will entail a cultural analysis of museum shopping in the various British Museum shops, and will explore questions of the meaning of the shop and its objects in relation to the wider museum experience, addressing current and potential theorising of the museum, retail and consumption.
The project is jointly supervised by Professor Sharon Macdonald at the University of York, and Dr. Xerxes Mazda at the British Museum.