Dr Janet Banfield

Biography

Jan gained her BA (Hons) in geography at Oxford University in 1997, and an MSC in Environmental Science, Policy and Planning at the University of Bath in 1998. Following this, Jan pursued a career primarily in local government, working in areas including sustainable development, corporate planning and strategic policy at senior management level. Subsequently, Jan obtained a postgraduate diploma and Master of Research degree in psychology at Oxford Brookes. This led to increasing interest in ideas of embodied cognition and brought her back to Oxford for her DPhil in geography, which she completed in 2014. Her doctoral research drew on non-representational thinking in both geography and psychology to explore the emergence of spatiality and subjectivity through artist practice. Jan’s research focuses on the role of implicit or pre-reflective registers of experience in processes of material transformation that generate subjectivities (both human and nonhuman) and spatialities. She is also interested in innovation within qualitative methods, integrating concepts and practices from psychology and geography to inform arts-based and practice-based methodological development. Specifically, Jan’s research explores the three-fold employment of artistic and other cultural practices in: the articulation of implicit or pre-reflective registers of experience; the generation of spatial awareness and practice; and the interrogation of disciplinary concepts and concerns.

Research Interest

Jan’s research focuses on the role of implicit or pre-reflective registers of experience in processes of material transformation that generate subjectivities (both human and nonhuman) and spatialities. She is also interested in innovation within qualitative methods, integrating concepts and practices from psychology and geography to inform arts-based and practice-based methodological development. Specifically, Jan’s research explores the three-fold employment of artistic and other cultural practices in: the articulation of implicit or pre-reflective registers of experience; the generation of spatial awareness and practice; and the interrogation of disciplinary concepts and concerns.