At a glance
I am a Senior Lecturer in Nineteenth-Century English Literature in the School of Literature and Languages at the University of Surrey. I specialise in Victorian literature and culture, and have published on travel and mobility in the mid-nineteenth century novel, focusing on authors including Dickens, Eliot, Gaskell and Charlotte Bronte. I am currently working on a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship (September 22-23) on “Cultures of Suntanning in late-19th to mid-20th century Britain”. I co-lead the Cultural Skin Studies network, an interdisciplinary, international, network of scholars on the skin in literature and culture.
I co-direct the Mobilities in Literature and Culture Research Centre in the School of Literature and Languages at the University of Surrey.
I am co-editor of the series Palgrave Studies in Mobilities, Literature and Culture and on the editorial board of Transfers: interdisciplinary journal of mobility studies.
I co-convene the Transport and Mobility History Seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, London. I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
I previously worked as a Research Fellow at Warwick’s Institute of Advanced Study (2012-15), and as a Teaching Fellow in the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics at Newcastle University (2015-16). I gained my PhD in the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies at the University of Warwick in 2011, where I completed my MA in 2007 and BA (Hons) in 2006.
More about my past work can be found below.
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Publications
Mobilities, literature, culture. Ed, Marian Aguiar, Charlotte Mathieson and Lynne Pearce. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
Sea Narratives: Cultural Responses to the Sea, 1600-present. Ed., Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
Mobility in the Victorian Novel: Placing the Nation. Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
Gender and Space in Rural Britain 1840-1920. Ed., Gemma Goodman and Charlotte Mathieson. Pickering and Chatto, 2014.
Peer-reviewed articles
“Stimulated by these agents to vigorous action”: the language of suntanning and materiality of skin in Victorian culture. European Journal of English studies 26.1. (April 2022). Open access.
‘A still ecstasy of freedom and enjoyment’: Walking the city in Charlotte Brontë’s Villette.” Journal of Victorian Culture (July 2017).
“‘A brown sunburnt gentleman’: Masculinity and the Travelling Body in Dickens’s Bleak House.” Nineteenth-Century Contexts 36.4 (September 2014): 323-334.
“‘A moving and a moving on’: Mobility, Space and the Nation in Charles Dickens’s Bleak House.” English (Winter 2012) 61(235): 395-405.
Book chapters
“Mobile materiality: the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the mobile-material relations of Henry Mayhew’s 1851: or, the Adventures of Mr and Mrs Sandboys.” Anticipatory Materialisms. Edited by Jo Carruthers, Nour Dakkak and Rebecca Spence. Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
“Brontë countries: nation, gender and place in the literary landscapes of Haworth and Brussels.” Charlotte Brontë: Legacies and Afterlives, ed. Amber K. Regis and Deborah Wynne. Manchester University Press, July 2017.
“‘The Formation of a Surface’: Europe in Charles Dickens’s Little Dorrit.” Britain and the Narration of Travel in the Nineteenth Century, ed. Kate Hill. Ashgate, 2016.
“‘A perambulating mass of woollen goods’: Bodies in transit in the mid-nineteenth century railway journey.” Transport in British Fiction: Technologies of Movement, 1840-1940, ed. Adrienne Gavin and Andrew Humphries. Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
“A Tale of Two Londons: Locating Shakespeare and Dickens in 2012” (co-written with Dr Peter Kirwan). Shakespeare on the Global Stage: Performance and Festivity in the Olympic Year ed. Paul Prescott and Erin Sullivan. Arden/Bloomsbury, 2015.
“Wandering like a wild thing: Rural mobility in George Eliot’s Adam Bede and The Mill on the Floss.” Gender and Space in Rural Britain 1840-1920. Ed. Gemma Goodman and Charlotte Mathieson. Pickering and Chatto, 2014, pp. 87-102.
Journal editions
“New Writings in Feminist Studies: Winning and Shortlisted Entries from the 2016 FWSA Student Essay Competition.” Journal of International Women’s Studies 18.3 (February 2017).
“New Writings in Feminist Studies: Winning and Shortlisted Entries from the 2015 FWSA Student Essay Competition.” Journal of International Women’s Studies 17.2 (February 2016).
“Sex, Courtship and Marriage in Victorian Literature and Culture” Victorian Network 4.2 (Winter 2012). Guest editor: introduction, pp. 1-9.
Book reviews (journals)
Port Towns and Urban Cultures: International Histories of the Waterfront, c.1700-2000, ed. Brad Beaven, Karl Bell, and Robert James. Mariner’s Mirror 103.3 (2017): 357-9.
The Brontë Sisters In Other Wor(l)ds by Shouhua Qi and Jacqueline Padgett. Victorian Studies 58.4 (Summer 2016): 751-753.
British Settler Emigration in Print, 1832–1877 by Jude Piesse. Literature & History 25.2 (November 2016).
