Isabelle is an ESRC funded PhD candidate in the Sociology Department at the University of Cambridge. She holds a double first-class honours BA degree in Sociology and Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge and an MPhil in the Sociology of Marginality and Exclusion from the Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge.
Her current research, which she began as an undergraduate, focuses on the digital mediation of transnational and transracial adoption in the USA, with a specific focus on examining the ways in which intersectional inequalities are reproduced in digital environments. In doing this work, Isabelle works interdisciplinarily, drawing on research produced by scholars working in the fields of anthropology, digital sociology, race critical code studies, the sociology of ‘race’ and racism, critical race theory, decolonial theory and the sociology of reproduction.
Isabelle has received a range of awards for her academic work. As an undergraduate, these included the Winifred Georgina Holgate Pollard Memorial Prize for outstanding results from the University of Cambridge and selection by the Fulbright Commission as the sole UK candidate to attend a summer school in on Civic Engagement in the USA. As an MPhil student, Isabelle was awarded the Polity Prize by the Department of Sociology for best Dissertation. In 2022 Isabelle holds a British Research Council Fellowship at the Kluge Center, Library of Congress. She is also a Fellow at the New School’s Institute for Critical Social Enquiry.
A significant portion of Isabelle’s research is concerned with considering the nature of ethical and reflexively situated digital research and explorative mixed methods approaches. Isabelle is currently exploring these ideas as a Methods Fellow for Cambridge Digital Humanities, as well as in a seminar she teaches for the School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences on Critical Methods in Practice.
Isabelle is always keen to think about ways to break down boundaries between research, activism and everyday life. This commitment is expressed in her academic organising: in 2019 she successfully relaunched the Race Research Cluster in the Department of Sociology and ran a weekly reading group on Race and Digital Technology. From 2020 - 2022 she worked to co-convene the conference 'The Post Windrush Generation: Black British Voices of Resistance', a pathbreaking event which brought together a group of leading Black academics, artists and commentators to explore the history and present-day reality of race relations in the UK. Isabelle is also working on her first novel, which draws on her experiences growing up mixed-race in rural Derbyshire in the 1990s, as well as wider experiences of her Afro-Caribbean family over three generations. She is currently receiving
mentorship for this project through Escalator - the National Centre for Writing’s annual talent development programme.
Prior to beginning her academic studies, Isabelle worked in the campaigns and policy sector with a number of national and international organisations. She focused on campaigns against intersectional inequalities experienced by children and young people, as well as holding roles which sought to challenge internal institutional inequality within organisations. She continues this commitment at the University of Cambridge in her teaching and facilitation work. Isabelle’s pedagogical approach was recently recognised by the University of Cambridge’s Student Led Teaching Awards, where she was nominated and shortlisted for the award in Inclusive Practice. She also holds a Special Supervisor position at Lucy Cavendish College. Isabelle's commitment to working with young people is reflected in her volunteering with a local youth organisation and teaching for access schemes within the University. She is currently studying for a vocational qualification in youth work theory and practice.
