Maxine is a PhD Candidate in the Centre for Language, Discourse and Communication at King's College London. She holds an MSc in Medical Humanities (2018), and BA in English Language and Communication (2016), also from King's. Her research broadly concerns the intersections between language, culture and health, with a specialist focus on social media contexts. In particular, she is interested in gendered interactional dynamics and practices within online alternative/holistic health and wellness cultures, as well as the significance of these dynamics for the circulation, amplification and legitimation of health mis/disinformation and conspiracy theories. Maxine is also a Graduate Teaching Fellow in the School of Education, Communication and Society, and teaches on the BA English Language and Linguistics and BA Social Sciences. She additionally guest lectures on the MA Digital Humanities. In addition to her academic work, Maxine has contributed her expertise to public media outlets, including, BBC, iPaper, Metro, Happiful and Refinery29, and has been featured in various podcasts and webinars discussing language, health and social media.

Research

Thesis title: Alt. health and authentic selfhood: Discursive constructions of authenticity among female chronically ill wellness influencer-healers on Instagram

Maxine's principal supervisor is Prof Alexandra Georgakopoulou-Nunes and her secondary supervisor is Dr Olivia Knapton.

Maxine's ESRC-funded doctoral research explores constructions of gender and health within digital wellness cultures on Instagram, utilising digital ethnographic methodologies and feminist critical discourse analysis (FCDA).