Dr. Kristen Murray is an interdisciplinary scholar and theatre practitioner with twenty years’ teaching and directing experience. Dr. Murray holds a PhD from both the School of the Arts & Media and the School of Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, where she received the International Postgraduate Research Scholarship. Dr. Murray also earned a Master of Creative Arts in Theatre (Directing) and a Master of Science in Psychology (Counselling), following her Bachelor of Arts (Honours, university award) in Psychology, with a secondary emphasis in Theatre.

Dr. Murray’s specific research interests coalesce around theatrical representations of inequality, mortality and bereavement. Dr. Murray has also directed or acted in more than twenty stage productions, with a particular focus on Shakespeare. She is committed to student well-being and the creation of dynamic educational environments. Dr. Murray currently leads the annual Masters-level Shakespeare production and the Master of Arts in English Studies (MAES) Creative Component of the Capstone.

Dr. Murray’s current work examines social inequality and bereavement in Shakespeare, as well as twentieth and twenty-first century dramatic and literary texts. Her PhD dissertation focussed on articulations of loss in contemporary plays, linking these scenes to contemporaneous sociological shifts in the medicalisation and mediatisation of death. Dr. Murray’s subsequent book chapter on dark comedy analysed twenty-first century depictions of funerals in fictional television. Her current project is on representations of grief in Shakespeare’s plays, particularly for women characters.

In addition, Dr. Murray has worked extensively in public policy research, advising government departments and NGOs in Australia regarding inequalities in health and education services. Dr. Murray’s collaborative research has focused on effective, inclusive communication in hospitals and educational interventions for public health. To date, these research projects have culminated in twenty government research reports and/or peer-reviewed journal articles.

Global Shakespeare, MAES programme

Creative Component of the Capstone Experience, MAES programme

Women’s Writing, BA programme

Literature and Language Arts

Teaching English for the Creative Curriculum

Critical Theory and Modernism

Shakespeare: Introduction to Genius

Literature, Language and Culture

Comedy: Theory and Text

Drama for Language Learning

Practical Communication Strategies I and II