Tracy Brain

Personal statement

I am a novelist and academic literary critic. My fiction is influenced by my life-long study of literature, which ranges from Sylvia Plath to the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century novel. One of my novels is a contemporary retelling of Samuel Richardson's Clarissa, and another of Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. My scholarly research, in turn, is driven by my insights as a novelist, and frequently engages with the medical humanities, especially questions of human reproduction.

Many would describe my novels as literary thrillers or psychological suspense, and this is a genre that fascinates me due to its roots in the work of some of my favourite eighteenth- and nineteenth-century novelists. I am also interested in the interactions between novelists and the publishing industry, the creative relationships between these different actors, and the ways that novels - and novelists - are classified and marketed.

I am Course Director of Bath Spa University's PhD in Creative Writing programme. I am also Director of PhD Programmes for the School of Writing, Publishing and the Humanities. As a teacher and manager, I have a particular expertise in practice-based PhDs, and more generally in postgraduate research. One of the great privileges of my career is that I am able to supervise many brilliant doctoral students in Creative Writing, and see their beautiful work unfold.

Academic qualifications

• PhD, University of Sussex
• MA, University of Sussex
• BA, University Of California, San Diego

Recent professional training

• Spanish, Upper-Intermediate, ongoing classes.
• Portuguese, Beginner, ongoing classes.
• Supporting Employees' Mental Health and Well-Being in Challenging Times: a Guide for Line Managers, May 2021.
• Delivering Inclusion in Research: Contextualising and Understanding Race and Racism within Research, March 2021.
• UK Council for Graduate Education Event. 'PGR Employability in 2020 and Beyond: New Agendas and Developing Practices', April 2020.
• Clinical and Scientific Expert Witness Bias: Sources and Expression, Royal Society of Medicine, 18 January 2020.
• Research Integrity, November 2019.
• Investigating A Complex Murder: Combining Forensic and Legal Medical Expertise, Royal Society of Medicine, 19 October 2019.
• AHRC/UKRI Leadership Fellows Workshop, University of Bristol, 18 July 2018.
• Coping with Losing a Baby: Medicine and Me, Royal Society of Medicine, 2 June 2018.
• Quality Public Engagement Workshop, 30 November 2017.
• Research Bidding Masterclass led by Professor Andrew Derrington, 19 May 2016.
• Discoverability of Creative Writing PhDs, NAWE / British Library EThOS / AHRC Academic Book of the Future Project. 5 May 2016.
• Social Media Training. Webinar with HarperCollins USA Marketing Director, May 2014.
• Giving Interviews. Society of Authors Workshop, April 2014.
• Giving Readings. Society of Authors Workshop, April 2014.

In addition to the training that I have undertaken, as detailed above, I have also delivered the following training to colleagues and PhD students:

• Mentor for colleagues undertaking Bath Spa University's MA in Supervising Research (HEP7005), ongoing.
• 'Tips for Practice-Based PhD Supervision'. Event for Academic Staff. May 2020.
• 'Tips for Supervising Practice-Based PhDs by Distance Learning'. Event for Academic Staff, May 2020.
• ‘Recruiting and Supervising Creative Practice PhDs’, Event for Academic Staff, June 2019.
• ‘Developing and Running a Low Residency PhD Programme’, Event for Academic Staff, June 2019.
• ‘When Chairing is Challenging’, Event for PhD Examiners and Chairs, May 2016.
• ‘Creative Practice and Academic Writing for PhD Students’, Research Week, Workshop for PhD Students, May 2016.
• ‘Getting Through Your Viva’, Workshop for PhD Students, February 2016.

Professional memberships

• The Royal Society of Medicine
• National Association of Writers in Education
• The Higher Education Academy
• The UK Council for Graduate Education
• The Society of Authors
• The Bronte Society
• Association for Medical Humanties

Key roles at Bath Spa University

• Course Director, PhD in Creative Writing
• Director of PhD Programmes for the School of Writing, Publishing and the Humanities
• Member of the University's Postgraduate Research Management Group
• Higher Degrees Tutor, School of Writing, Publishing and the Humanities
• Line management and operational management
• Creative Writing Subject Lead for the AHRC South West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (SWW DTP)
• Member of the AHRC SWW DTP Programme Delivery Board
• Member of the AHRC SWW DTP Awarding Board

External examining

I have held long-term external examining appointments on undergraduate and Master's level degrees at a number of higher education institutions.

• MA in Creative Studies, University of Wales, Bangor, 2001-2005.
• Postgraduate Diploma and Master of Arts in Professional Writing, University College, Falmouth (now Falmouth University), 2001-2005.
• BA in Creative Studies, University of Sussex, 2006-2010. 
  BA in Creativity and the Arts, University of Sussex, 2007-2010.
• MA in Creative Writing, Birkbeck College, University of London, 2011-2014.
• Undergraduate Diploma in Creative Writing, University of Oxford, 2016-2019.

In addition to acting as internal examiner for multiple PhDs at Bath Spa University, I have acted as external examiner of PhD theses in the UK and abroad, including:

• PhD on Sylvia Plath, University of New South Wales, 2004.
• PhD on Sylvia Plath, Leeds Metropolitan University, 2008.
• PhD in Creative Writing by Publication, Oxford Brookes University, 2014.
• PhD on Sylvia Plath, University of Ulster, 2017.
• PhD on Sylvia Plath, University of Pretoria, 2021.

Other external roles

Editorial work:

• I regularly act as a reader/reviewer for the following peer reviewed academic journals: English, Textual Practice, The Review of English Studies, The Journal of American Studies, The Journal of  Victorian Studies.
• I regularly act as a reader/reviewer of book proposals and manuscripts for Cambridge University Press, Palgrave Macmillan, and Ashgate (now Routledge/Taylor & Francis).
• I am on the editorial board of the academic journal Plath Profiles (Indiana University). 

Teaching specialisms

• Psychological/Literary Thrillers
• Sylvia Plath
• Ted Hughes
• The Nineteenth Century Novel (especially Dickens, Hardy and the Brontes)
• Samuel Richardson
• Literature and Reproductive Medicine
• I was awarded a Bath Spa University Teaching Fellowship in 2007/2008

Current scholarship

Books:

• Pregnancy and the Novel: Representation and Concealment from Richardson to Hardy. Scholarly monograph to be published by Palgrave Macmillan
• Novel to be published by HarperCollins.

Bath Spa University research centre membership

• Research Centre for Creative and Cultural Industries
• Empathy and Writing Research Group
• Making Books Research Centre
• Creative Writing Research Centre
• Research Centre for Mental Health, Well-Being and Creativity