Kelly-Mae Saville

Academic Qualifications

• PhD Sociology, Awarded with Minor Corrections (3 Months), Aston University
• MA Sociology and Social Research, Awarded with Distinction, Aston University
• BSc (Hons) Sociology and English Language, Awarded with First Class Honours, Aston University

Teaching Qualifications

• MEd in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, (undertaking currently), Aston University
• Postgraduate Diploma in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (PGDipHE), Awarded with Distinction, Aston University
• Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (PGCLTHE)(FHEA), Awarded with Distinction, Aston University

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)

Disability and mothering; dwarfism; disabled identities; disabled childhoods; motherhood; communities; biopower; power/knowledge; gender; stigma; pregnancy and screening; drug trials and disability; disability autoethnographies/autobiographies; feminist methodologies; theories of embodiment; social justice; construction of disability discourses; social inequalities.

Doctoral Research (2024)

Thesis: Biopower, Biotechnologies, and the Biopolitics of Mothering: A Sociological Exploration of Maternal Subjectivities within UK Dwarfism Communities

Situated within the context of emerging biotechnological advances in growth treatments for children with achondroplasia type dwarfism, the research offered the first sociological exploration into maternal experiences within UK based dwarfism communities. Derived from qualitative in-depth interviews with average statured and dwarf mothers, the findings demonstrated the centrality of power in the complex and nuanced interplay of identity, stigma, and disability, which were interwoven in the construction of maternal experiences. The study offered original contributions to the fields of medical sociology, digital sociology, motherhood studies, disability studies, and theories on the formation of identities and communities.

2016 - Aston School of Languages and Social Sciences 50th Anniversary PhD Bursary

2015 - HEFCE MA Scholarship

2017 - The Sociology and Policy Prize (Aston University)

Awarded for the best overall performance on a Sociology or Policy postgraduate taught programme 

2015 - Languages and Social Sciences School Prize (Aston University)

Awarded for Outstanding Performance in Sociology and Policy

Becoming a Social Scientist (LK1101)