Professor Josie Billington BA (Hons.), PGCE, MA, PhD
Professor English
- +44 (0)151 794 2734
- Work email Jbilling@liverpool.ac.uk
Professional Activities
Summary
In addition to extensive peer-review roles (including AHRC, NIHR, BMJ Journals and MLR), examining, and membership of professional bodies (AHRC Peer Review College, Higher Education Academy, Royal Society of Medicine) my external partnerships and outreach activities range across: reading charities (The Reader, Quick Reads, The Reading Agency); health services and practitioners (Mersey Care NHS Mental Health Trust, Royal Liverpool NHS Hospital Trust, National Personality Disorder Team); teachers, schools and children (Princes Teaching Institute, Liverpool City of Readers); cultural organisations and institutions (Tate Liverpool, Bluecoat, Edinburgh Book Festival, Booker).
Conference Roles
- Panel, 'George Eliot in the Wider World: What Good Can She Do?' at George Eliot Bicentenary Conference (University of Leicester, 2019)
- ‘The Role of Shared Reading in Building Community’, at ‘Reading, Writing, Viewing: Researching How Cultural Forms Support Reconciliation’,, by Invitation (McEwan University, Edmonton, Canada, 2019)
- Lyric Space in Nineteenth-Century Women's Writing at 'A Space of Their Own: Women Writers 1850-1950', Keynote/Plenary by Invitation (University of Chester (Shrewsbury), 2019)
- Inner Voices: Literary Realism and Psychoanalysis at Depression as Creative and Destructive Force in Contemporary Literature, by Invitation (Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass, US, 2019)
- ‘Inner Voices: Literary Realism and Psychoanalysis’ at American Comparative Literature Association Annual Conference, by Invitation (Georgetown University, Washington, 2019)
- Literary Reading and Mental Health at Centre for Contemplative Studies Research Seminar Series, by Invitation (West Chester University, Pennsylvania, 2019)
- Literary Studies and Public Engagement at British Academy Rising Star Conference, Keynote/Plenary by Invitation (University of Huddersfield, 2018)
- What is Shared Reading? at International Librarian and Information Technology Conference, Keynote/Plenary by Invitation (University of Tampere, Finland, 2017)
- Reading and Chronic Pain at Taos Institute Conference on Collaborative Practices in Health and Healthcare, (The New Global Centre fro Health innovation, Cleveland, Ohio, US, 2016)
- 'On Not Concluding' at Gaskell Society Conference, Keynote/Plenary by Invitation (University of Scarborough, 2015)
- Oliphant's Radical Realism at Margaret Oliphant Symposium, by Invitation (University of Leicester, 2015)
- Shared Reading Aloud in Contemporary Practice: The Reader Project at AHRC Voices and Books Network, by Invitation (British Library, 2014)
- Is Literature Healthy? at Literature and Medicine Seminar Series, by Invitation (University of Oxford, 2014)
- Reading and Pain at ESRC Seminar Series, ‘Arts and Health’, by Invitation (Royal Society of Medicine, London, 2014)
- The Very Grief a Cure of the Disease at Reading and Health in Early Modern Europe, Keynote/Plenary by Invitation (Newcastle University, 2013)
- Promoting synergies in arts, health, and economics: a report on the Public Engagement Foundation, CASE-funded programme networking three arts for health research initiatives C at Culture, Health and Wellbeing International Conference, by Invitation (Bristol, 2013)
- ‘More Poetry than Prozac, More Fiction than Therapy: Practice into Research', at Culture, Health and Well-Being International Conference, by Invitation (Bristol, 2013)
- Reading Groups from Practice to Theory at Reading to Live Well, Keynote/Plenary by Invitation (British Library, 2012)
- Reading and Mental Health at Medical Humanities Workgroup Conference (Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 2011)
- The Reader Cure at Strange New Today AHRC Postgraduate Conference, Keynote/Plenary (University of Exeter, 2011)
- The Sonnet Cure at Poetry and Melancholia (University of Stirling, 2011)
- Creative Reading Practice, Reading for Life at Reading and Writing in Prisons (Edinburgh Napier University, 2010)
- Gaskell and Ruskin at Gaskell Society Conference, Keynote/Plenary by Invitation (University of Cumbria, 2009)
- Victorian Inheritance (Panel) at BAVS/NAVS (British and North American Victorian Studies Associations) Joint Annual Conference (Churchill College, University of Cambridge, 2009)
- 12. ‘The Dialogue of the Heart: EBB, George Meredith and the Nineteenth-Century Sonnet Sequence’, at British Association of Victorian Studies Annual Conference (University of Liverpool, 2006)
- ‘EBB’s Sonnets from the Portuguese as Shakespearean Drama’ at Bi-centenary conference on Elizabeth Barrett Browning, (Baylor University, Waco, Texas, 2006)
- 'A Commodity of Good Names': ECG, Elizabeth or Mrs Gaskell? at Elizabeth Gaskell and Manchester (Manchester Metropolitan University, 2005)
- ‘Wives and Daughters: From Screen to Page’ at Daphne Carrick Lecture, Keynote/Plenary by Invitation (Cross Street Chapel, Manchester, 2001)
Editorships
