Dr Jen Aggleton

Professional biography

Jen's research interests centre around children's culture, and include children's cultural engagements and reader response, children's library collections, and visual texts. Her ESRC-funded PhD research explored children's experiences of reading illustrated novels, and was awarded a special commendation in the United Kingdom Literacy Association student research prize for postgraduate work.  She has also published research on digital comics, and on children's involvement in the development of library collections. Jen conducts both theoretical and empirical research and is particularly interested in participatory forms of research which position children as co-researchers. 

Jen is currently leading a United Kingdom Literacy Association funded international research project exploring teachers' perceptions and experiences of using narrative videogames to teach literacy, working with colleagues at McGill University, Canada and United Arab Emirates University, UAE.

Jen is the Module Chair of E209, Developing Subject Knowledge for the Primary Years. She is also a member of the authoring team for the Primary PGCE. She was lead author for Strand B Understanding Learners and Strand C Planning, and provided contributions around English Language, Literature, Literacy, and Arts, and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion across the PGCE. Jen is also a member of the authoring team for L301 Language, Literature, and Childhood (launching 2023). She is authoring the units What is Children's Literature? and Digital Engagements, as well as a print chapter on Comics. 

Jen is currently part of a PhD supervising team for a project on Representations of sign language and D/deaf culture in children's literature.

Jen worked with the British Library exploring the collection and preservation of digital comics, and developed a new web archive collection of British webcomics. The archive can be found at the link below. Please nominate any British webcomics you know of that aren't currently represented to help the archive grow.

https://www.webarchive.org.uk/en/ukwa/collection/1370

Jen oversees the annual evalutation of Cheltenham Festivals' Reading Teachers = Reading Pupils programme. She is also a member of professional associations including the International Research Society for Children's Literature (IRSCL), the United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA), and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP).

Jen was part of the AHRC funded Digital Children's Library Network, working with colleagues from the University of Cambridge, University of Florida, Anglia Ruskin University, and the University of Antwerp. She is currently working with Dr Macarena García González, president of the Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Justicia Educacional at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, advising on an international project on young readers' experiences of public libraries.