Research output per year
Research output per year
Dr, PhD (Aberystwyth University) MSc Postcolonial Politics (Aberystwyth University) MSc International Politics (University of Glasgow) BA(Hons) Social Science (Glasgow Caledonian University) , HEA Fellow
Research activity per year
Dr Gillian McFadyen is a Lecturer in International Politics. She is the Deputy Director of Recruitment, Admission and Marketing for InterPol and sits on the Aber University Research Ethics Panel. Gillian's research focuses on the international refugee regime, with a particular focus on the British refugee system.
Gillian has a PhD from Aberystwyth, as well as degrees from Aber (MSc), Glasgow (MSc) and Glasgow Caledonian (BA Hons). She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and a 2020/2021 alum of the Welsh Crucible.
Gillian's research engages with the area of refugee studies. She is particularly interested in refugee law, the British Asylum system, EU asylum process, as well as applying theories such as hospitality, labelling and postcolonialism to the refugee regime. She also has an interest in memory, trauma, silence and their application to refugee politics. In addition, she has written on the hostile environment, propaganda, bureaucracies of knowledge in humanitarian practices, and has a keen interest in simulation pedagogy for active learning. Gillian's first book, Refugees in Britain: Practices of Hospitality and Labelling was published with Edinburgh University Press (2020). The book intertwines theories of hospitality and labelling, and applies them to the British refugee regime, arguing that the British refugee regime has developed towards an externalised humanitarian hospitality. The book also examines counter-discourses by examining local practices of British hospitality and showing acts of solidarity and resistance that challenge the statist logic. The result is a theoretically informed account of the British approach to externalisation and geographical seclusion of refugees, particularly in response to the current Mediterranean Crisis
A secondary field of research, sees her focuses on political embroidery, using stitching and craftivism as a method of resistance, memory, activism and story-telling. This research has seen her work on multiple projects at the national and international level, with exhibitions at the Tate Modern, Liverpool (2018), British Refugee Council Archives, London (2019) plus Bordando Por la Memoria Project, as well as collaboration with the Seemia Theatre company (2019).
As of Autumn 2021, Gillian has starting a new funded interdisciplinary project with researchers from Swansea and Northumbria University, Maternal Guilt Quilt- an innovative project that explores maternal emotional experiences, through textile crafting, following in the Welsh, feminist quilting tradition of visual culture. The project will explore mothers' experiences of feeding their babies with audio recordings and written texts being incorporated into a co-created interactive digital quilt to be exhibited across Wales. The projects uniqueness is that it departs from dominant breastfeeding literature that tends to focus on positive emotions related to bonding, and offers space for amplifying mothers voices and their range of experiences surrounding feeding.
Expertise: refugee, asylum, hospitality, labelling, memory, trauma, language, detention, postcolonialism, human rights, political embroidery, propaganda, biometric data,
Gillian is the Deputy Director of Recruitment, Admission and Marketing for InterPol and sits on the Aber University Research Ethics Panel.
Gillian teaches in the area of International Politics and Global Development, covering modules on Global Politics, Global Development and Refugee Politics/Simulation. In 2020 she won the Aber SU Student and Staff Award for Creative Teaching.
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Person: Doctor of Philosophy
Person: Doctor of Philosophy
Person: Doctor of Philosophy
Research output: Other contribution
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Research output: Book/Report › Book
Research output: Other contribution
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Supervisor: Edkins, J. (Supervisor) & Finney, P. (Supervisor)
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy
British International Studies Association
18 Jun 2018 → 21 Jul 2018
Project: Externally funded research
03 Apr 2023
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Media coverage
08 Mar 2022
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Media coverage
Gillian McFadyen & Arddun Arwyn
03 Mar 2022
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Media contribution
03 Mar 2022
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Media coverage
03 Mar 2022
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Media coverage
01 May 2018
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Media contribution
Gillian McFadyen (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
Gillian McFadyen (Participant) & Berit Bliesemann de Guevara (Participant)
Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Festival or Exhibition
McFadyen, Gillian (Recipient), 01 Mar 2018
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
McFadyen, Gillian (Recipient), 30 Apr 2020
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
McFadyen, Gillian (Recipient), Dec 2021
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
McFadyen, Gillian (Recipient), 31 Jan 2015
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)