Joanne Begiato is Professor of History and Material Culture Studies at the London College of Fashion, University of the Arts, London. She has broad and inclusive research interests united by a deep and enduring fascination with human bodies and identities in the early modern period and long-nineteenth century. She has published widely on a range of topics including intimate relationships, sexuality, masculinity, material culture, the emotions, and familial inheritances. She is the author of three single-authored books, one co-authored book, and four co-edited volumes of essays, as well as over thirty-six journal articles and book chapters. Her research has previously been funded by the Leverhulme Trust, The British Academy, and the AHRC.

Joanne’s research is inter-material, fusing the histories of emotions, bodies, senses, and objects to bridge the representational and experiential. In addition to academic publishing, she is committed to bringing history to a wider public audience. Her co-edited collection on inherited objects featured contributions from members of the public as well as academics and she has worked with numerous individuals and organisations to bring history into the present.

Michael Brown is Lecturer in Modern British History at Lancaster University. His research interests encompass a range of topics in the cultural history of Britain in the long nineteenth century (1760-1914). Broadly speaking, they fall into two principal areas, namely medicine and surgery on the one hand, and war on the other. However, these interests have often overlapped and are linked by a broader commitment to the history of the body, gender, the emotions, and, increasingly, materiality.

He is the author of two books, Performing Medicine: Medical Culture and Identity in Provincial England, c.1760–1850 (Manchester University Press, 2011) and Emotions and Surgery in Britain, 1793-1912 (Cambridge University Press, 2023), as well as the author of numerous articles and chapters, and co-editor of three edited collections. He has led several major research projects, receiving funding from the Wellcome Trust and the AHRC.

His work has been featured on a number of podcasts concerned with the public understanding of the history of medicine, surgery, and war.

Helen Victoria Murray is the project Research Associate based at Lancaster University. She is an interdisciplinary scholar in Victorian Studies. Her research interests include Image-Text studies, Neo-Victorianism, Photographic History, Pre-Raphaelitism and Thing Theory. She is an experienced heritage professional, passionate about working with archives and museum collections.

In 2023, Helen completed her interdisciplinary PhD, ‘Artists at Home: Self-Representation and Celebrity, 1860-1914’ at University of Surrey. She examined how artists built and maintained fame within the accelerating Victorian media landscape of photography, literature and periodicals. Helen conducted archival research in the Rob Dickins’ Collection at Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village. She investigated over 4000 nineteenth-century photographs, albums, and ephemera relating to artists.

Prior to her work on the Victorian Hand at Lancaster University, Helen worked in Archives and Collections at The Glasgow School of Art. In this role, she developed object-based learning workshops for students and the public and supported archival research and curatorial activities. She has previously undertaken teaching, research and student-support roles at the Universities of Glasgow, Strathclyde and Surrey.

Helen’s fiction and poetry is published in a range of anthologies, journals and zines. Her creative work unites with her academic research through core themes of temporality, materiality and embodiment.

Lemon Xueli Tang is a Graphic Designer and Lecturer with extensive experience across visual communication, branding, UI/UX design, and project management. They have held senior roles including Chief Designer, Visual Director, and Senior Graphic Designer, contributing to a wide range of industry collaborations and high-profile projects. Lemon brings a strong passion for design education to their work, delivering masterclasses, mentoring students, and fostering innovative, critical thinking within the field.

In addition to their professional practice, Lemon’s research critically explores how behaviourist principles—such as reinforcement, conditioning, and standardisation—are subtly embedded within graphic communication design. Their work examines how these mechanisms influence creative output, visual language, and decision-making processes, ultimately reinforcing academic hierarchies and marginalising individual expression. Through this lens, they challenge dominant models of design pedagogy and advocate for more inclusive, reflective practices.