Profile
Dr. Kristen Murray is an interdisciplinary scholar and theatre practitioner with twenty-five years’ teaching and directing experience. Dr. Murray holds a PhD from both the School of the Arts & Media and the School of Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, where she received the International Postgraduate Research Scholarship. Dr. Murray also earned a Master of Creative Arts in Theatre (Directing) and a Master of Science in Psychology (Counselling), following her Bachelor of Arts (Honours, university award) in Psychology, with a secondary emphasis in Theatre.
Dr. Murray’s specific research interests coalesce around theatrical representations of inequality, mortality and bereavement. In her consulting work, Dr. Murray has researched and published on current policy issues in health, education, and equalising access to government and community services.
In addition, Dr. Murray has directed or acted in more than twenty stage productions, with a particular focus on Shakespeare. She is committed to student well-being and the creation of dynamic educational environments. Dr. Murray is the Co-Director of the HKU Guild. She also leads the Master of Arts in English Studies (MAES) Creative Component of the Capstone, which includes the annual Masters-level Shakespeare production, Local/Focal Short Film Festival, Hong Kong Impressions photographic exhibition and Dragonfly Spoken Word Festival.
Dr. Murray’s current work examines social inequality and bereavement in Shakespeare, as well as twentieth and twenty-first century dramatic and literary texts. Her PhD dissertation focussed on articulations of loss in contemporary plays, linking these scenes to contemporaneous sociological shifts in the medicalisation and mediatisation of death. Dr. Murray’s subsequent book chapter on dark comedy analysed twenty-first century depictions of funerals in fictional television. Her current project is on representations of grief in Shakespeare’s plays, particularly for women characters.
In addition, Dr. Murray has worked extensively in public policy research, advising government departments and NGOs in Australia regarding inequalities in health and education services. Dr. Murray’s collaborative research has focused on effective, inclusive communication in hospitals and educational interventions for public health. To date, these research projects have culminated in twenty government research reports and/or peer-reviewed journal articles.
Global Shakespeare, MAES programme
Creative Component of the Capstone Experience, MAES programme
Women’s Writing, BA programme
Literature and Language Arts
Teaching English for the Creative Curriculum
Critical Theory and Modernism
Shakespeare: Introduction to Genius
Literature, Language and Culture
Comedy: Theory and Text
Drama for Language Learning
Practical Communication Strategies I and II
