A white man with short blond hair and ginger beard wearing a navy tuxedo and a navy bow tie.

Dr Ryan Sweet

 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1337-5699

    • Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business

    Accepting PhD Students

    Overview

    Profile summary

    Dr Ryan Sweet is a cultural and literary historian of disability with a passion for inclusive practice and widening participation in Higher Education. Ryan has published extensively on the ways in which prosthetic body parts were imagined and represented in Victorian literature and culture. He is also interested in tabletop gaming and human-animal relations in literature.
     
    Ryan's most notable publication to date is his Open Access monograph Prosthetic Body Parts in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture, which was published in the prestigious Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture book series in 2022.
     
    Thanks to generous funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, in collaboration with the serious games company Focus Games Ltd., Ryan developed the research from his book into a highly rated board game called Legless in London, which was taken to market in 2025.
     
    Alongside his research and creative work, Ryan is an award-winning teacher in Higher Education, having won an Excellence in Learning and Teaching Award at Swansea in 2021.

    Professional memberships

    Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Advance HE
     
    Fellow of the Royal Historical Society

    Teaching interests

    Victorian literature and culture, disability studies, study skills, interdisciplinary practice, Foundation Years

    Supervised research degrees

    2024–2025: James Cocks (part-time PhD in History, Swansea University), “Arts, Activism, and Accessibility: Disability Arts in Wales, 1980–Present.” (2nd supervisor)

    2024–2025: Ella Harford (full-time PhD in History, Swansea University), “Women and Sexual Deviancy 1770-1830.” (2nd supervisor)

    2019–2020: Kathryn Budden (part-time PhD in Creative Writing, University of Plymouth), “Atypical Rehabilitation Following Brain Damage after Stroke: Stories Told through Poetry and Personal Essay.” (3rd supervisor)

    2019–2020 Connor Ruse (full-time ResM in History, University of Plymouth), “Disability in 1990s Disney Film.” (2nd supervisor)

    Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

    In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

    • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
    • SDG 4 - Quality Education

    Academic qualifications

    19 Language and area studies, Doctorate, Prosthetic Body Parts in Literature and Culture, 1832–1908, University of Exeter

    Sept 2012 → 25 Jul 2016

    Award Date: 25 Jul 2016

    19 Language and area studies, Other higher degree (e.g. Masters degree), University of Exeter

    Sept 2011 → Aug 2012

    Award Date: 1 Nov 2012

    19 Language and area studies, First Degree, University of Exeter

    Sept 2008 → Jun 2011

    Award Date: 1 Jul 2011