Durham academic selected as New Generation Thinker
Dr Noreen Masud has taken up the prestigious role as one of this year's New Generation Thinkers (NGT) which will see her working with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and BBC Radio 3. Hundreds of researchers applied to this year's scheme, and Noreen was one of ten selected as a NGT for 2020, which will include working with BBC Radio 3 to develop her own programmes for the station. The announcement of Noreen's appointment was made shortly after the UK went into lockdown, so we caught up with Noreen to find out more about her role as an NGT and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on her research. How are you coping with recent events? I am locked down alone in Newcastle with my cat, who is curled up on my lap as I type. I grew up in a confined situation in Pakistan, and know how to cope with prolonged periods of fear, uncertainty and monotony, so I'm fine. I'm getting on with my work, using online resources and the books that I've got with me. I'm lucky in that I can do without archive research for now. I also volunteer for my local mutual aid group in the west end of Newcastle, monitoring phone and email inboxes and distributing aid requests. However, I want to stress that anyone finding work difficult right now is responding reasonably and sanely to the situation. Spending my time in solitude, speaking to people only over the phone or video calls, means that I spend a lot of time thinking about the complexity of encounters: specifically, at the moment, how we change or don't change when we're observed. I'm enjoying the experience of spending most of my time unobserved. What is the nature of the research you are working on?