The Reception of Charles Dickens in Europe, by Michael Hollington. Victoriographies 4.2 (November 2014).
Victorian Women and the Economies of Travel, Translation and Culture, 1830-1870 by Juliet Johnston. Studies in Travel Writing 18.1 (March 2014).
George Eliot in Society: Travel Abroad and Sundays at the Priory, by Kathleen McCormack. Studies in Travel Writing 18.1 (March 2014).
Eaton Stannard Barrett’s The Heroine, Mrs Costello’s The Soldier’s Orphan: A Tale, and Sarah Green’s, Romance Readers and Romance Writers. BARS Bulletin & Review (39, December 2011): 22-23.
Routledge Annotated Bibliography of English Studies contributor (19th century section, ed. Johanna M. Smith), 2009-2012.
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Online Publications
For podcasts, blogs, online articles, book reviews and more see blogging.
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Education & Qualifications
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies, University of Warwick
PhD in English Literature, October 2007 – November 2010 (awarded March 2011). Thesis: “Bodies in Transit: Mobility, Embodiment and Space in the Mid-Nineteenth Century Novel.” Supervised by Dr Gill Frith and Dr Pablo Mukherjee; funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (2007-2010).
MA in English Literature, October 2006 – September 2007. Awarded with Distinction.
BA in English and American Literature, September 2003 – June 2006. Awarded with First Class Honours.
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Awards and Fellowships
British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship
£121,516.00, 12 month fellowship, September 2022-2023. Awarded for “Cultures of suntanning in late-19th to mid-20th century Britain”.
British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant.
£8570, 2017-19: awarded for “Sunburn and tanning in nineteenth-century medicine and culture”.
Training and Development Fund, TECHNE.
£1000, 2017: Funding to run a one-day workshop for PhD students on “The Voice of the Academic: Vocal Training for Academic Success”, September 2017.
Pump-priming fund, University of Surrey.
£1600, 2017: for “Suntanning in Victorian Medicine and Culture”.
Research Network Award (£400/year), University of Warwick Institute of Advanced Study, 2012-15
Awarded for Travel and Mobility Research Network
Global Research Priority Award, 2012-14 (£500/year)
Awarded for ‘Contact and Connections’ (2013) and ‘Travelling between the Centre and Periphery: Creating a Feminist Dialogue for the Diaspora’ (2014) conferences by the Connecting Cultures Global Research Priority programme, University of Warwick.
Humanities Research Centre conference award, 2014 (£500)
Awarded for ‘Travelling between the Centre and Periphery: Creating a Feminist Dialogue for the Diaspora’ (2014) conference.
Arts Faculty Conference award, 2014 (£250)
Awarded for ‘Travelling between the Centre and Periphery: Creating a Feminist Dialogue for the Diaspora’ (2014) conference.
Roberts Funding Award (£1000), University of Warwick Institute of Advanced Study, September 2011
Awarded for organisation of the symposium Rural Geographies of Gender and Space: Britain 1840-1920
Roberts Funding Award (£500), University of Warwick, July 2011
For presentation at Travel in the 19th Century, University of Lincoln.
Early Career Fellowship, University of Warwick Institute of Advanced Study, April – September 2011
6-month award (£3400) at the Institute of Advanced Study for the advance of interdisciplinary work and career development.
Graduate Scholarship ($300), 18th-19th Century British Women Writers Association (USA), April 2010
Awarded for paper presentation at annual conference.
Doctoral Fellowship Award, Humanities Research Centre (University of Warwick), 2008-09
Awarded for organisation of conference Women Writing Space: Gender and Space in post-1850 British Women’s Writing.
Doctoral Award, Arts and Humanities Research Council, 2007-2010
PhD funded for the duration of study.
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Teaching
School of English, University of Surrey (2016-present)
In 2016-17 I am teaching on the modules:
Theories of Reading I, lectures and seminars. Level 4.
History of English Literature II, lectures and seminars. Level 4.
Radical Subjectivities, lectures. Level 5.
Romantic Literature, 1789-1830, lectures and seminars. Level 5.
Dissertation supervision (5 students). Level 6.
Masters supervision (4 students). Level 7.
I co-supervise 2 PhD students.
I am Professional Training Year tutor for English and Creative Writing.
School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, University of Newcastle (2015-16)
SEL1030: Approaches to Reading (stage 1)
SEL2207 Modernisms (stage 2)
SEL2204: Victorian Passions, Victorian Values (stage 2)
Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies, University of Warwick (2008-15)
The English Nineteenth-Century Novel (Honours level undergraduate, 2011- 2013)
Teaching responsibilities for 3 lecture-seminar groups on The English Nineteenth-Century Novel (honours-level undergraduate); see also my teaching blog for this module.
