Laura Schmitz-Justen

Englisches Seminar
© Noack
Englisches Seminar
Postdoctoral Researcher & Teaching Associate
Chair of British Studies
Room 324
Johannisstr. 12-20
48143 Münster
T: 0251- 83 24826
laura.schmitz-justen@uni-muenster.de
Consultation hours: Summer term: Mondays, 3:00-4:00 pm (Please register for appointments via Learnweb).

  • Information for Students

    In principle, I am happy to act as an advisor for BA or MA/MEd theses. Before reaching out, please…

    …make sure that your proposed topic falls within the realm of British Studies and corresponds to my research interests;

    …write a proposal of ca. 300 words explaining what you would like to work on. Please include your selected literary texts, relevant theory, a preliminary research question, and evidence of initial research (i.e. a short list of relevant secondary literature and theory).

    … refrain from sending proposals that are under consideration with other instructors. Please state in your e-mail that your proposal is not currently in circulation elsewhere.

    This is to provide a basis for us to find out whether I would be a helpful advisor and a starting point for your development of your thesis.

    If you would like me to write a reference for you, please…

    … make sure that you were in one of my classes and participated actively. This is a condition for me to be able to write a useful reference. If that is the case, I am happy to write a reference.

    … send me the following things in a single e-mail: the advertisement/brochure for the job or program for which you are applying, your CV, your letter of motivation, an up-to-date transcript of records as well as the deadline and address to which I need to send your reference.

    … leave a time allowance of at least three weeks for me to complete your reference. I am diligent when it comes to meeting these deadlines, but I do need some time. If you are nervous, it is okay to follow up and ask whether I have sent off your reference.

  • Research Interests

    • 18th-, 20th-, and 21st-Century British Literature
    • Women’s Suffrage Fiction
    • Law and Literature
    • Feminist, Gender and Queer Theory
    • Disability Studies
    • Postcolonial Studies
    • Intertextuality, Intermediality, Ekphrasis

  • Curriculum Vitae

    Positions

    2024– : Postdoctoral Research and Teaching Associate to the Chair of British Studies, English Department, University of Münster

    April 2024–Sep 2024: Visiting Scholar, Centre for British Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin

    Oct 2023–Jan 2024: Research associate to the Chair of British Studies, English Department, University of Münster

    2020–2023: Research associate at the CRC 1385, University of Münster

    2022: Visiting Researcher, Faculty of English, University of Oxford
     

    Academic Education

    2020–2024: PhD in English Literary and Cultural Studies (defended January 2024)

    2017–2019: Master of Arts in in British, American and Postcolonial Studies, University of Münster (supported through a ProTalent scholarship)

    2018: Visiting Student, Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford (funded by a PROMOS Partial Stipend of the DAAD)

    2014–2017: Bachelor’s Degree Programme in English/American Studies and Communicational Sciences, Dual-Subject Bachelor, University of Münster

    2012–2014: Bachelor's Degree Programme in English/American Studies and Biology, Teacher Training Programme, University of Münster
     

    Committee Work

    Oct 2025– : full member of the philology department’s study advisory board

    Apr 2025– : alternate member of the university senate’s commission for diversity

    Apr 2025– : alternate member of the university’s central quality improvement commission (QVK)

    Oct 2024– : alternate member of the philology department’s council

    Oct 2023–Sept 2025: alternate member of the philology department’s study advisory board

    2020–2022: PhD student representative, CRC 1385 “Law and Literature,” University of Münster

     

  • Publications

    Edited Collection

    – Schmitz-Justen, Laura, Laura A. Zander, Hanna Luise Kroll and Laura Wittmann (eds.). Feminist Perspectives on Law and Literature. De Gruyter 2025.

    Articles in Peer Reviewed Journals

    – Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “‘And Then I Told You I Fell in Love with a Tree’: Queer Ecologies in Ali Smith’s Short Stories.” Journal of Lesbian Studies, vol. 29, no. 2 (2024), pp. 186–204.

    – Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “‘Art is Seeing Things’: Ekphrastic Dimensions in Ali Smith’s Seasonal Quartet.” English Studies, vol. 103, no. 3 (2022): pp. 317–337.

    Contributions in Edited Collections

    – Schmitz-Justen, Laura, Laura A. Zander, Hanna Luise Kroll and Laura Wittmann.“Introduction,” Feminist Perspectives on Law and Literature. Ed. Laura Schmitz-Justen, Laura A. Zander, Hanna Luise Kroll and Laura Wittmann. De Gruyter 2025.

    – Reinker, Frank, and Laura Schmitz-Justen. “Die Anfänge (1956–1977): Münster hat nun auch ein Zimmertheater.” In Meinhard Zanger and Tanja Weidner (Ed.), Alles verspielt. Das Wolfgang Borchert Theater. Coppenrath, 2018, pp. 9–27.

    Review

    – Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “Review: Erzählen und Recht. Narrative and Law. Edited by Monika Fludernik and Frank Schäfer. Nomos, 2022.” Literaturwissenschaftliches Jahrbuch, vol. 65 (2024): pp. 368-372.

     

  • Talks

    • Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “Invested in the Past: Distilled Ideality, Trans Archives and the Pressures of the Book Market in Jordy Rosenberg's Confessions of the Fox (2018).” International Symposium: Neo-Historical Fiction at 2025 – Prized Temporalities and Contested Progress, Free University of Berlin, 03.06.2025.

    • Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “Narrating Disability: ‘things that didn’t happen’ in Sarah Moss’s The Tidal Zone (2016). Lecture Series: Hot Spots in Literary/Cultural Studies and Linguistics, University of Münster, 18.11.2024.
    • Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “A ‘Sense of Imperial Interest’: Nationalist and Imperialist Ideologies in Women’s Suffrage Literature.” Modernism and Decadence Studies 2024: Global Encounters, Centre for British Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin, 28.09.2024.
    • Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “‘The Feminist Vortex’: Individualism and Collective Interest in Women’s Suffrage Literature.” Workshop: Women’s Suffrage Literature, Centre for British Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin, 20.09.2024.
    • Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “Sister Suffragette? Women’s Suffrage Literature and Coalitional Politics.” Lunch Talks Lecture Series, Centre for British Studies, Humboldt University of Berlin, 13.06.2024.
    • Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “(Re)Covering Rebecca: A Reception and Marketing History in Book Covers.” Reimagining Rebecca: A Symposium on Du Maurier’s Novel and its Legacy, University of Sussex, 27.05.2022.
    • Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “The Poet as Lawgiver in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century British Culture.” Workshop British Literature as Equity in the Long 19th Century (and Beyond), University of Münster, 26.04.2022.
    • Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “Detransition, Baby. A Limit Case for Law and Literature?” Workshop of the Dynamic Cluster Feministische Perspektiven auf “Recht und Literatur” with Laura Borchert and Greta Olson 11.02.2022, University of Münster and Zoom.
    • Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “‘Arty Art’: Ekphrasis in Ali Smith’s Autumn.” Lecture Series: Hot Spots in Literary/Cultural Studies and Linguistics, University of Münster, 17.12.2019.
    • Schmitz-Justen, Laura. “‘Universally Acknowledged’: Transmedia Storytelling in The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.” Connect the Dots: Student Conference Bayreuth, Bayreuth University, 11.01.2014.