Dr Francis Rees

Biography

Francis Rees is a Lecturer at the Essex Law School. Dr Rees is working on appearance discrimination in the workplace, with a specific view to forms of aesthetic labour, where an attractive appearance is integral to the the employability of the workforce. Her current research considers the role of Instagram as an 'other space', and explores what this means for child influencers on the platform, who have more heightened risks, but lower safeguarding practices and procedures, than their child model or child actor counterparts. Previously Dr Rees has researched in areas of statutory authority, in consideration of the Planning Act 2008, as well as visual approaches to property law pedagogy. Her work generally applies critical perspectives, and she has applied a Foucauldian framework to her Phd thesis, as well as her current work on Instagram as a heterotopia, or 'other space'. As a member of the Socio-Legal Studies Association, Dr Rees encourages legal perspectives that combine theoretical and methodological approaches, with practical experiential or 'lived experience' research. Prior to joining the University of Essex, Dr Rees was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminster. She holds a PhD from the School of the Built Environment at the University of Salford, and an LLB from the University of East Anglia. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and very invested in pedagogic developments that utilise technology in an effective and engaging manner.