Outside of my research and teaching, I adore collaborating on projects ancillary to my main research interests. Please don’t hesitate to contact me (via my contact page), and I’ll be happy to discuss your needs, and to talk about what rates would work best for your project.
Translation and medieval French
I also have a longstanding interest in the potential (and fun!) of translation into medieval languages, inspired by the creative work of initiatives such as ‘When that Aprille day’. Most recently, I have worked on the Netflix series, Vikings: Valhalla, to which I contributed lines of dialogue in Norman French. I’ve also had the pleasure of working with a professional author, with whom I collaborated to provide 14th-century equivalents to several modern French proverbs for use in her novel, as well as translating a range of material into different varieties and dialects of medieval French simply for fun, including the theme-tune to The Fresh Price of Bel-Air and the opening lines of Star Trek (into Anglo-Norman). Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me if you’ve got a similar project in mind, whether it’s a couple of lines for flavour or something more substantial.
Researcher development, coaching and mentoring
During my PhD, I became increasingly interested in what is loosely termed ‘researcher development’ — that is, how to train and mentor early-career researchers and ensure that they develop the necessary skills in an environment that can seem to prioritise solitary labour over making connections. I’ve been fortunate to work with the Doctoral College at the University of Exeter to put together a suite of resources on the viva voce examination — available to Exeter users through ELE — and, in July 2021, I devised and ran a workshop for PhD students in Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology, on the theme of ‘Effective conference presentations, online and off’. This workshop drew on my experiences of presenting at numerous academic conferences over the years, including more recently at online and ‘hybrid’ events; attendees developed an understanding of the key distinctions between different types of event, and left with some concrete examples of good practice upon which they could build.
Edward Mills 