- Selected Works of Margaret Oliphant (Invited Editorial Board Member, 2010 - 2016)
- The Works of Elizabeth Gaskell (Invited Editorial Board Member, 2004 - 2006)
Event Roles
- Literature and the Public Good at Author Panelist Edinburgh Book Festival, by Invitation (Talk/Lecture, Edinburgh, 2017)
- World Mental Health Day Event, Keynote/Plenary (Workshop, Friends Meeting House, Liverpool, 2018)
- Is Literature Good For You? at World Book Day Panel, Keynote/Plenary by Invitation (Talk/Lecture, University of York, 2018)
- Reading with Families and Children at Reading with Families and Children (Workshop, Weston Park Museum, Sheffield, 2018)
- Is Literature Healthy? at The Literary Agenda, by Invitation (Talk/Lecture, Waterstone's Piccadilly, London, 2016)
- The Voices of Victorian Fiction at Victorian Literature for Newly-Qualified Teachers, by Invitation (Talk/Lecture, William Hulme Grammar School, Manchester, 2015)
- The Voices of Victorian Fiction at Victorian Literature for Newly-Qualified Teachers, by Invitation (Talk/Lecture, Portland Place, London, 2015)
- Reading for Life at Mersey Care Grand Round, Keynote/Plenary by Invitation (Talk/Lecture, Ashworth Hospital, 2015)
- Reading for Wellbeing at Reading Communities: Connecting the Past and the Present AHRC Network, Keynote/Plenary by Invitation (Talk/Lecture, The Athenaeum, Liverpool, 2015)
- The Voices of Victorian Fiction at Victorian Literature for Newly-Qualified Teachers, by Invitation (Talk/Lecture, Greycoat Hospital School, London, 2014)
- The Voices of Victorian Fiction at Victorian Literature for Newly-Qualified Teachers, by Invitation (Talk/Lecture, Harrogate Grammar School, 2014)
- Voices of Victorian Fiction at Victorian Fiction for Newly Qualified Teachers, by Invitation (Talk/Lecture, Haringey Development Centre, 2014)
- The Voices of Victorian Fiction at Victorian Literature for Newly Qualified Teachers, by Invitation (Talk/Lecture, Bishop Challon College, Birmingham, 2014)
- '“This is Living Art”: Making Victorian Poetry Live for C21st Students', at Victorian Fiction Study Day, Prince's Teaching Institute Event, by Invitation (Talk/Lecture, Southwark Cathedral, London, 2014)
- The Voices of Victorian Fiction at Victorian Literature for Newly Qualified Teachers, by Invitation (Talk/Lecture, Altrincham Girls' Grammar School, 2014)
- The Voices of Victorian Fiction at Victorian Fiction for Newly-Qualified Teachers, by Invitation (Talk/Lecture, Pimlico Academy London, 2014)
- Reading for Pleasure in Schools at United Learning Teachers' Event, Keynote/Plenary by Invitation (Talk/Lecture, Excel Centre, London, 2013)
- Poetry not Prozac: Reading and Depression at World Mental Health Day Lecture, Keynote/Plenary by Invitation (Talk/Lecture, Eleanor Rathbone Building, 2012)
- The Contemporary Novel at The Contemporary Novel, Prince's Teaching Institute Event, by Invitation (Talk/Lecture, The People's History Museum, Manchester, 2012)
- ‘The Wonder of Alice: Images, Myths and Realities’, by Invitation (Workshop, Tate Liverpool, 2011)
- '“This is Living Art”: Making Victorian Poetry Live for C21st Students' at Victorian Literature Study Day, Prince's Teaching Institute Event, by Invitation (Talk/Lecture, Gladstone's Library, Hawarden, 2011)
- Reading in the Community at English Without Walls (Workshop, Birkbeck College, 2009)
- 'Elizabeth Gaskell’s Wives and Daughters: A Narrative of Time' at Prince's Teaching Institute, Keynote/Plenary by Invitation (Talk/Lecture, Crewe Hall, Cheshire, 2009)
Examination Roles
- ‘From Fallen Woman to Businesswoman: The Radical Voices of Elizabeth Gaskell and Margaret Oliphant’, (PhD, 2018)
- ‘”How Literature Changed my Life”: A Hermeneutically Oriented Narrative Inquiry into Transformative Experiences of Reading Imaginative Literature’ (PhD, 2018)
- ‘Women in their Worlds of Objects: construction of female agency through things in the novels of Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell’ (PhD, 2015)
- ‘A cross-linguistic, cross-cultural, literary study of metaphors of emotion in Eliot's Middlemarch and Tolstoy's Anna Karenina’ (PhD, 2013)
- Glamorgan University, Masters by Directed Research (PGT, 2013)
Internal Administrative or Committee Roles
- Member, Research and Impact Committee (School / Institute, 2019 - present)
- Member, Research and Impact Committee (Faculty, 2019 - present)
- Impact Lead (School / Institute, 2019 - 2021)
- Convenor, Close Reading (Department, 2018 - 2019)
Organisations I have been associated with
- Prince's Teaching Institute (2009 - present)
- Quick Reads/The Reading Agency (2014 - 2016)
- Royal Liverpool Hospital (2011 - present)
- Mersey Care NHS Mental Health Trust (2009 - present)
- Wirral PCT (2011 - 2013)
- Liverpool Children's Services (2011 - 2012)
- Liverpool City Council (2010 - 2016)
- The Reader (2007 - present)
Other Administrative or Committee Roles
- Impact Lead, School of the Arts
- Co-lead, Arts, Mental Health and Wellbeing, Centre for Health, Arts, Society and the Environment (2017 - present)
- Deputy Director, Centre for Research into Reading, Literature and Society (CRILS)