Modes of Reading (1st year undergraduate; 2008-09, 2010-11, 2011-12)
Seminar tutor for 2 classes of 10 students. I have a teaching blog for my classes.
The European Novel (Honours-level undergraduate; 2010-11)
Seminar tutor for 2 classes of 10 students.
Lecturer, “Nation and Narration in Great Expectations” (2012-present)
Sexual Geographies: Gender and Place in British Fiction, 1840-1940 (MA module; 2014-15)
Lecturer on “Gendering the Nation in Villette” and “Wandering Women: The Mill on the Floss“.
Academic Writing Programme, University of Warwick
Professional Skills for Computer Science (1st-year undergraduate, 2011-12)
2 hour lecture-seminars on academic writing and communication skills.
Communicating Science (Department of Physics, Honours-level undergraduate; 2009-12)
2 hour lecture-seminars on academic writing and communication skills.
MSc Dissertation Tuition (Warwick Manufacturing Group; 2007-2012)
1-1 academic writing sessions.
MSc in Accounting and Finance (Warwick Business School, 2011-12)
Lecturer and academic writing tutor.
Undergraduate Academic Writing Mentor, Student Careers and Skills Service (January – June 2011)
1-1 consultancies on academic writing for undergraduate students across all disciplines.
University of Cagliari, Sardinia
Visiting lecturer (April 2013) on the Masters’ programme module Dickens and London: 2-hour research seminars on “The nation in Bleak House” and “Dickens and Europe in Little Dorrit”.
Teaching Qualifications
Postgraduate Award Introduction to Academic and Professional Practice (parts 1 and 2), University of Warwick Learning and Development Centre (awarded January 2012)
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Professional service
Palgrave Studies in Mobilities, Literature and Culture
Series co-editor; 2016-present.
Feminist and Women’s Studies Association
Chair; 2016-2019; Executive Committee, Essay Competition Officer; 2014-16.
Arts and Humanities Research Council
Research Careers and Training Advisory Group (RCTAG) member, 2012-present.
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Other work experience
Warwick Words Festival of Spoken Word; September 2012.
Online and social media administrator.
Early Career Researcher project officer, Wolfson Research Exchange (June 2011 – July 2012)
Position supporting interdisciplinary and collaborative research practice for early career researchers at the University of Warwick: maintaining a university-wide network of ECRs, editing a collaborative blogging project, and providing ECR support around the REF 2014, including running skills training and workshops. For outputs of this work see ECR pages above.
Research Assistant (June 2011)
Working for Professor Jackie Labbe under an IAS Capacity Building Award to prepare an AHRC Research Networking Grant application.
Postgraduate Staff-Student Liaison Committee (2007-10)
Chair (2008-09) and PhD representative.
Academic mentor (2006-08)
Mentoring an English literature undergraduate student with learning difficulties.
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Public engagement
See my public engagement page.
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Conference Papers
See my talks page.
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Events Organised
Mobilities, Literature, Culture Conference (Lancaster University), April 2017.
Transport & Mobility History Seminar, Institute of Historical Research, London (co-convenor), 2017-ongoing.
The Future of Interdisciplinary Research (The Shard/University of Warwick, May 2015)
Travelling between the Centre and Periphery: Creating a Feminist Dialogue for the Diaspora (University of Warwick, July 2014), Symposium funded by the IAS, Humanities Research Centre, and Arts Faculty; keynote speaker Professor Miriam Cooke.
Sea Narratives symposium, Travel and Mobility Studies Network (University of Warwick, January 2014), Symposium funded by the IAS Network.
Contact and Connections, Travel and Mobility Studies Symposium (University of Warwick, June 2013), Symposium funded by the IAS and Global Research Priority funding; keynote Tim Youngs.
Rural Geographies of Gender and Space, Britain 1840-1920 (September 2011, University of Warwick), Interdisciplinary symposium funded by Roberts award and IAS Early Career Fellowship; keynote speaker Professor Jo Little.
Faculty of Arts Early Career Researchers’ Group (2011-12), Research and professional development seminars for post-doctoral researchers.
Women Writing Space: Representations of Gender and Space in post-1850 British Women’s Writing (Mach 2009 University of Warwick), One-day conference funded by Humanities Research Centre Doctoral Fellowship Award. keynote speakers Dr Lynne Walker and Rosa Ainley.
Arts Faculty Postgraduate Seminar Series (2008-09), Interdisciplinary seminar series for postgraduate research students.
English Department Postgraduate Symposium (2008), Symposium for PhD students and academics in the English Department.
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Dr Charlotte Mathieson by Charlotte Mathieson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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Dr Charlotte Mathieson 
It is great to hear news of a former student. I congratulate you Charlotte on your academic success and I was very interested to hear about your research topics. My novel The English Girls is slight in comparison but you might enjoy it, especially after a visit to Haworth!!!