I’m delighted to say that Dr Denise DeCaires-Narain will be taking on the role of CHASE Director from the beginning of August. Denise is a colleague in the School of English at Sussex, with research interests that will be close to many of you (you can read more about her here: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/profiles/682). I’m sure you will join me in welcoming her to CHASE and I hope she has as stimulating a time as I have in taking CHASE forward over the next few years.
I want to take this opportunity to thank everybody who has supported me in this role. The CHASE team – Rob Witts, Steve Colburn and Clare Hunt – deserve special thanks for making my daily life much more manageable than it might otherwise have been! But academics and administrators across our 9 institutions have made CHASE a wonderful ‘place’ to work and think in.
Above all, of course, my thanks have to go to CHASE doctoral researchers. As you have probably heard in the course of your time here, it was no small undertaking to secure AHRC funding on the scale that we have in CHASE. That you have made that effort worthwhile – in fact, a pleasure – takes the measure of the interest and value of your research. I wish you the very best for your futures, and look forward to seeing you at CHASE events.
Warmest wishes,
Vicky Lebeau