In her role as Pro Vice-Chancellor, Laura leads and manages change and transformation (academic) in a complex environment, fosters an inclusive culture to ensure the delivery of the university’s education, academic transformation and RKE strategies and initiatives to achieve the University 2030 strategy, leads on the strategies to recruit, retain, develop and manage the performance of academic staff, is the institutional lead for the university’s REF2029 entry, has overall responsibility for staff within the research and knowledge exchange functions including the Research Office and Graduate School, and chairs various university committees. Laura is also the executive lead for environmental sustainability.
Laura joined Roehampton in 2001 and has held a range of leadership positions including Dean and APVC. As a researcher, Laura works in Victorian literature and empire; she has published widely in research which engages with diversity and diverse voices. Her books, Rereading Orphanhood: Text, Inheritance, Kin (with Diane Warren) (2020), Dickens and Race (2013), Dickens and Childhood (2012) and Orphan Texts: Victorian Orphans, Culture and Empire (2000) offer significant interventions in the field of Victorian Studies. Laura is an experienced teacher and is committed to learning and teaching, holding a Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Association (now Advance HE).