Who We Are
The Library Stories Team is made up of research students from a wide range of subject areas across the University of Bristol. Our interdisciplinary team, with a range of skills and experiences, all share a collective love for the library.
Story Gatherers
Gillian Hurst
| Gillian Hurst is a third-year PhD student of Medieval Studies in Musicology and Art History funded by the University of Bristol Faculty of Arts and co-supervised by Emma Hornby and Beth Williamson. Her research examines the intersections of music, art, architecture, and sensory experience at Syon Abbey. She is also interested in historically informed performance, enactment, and phenomenology. Drawing on a broad range of textual and material evidence, her project examines female experience through all the senses (e.g., sight (stained glass), touch (clothes), hearing (music), smell (incense), taste (communion), proprioception (architecture), vestibular (walking), and interoception (breath)). Gillian is an active choral musician and soloist and has performed at Symphony Hall, The Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Verizon Hall, and Spoleto Festival USA. Gillian recently participated in Sensational Books – an exhibition at the Bodleian Library which will open in May 2022. The exhibition engages all eight senses and is especially concerned with accessibility for those who are sensory impaired. Gillian researched, transcribed, and recorded music from a 14th-century Dalmatian psalter which will contribute to the oral/aural elements of the visitor experience. When not hard at work, Gillian can be found reading, visiting museums, swimming, lifting, and learning languages. |
Pravin S Kamble
| “I am a third year Aerospace Engineering PhD student studying within the faculty of engineering at the University of Bristol. My areas of research are – Aerodynamic and Aeroacoustics of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Urban Air Mobility and development of futuristic electric aircrafts. Prior to beginning my research career I have worked as a data analyst in the NHS, obtained two masters degrees (MSc Engineering with Innovation and Entrepreneurship from the University College London & MSc Aerospace Engineering from the University of Manchester, UK). I also am a presidential scholarship award winner from the University of Brighton where I was fully funded to study to a Mechanical Engineering bachelors degree, I strongly believe that in shaping my personality books and libraries have played a huge part. I remember spending hours and hours as a ten years old in an one-room village library in India. There weren’t lots of books there, but it was just amazing to go and have books to read. It was only after I won a scholarship offered by one of the UK based charities called Pestalozzi International Foundation in 2009 to pursue A levels in Hastings, England, I could go to an actual library with numerous books, archives and computers. It was just surreal to these many books around! Working as a Library story gather with the Brigstow institute at the University of Bristol has to be one of the best experiences of my life. Understanding the dynamics relationship of humans with libraries and books is an exciting aspect to look and I am certain that this library story project is set to produce some prolific and interesting results. “ |
Benjamin Park
| I am a post-graduate researcher in the department of English at the University of Bristol, in addition to this I am also a Library Support Assistant for the University working at several of the library spaces but primarily based in the Physics Library. Before Bristol, I was a student and library user across the UK from my undergraduate at Sussex to my Masters at Edinburgh. As a student of English Literature, libraries have held a crucial and special role in my life ever since I entered academia. This is what drew me to the Library Stories Project. I believe libraries to be fantastical spaces containing a realm of knowledge on a sublime scale that could never be contained and processed by a single mind. Therefore, libraries are intrinsically spaces of collective activity and human history. I think it is a fantastic opportunity to be able to chronicle this history. |
Thomas Proudfoot
| “Originally from Newcastle upon Tyne, I did my undergraduate degree in German and Italian at Bristol, graduating in 2020. I couldn’t stay away for long and I’m now back in Bristol studying for an MPhil in Italian, where my focus is on gender and identity in northern Italian traditional music practices. Most of my bookshelves at home are stacked with cookbooks, and I hope to make a little library of my own one day!” |
Eszter Vigh
| “I am a member of Cohort 3 of the Digital Health and Care CDT at the University of Bristol. My research interest is primarily the behavioral nudging of increased alcohol consumption behavior by way of digital applications be it mobile or other digital device based. I am most interested in engaging with individuals who self-identify as being a part of a rural community. In the future my goal would be to further research the bidirectional relationship between sleep and alcohol consumption behavior specifically in the rural context. I completed my undergraduate degree in Interactive Media and Business (IMB) and Global Public Health Studies at New York University Shanghai. The Interactive Media side of my degree was concentrated in inclusive/accessible front-end web development and app building while the Business side was focused on management and economics. My interest in the Library Stories project is engaging with individuals who have a range of so-called “interaction points” with the library separated by space and time. Understanding that greater evolution of the library and cross-comparing experiences is something vital to my own research. I am really excited to be on the team and meet new people within and outside of the University of Bristol community. “ |
Technologist
Joshua Ramini
| “I am a first year Computer Science PhD student studying within the faculty of engineering at the University of Bristol, funded by the EPSRC through a doctoral training partnership. My broad field of research relates to interactive natural language systems. I am currently working on developing a methodology that enables users to alter the behaviour of machine learning models using a combination of natural language instructions and other forms of feedback, such as labels and comparisons. Prior to starting my PhD, I completed a MSc in Data Science at the University of Bristol, as well as a BSc in Computer Science at the University of the West of England. Having spent a significant amount of time in various libraries over the course of my academic career, in combination with the requirements relevant to my research interests, applying for the technologist role in this initiative was a no-brainer. An opportunity to detail the personal stories of library-goers across several generations while developing an interactive system was not one I could pass up! “ |
Creative Technologist
Pete Bennett
Pete Bennett is a designer, musician, academic, artist and creative technologist and is always on the lookout for a project that combines all of these at the same time.Pete spends half of his time lecturing in Human-Computer Interaction at the University of Bristol and the other half as a resident of the Pervasive Media Studio.
Interactive Design Studio
Stand + Stare
Stand + Stare is the partnership of brother and sister Barney and Lucy Heywood. They started out making immersive theatre, then moved into interactive design for exhibitions, and have recently begun creating new digital publishing projects.