Amy McMonagle

Amy (they/them) is a disabled, non-binary, and queer academic, artist and activist. They have spent the past three years as a Policy and Research Officer at the Scottish Parliament, covering a variety of portfolios including Equalities and Human Rights, Criminal and Civil Justice, Veterans, Culture, and Education. This has enabled Amy to work at the heart of politics, most notably, Gender Recognition Reform. Prior to this period, they worked as a Parliamentary Assistant for a Member of the European Parliament.

During their academic career, Amy acquired a First Class Law Degree, and, subsequently a Masters of Science in Criminology with Distinction from the University of Edinburgh. During this period they explored both arts and archival based work that would go on to inform their incoming PhD. Their arts experience came through working with Scotland based theatre company Aulos Productions, bringing new writing and ancient classics to the stage for Edinburgh Fringe and UK Touring Productions. Their archival experience developed through working as an archivist with the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH).

Amy is an incoming PhD candidate at The University of Glasgow, having successfully acquired funding through the Scottish Graduate School of Social Sciences (SGSSS) Open Competition. Combining an archival case study of Lennox Castle with Crip Theory, their project explores how ableism, rehabilitative narratives and normality politics create a system unwilling to imagine, let alone build, disability futures. From this, they will examine how to pivot from current suppressive approaches to disability policy into ones of wider liberation from normality politics. 

Amy’s research interests lie in Crip, Queer, and Gender Theory, Research Ethics, Body Politics, and Institutional Power. They are also interested in alternative and accessible approaches to research from methodology to presentation.