Laura Jennings-Tallant

Laura's first degree, Masters degree and PhD all focused on Early Childhood Studies.

She has a PGCHE from UEA and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Laura has worked in a number of universities, having begun her academic career as a Research Administrator/Assistant and Visiting Lecturer at Roehampton University. She later moved to the UEA, working as a Lecturer on the postgraduate Early Years Professional Status programme and BA Education Studies. In 2012 she took up a PhD studentship at the University of East Anglia and, in 2015, moved to a position as Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Studies and Co-lead of the university's centre for Research in Early Childhood (REaCh). Whislt at Bath Spa she held the position of Erasmus and Study Abroad Coordinator and Public Engagement Lead for the School of Education.

Laura held the position of External Examiner and then Lead External Examiner for the BA Early Childhood Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University for 4 years.

Her PhD was a Bakhtinian analysis of the place and nature of young children's carnivalesque humour or 'carnivality' within a nursery setting and explored practitioner perceptions and understandings of young children's humour.

Laura's research interests are inspired by her focus on Mikhail Bakhtin's work, in particular the concepts of dialogism and, Bakhtinian carnivalesque.

The multi-disciplinary focus of her academic studies on early childhood led to her current focus and interest in Bakhtinian approaches to the anthropology of childhood and humour, internationally. Laura believes it is important to recognise that, although widely known as a philologist and philosopher, Mikhail Bakhtin is an important figure in anthropology with his work offering significant insights in the field and a range of scope to explore previously under-researched avenues, particularly in the anthropology of childhood.

Laura is currently working as a Senior Research Associate on a Joyce Morris funded project with Dr. Harry Dyer, Dr. Simon Hammond and a wider team exploring young children's digital literacies: Towards developing understanding of young kids' digital literacies in early years foundation stage (TYKES).