Dr Gareth Hughes

Bio

Gareth is an Early Career Researcher in French and Comparative Literature, with research interests in modern and contemporary poetry, intermedial creative practices, translation, materiality of text, and environmental humanities. For his undergraduate degree he studied French at St Andrews and subsequently taught at Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris. After two years teaching English there, he returned to Scotland to pursue postgraduate studies in Comparative Literature. At the University of Glasgow he graduated with a taught Masters (MLitt) in 2019, and was then awarded the Peter Davies PG Research Scholarship in Modern Languages and Cultures for a Masters by research (MPhil) on poetic form and public transportation in the work of the OuLiPo, completed in 2021. 

He studied for his PhD at Royal Holloway, University of London, researching spatial and intermedial practices in the works of three contemporary French poets: Christophe Tarkos, Michèle Métail, and Anne-James Chaton. He was awarded AHRC funding through the Techne doctoral training partnership. Working at the intersection of French literary and visual culture and contemporary poetic practice, he was supervised by Prof. Eric Robertson and Prof. Redell Olsen, and made significant contributions to the Centre for Visual Cultures and the Poetics Research Centre. He undertook archival research at the Centre internationale de poésie Marseille and the Institut Mémoires de l'édition contemporaine, and presented at the Society for French Studies and the International Society for Intermedial Studies annual conferences. He successfully defended his thesis in June 2026. 

He has delivered several public-facing projects as a curator and a research associate. He co-curated an exhibition of eco-poetry - Words from the Wild - and organized a linked symposium exploring the themes of the exhibition. As Curatorial Assistant at Royal Holloway he delivered a pop-up display and digital exhibition celebrating the 175th anniversary of Bedford College. As Research Centre Associate for the Centre for Visual Cultures, he organized research seminars, assisted in the development of the centre's research strategy, and produced the centre's podcast series Uncovered.

Gareth joined the Research and Innovation team in September 2026. As part of the AHRC Impact Accelerator Account (IAA), he is working to gather evidence of impact from projects on sustainability and environmental design. He works collaboratively with academics at UCA to plan their impact and devise strategies for public engagement with their research.

Research outputs:

‘“Dans l’air, par contre, il se passe beaucoup de choses”: atmospheric processes in the performance poems of Christophe Tarkos’, French Studies Bulletin, 46, 23-28 (2025). 

‘Losing One’s Way: The Nomadic Translator in Caroline Bergvall’s “Via” and Drift’, Modern Languages Open, 0(1), p. 5.