Dr Jennifer Shepherd

Professional biography

Originally from Canada, I studied at the University of Saskatchewan and Dalhousie University before completing a SHHRC-funded PhD at the University of Alberta and post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Hull. 

​I have worked for The Open University since 2005, variously as an Associate Lecturer, a Senior Faculty Manager and—since 2019—a Senior Lecturer and Staff Tutor in the Department of English Literature and Creative Writing. 

Research interests

My research has mainly focused on late nineteenth and early twentieth-century transatlantic literary history, women’s writing, middlebrow studies and literary modernism.

My doctoral dissertation explored the early history of middlebrow literary culture in Britain through the case study of Elizabeth von Arnim’s fiction.  My publications include articles on Edith Wharton and fashion, early literary representations of the motoring movement in Britain and developments in genre in turn-of-the-century fiction. 

My current research has extended to include narratives of aging across the twentieth century, with a focus on how these representations intersect with class and gender interests.  Current projects examine discourses around rejuvenation and anti-aging therapies in women’s writing of the interwar period (including the work of Edith Wharton, Gertrude Atherton and Elinor Glyn on one side of the Atlantic,  and Elizabeth von Arim and Virginia Woolf on the other).

Teaching interests

I taught English literature and communications courses at the University of Alberta (Canada) before being appointed as an Associate Lecturer for The Open University in 2005. Since then I’ve taught on a range of OU modules (A103, AA100, A230) and managed tuition on others (A224, A105, AA100, A111). I am currently a member of the A240 (Literature Matters) Module Team.  

Impact and engagement

I served as co-editor of Modern Humanities Research Association Working Papers in the Humanities <www.mhra.org.uk/journals/WPH> in 2005-2006 and more recently have acted as a peer-reviewer for Studies in Travel Writing.  I presently sit on the executive committee of the International Elizabeth von Arnim Society.

Having invested a significant amount of my academic career in teaching, I am keenly interested in the scholarship of learning and pedagogical engagement. Past research projects have examined the needs of young learners; the support of students with mental health challenges; and patterns in Arts students' tuition attendance and engagement, all within a distance-learning context. 

I chair the FASS team in Ireland, which is responsible for local knowledge exchange and engagement, as well as maintaining partnerships with Ireland-based organisations such as the John Hewitt Society (https://www.johnhewittsociety.org/).