Elizabeth Straughan gained a diploma in Art from Chelsea College of Art and Design in 2002 before moving to the geography department at The University of Wales Aberystwyth to graduate with a degree in Human Geography in 2006. She then went on to gain a Masters in Space, Time and Culture in 2007 and is currently in the final stages of writing up her PhD thesis with that same institute.

Elizabeth’s work explores themes of corporeal vulnerability, surface porosity and emotion mobilization, themes which unpack anxious experience as it is manifest in the embodied encounters of teaching scuba diving, learning taxidermy and experiencing treatments of the beauty salon.

Elizabeth has presented her work at international conferences, has published both within and beyond Geography and gained practical, interdisciplinary collaborative experience working with an Aberystwyth Masters art student.