Dr Alison Peirse

Profile

I am a multi-award-winning writer and academic. I have published over twenty journal articles and book chapters, and four books / collections on genre film and television. I specialise in horror, and my books include Women Make Horror: Filmmakers, Feminism, Genre (Rutgers University Press, 2020), After Dracula: The 1930s Horror Film (IB Tauris, 2013), Korean Horror Cinema (Edinburgh University Press, 2013). In 2021, Women Make Horror won the BAFTSS 2020 Best Edited Collection Award and the British Fantasy Society Award for Non-Fiction. From February 2022–July 2023, I am an AHRC Research, Development and Engagement Fellow, working on a new book and a videographic journal special issue on feminist horror cinema. 

I contribute my internationally recognised research expertise on horror to television, print media and radio, including the New York Times, BBC Radio 4 Women’s Hour and the Guardian, and to podcasts including Netflix’s 10/10. I collaborate with international genre film festivals, including /slash Filmfestival (Austria), Offscreen (Brussels) and Etheria (USA). I also work as a filmmaker, scriptwriter and script editor. My essay film Three Ways to Dine Well has screened at multiple film festivals around the world and is now published in English and Spanish in Tecmerin: Journal of Audiovisual Essays. As a writer, I have had competition placements and / or trained and collaborate with Penguin Random House, the Royal Court Theatre and Channel 4. 

I am on a number of international Editorial Advisory Boards, including Palgrave Gothic (Palgrave), Cultographies (Columbia UP), Hidden Horror Histories: Creativity in the Horror Genre (Liverpool UP) and Unmade Film and Television (Intellect). I review proposals and manuscripts for publishers including Columbia UP, Routledge (New York), Focal Press (New York), Edinburgh UP,  I.B. Tauris and Bloomsbury. I review articles for journals including Screen (Oxford UP), Feminist Media Studies (Routledge), Canadian Journal of Film Studies (Film Studies Association of Canada), [in]Transition (MediaCommons, USA) and Continuum (Cultural Studies Association of Australia). I am also an experienced international external examiner of both research degrees and taught degree programmes, having examined for Deakin University (Australia), Trent University (Canada), Gothenberg University (Sweden), UEA, Manchester, York and Warwick, amongst many others.

Research interests

My academic research is in horror film, with a focus on illuminating women’s invisible or overlooked contributions to the production of the genre. Within this area, I focus on how, when and why we write histories of women’s contributions. To do this, I tend to work at the intersection of production studies and feminist film historiographies. Then, I am just as interested in how we might think through and express these research findings through multiple registers, including written essays, festival programming and videographic work. 

<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Any research projects I'm currently working on will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>

• Feminist Horror Cinema

Qualifications

• PhD in Cultural Research, University of Lancaster
• PG Cert in Academic Practice and Learning, University of Northumbria
• MA in Visual Culture (Distinction), University of Lancaster
• BA (Hons) Media and Popular Culture (First Class), Leeds Metropolitan University

Professional memberships

• Member of Women's Film and Television History Network
• Member of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, including Horror SIG
• Member the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies, including founding member of Horror Studies SIG & Practice Research SIG
• Member of MECCSA, including Women's Network and Practice Network
• Member of the Screenwriting Research Network
• Founding Member of the Northern Television Research Group
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Student education

I am an AHRC Research, Development and Engagement Fellow from Febuary 2022 – July 2023 and I am not teaching during this period.

Research groups and institutes

• Creative Writing at Leeds

<h4>Postgraduate research opportunities</h4> <p>We welcome enquiries from motivated and qualified applicants from all around the world who are interested in PhD study. Our <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk">research opportunities</a> allow you to search for projects and scholarships.</p>