Eleanor Marsden
‘Your Next Chapter? Insights into the Creative Writing PhD’
(‘You’re doing a PhD in creative writing? … Why?!’) Third-year doctoral student Eleanor Marsden shines a light on the value of a practice-led PhD and shares her own experience of the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of undertaking this level of research. The talk will highlight the benefits of a creative PhD, aiming to demystify what’s involved and showcasing the many opportunities doctoral research can offer along the way. For anyone personally considering further academic study, or simply those curious to know the answer to the question above, this session will showcase the generative intersection of academic research and creative practice.
Eleanor received her BA and MA in English Literature from the University of Southampton and has just commenced her third year of a part-time PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Winchester, investigating fiction-writing as a therapeutic process. She recently won first place in the University’s 2026 Three Minute Thesis competition (3MT®) and made it through to the national competition to become a UK semi-finalist. She has presented her research to audiences of specialists and non-specialists, both locally and nationally – most recently at University College London’s international Great Writing conference – whilst her short fiction and poetry has been published and won various accolades, including from the Hampshire Writers’ Society and from the Bridport Prize.
Our guest speaker for the evening will be Carole Burns (Associate Professor in Creative Writing, University of Southampton) in an evening focused on opportunities for writers arising from academically-inflected creative writing.
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