About Dr Riyukta Raghunath
Dr. Riyukta Raghunath is the Director of Global Experience Programmes, where she oversees the planning and integration of global mobility initiatives. She is also an Associate Professor in English and Education at Northeastern University London.
With a keen interest in innovative education, she leads the First-Year Writing Studio course, which incorporates design thinking principles into writing instruction. Riyukta is also an active member of the Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion Committee and the Women’s Network at Northeastern University London. She is committed to fostering an inclusive environment, with a particular focus on supporting the advancement of working women and addressing the unique challenges they face.
Qualifications
PhD in English Language and Linguistics, Sheffield Hallam University, 2017
MA in English Language Studies – Literary Linguistics Pathway, University of Sheffield, 2012
BA in English Language and Literature, Madras Christian College, 2010
Professional Affiliations
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Member of the Poetics and Linguistics Association.
Member of the European Narratology Network.
Dr Riyukta Raghunath's Research
Riyukta Raghunath is research active in the field of cognitive narratology. Her primary area of interest lies within the genre of counterfactual historical fiction, where she analyses the worlds of alternate histories and their impact on readers’ cognitive processes. She also explores science fiction, focusing on themes like multiverses, time travel, and alternate universes, and examines how these speculative concepts influence reader response and cognitive engagement.
Beyond narratology, Riyukta is committed to advancing writing pedagogy in higher education. She is currently working on a three-year collaborative project with colleagues from Northeastern University London and Boston. This project aims to implement and evaluate the new writing curriculum at Northeastern University London, recognising the complexities involved in different writing instructions within a diverse and global student body.
Publications
Raghunath. R. (2023). ‘Possible Worlds Theory and the Fictionality of Images in Counterfactual Narratives’ In Alison, G. and Torsa. S. (eds) Fictionality and Multimodal Narratives. Lincoln: Nebraska University Press.
Raghunath, R. (2022). Possible worlds theory, accessibility relations, and counterfactual historical fiction. Journal of Literary Semantics, 51(1), 1-18.
Raghunath. R. (2020). Possible Worlds Theory and Counterfactual Historical Fiction. London: Palgrave Macmillan
Raghunath. R. (2020). “I AM not mad, most noble Festus.’ No. But I have been”: Possible Worlds Theory and the Complex Worlds of Sarban’s The Sound of his Horn’ In Moser, K. and Sukla, A. (eds) Imagination and Art: Explorations in Contemporary Theory. Brill.
Raghunath. R. (2017). ‘Alternate History: Defining Counterparts and Individuals with Transworld Identity’ In Fantastika Journal 1(1), p. 91-108.
Raghunath. R., Anker. C., and Nortcliffe, A. (2016). ‘Are academics ready for Smart Learning?’ in British Journal of Educational Technology. doi:10.1111/bjet.12532.
In Progress:
“I am so angry I paid so much to read the political ramblings with a singular viewpoint”: The importance of Reader Knowledge Worlds in Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
Knowledge Worlds (Schemas), Possible Worlds Theory, Counterfactual Historical Fiction and Artificial Intelligence
Real Readers and Counterfactual Historical Fiction: An Empirical Study of Reader Responses
Dr Riyukta Raghunath's Teaching
Riyukta co-designed and is the course leader of First-Year Writing Studio and Global Writer’s Studio. Riyukta joined Northeastern University London in 2019, having previously taught at Sheffield Hallam University and Nottingham Trent University on modules such as Language and Style, Language and Psychology, Language, Gender, and Sexuality, Digital Communication, and Language in Social Context among others.