In Memoriam: Nickianne Moody
It is with great sadness that the University announces the death of Nickianne Moody following a period of illness.
Nickianne worked at LJMU for just short of thirty years, teaching on and then leading the University’s Media and Cultural Studies provision. She combined being a dedicated researcher of popular culture with a strong commitment to developing and supporting her students, which is remembered fondly by many students past and present.
Nickianne touched the lives of so many students and staff at the University, as evidenced by the many condolences already received by her colleagues. A common theme of these has been the small moments of advice, care and concern that proved important and memorable for each person.
Beyond her teaching and programme leadership responsibilities, Nickianne played a fundamental role in the establishment of the Femorabilia collection in the University’s Special Collections and Archives, which received a visit from Celebrity Antiques Roadtrip, broadcast in January 2019. She was the convenor for the Association for Research in Popular Fictions. She was also editor of the Association’s journal Diegesis and later the journal Popular Narrative Media.
Having started her academic life as a graduate in sociology, and then undertaken postgraduate work on film, Nickianne’s central concern was to examine popular fictions as being meaningful in everyday life and culture. She published widely on topics as diverse as: representations of plague in popular fiction, the cultural history of animal welfare, gender and race in Sci-Fi television and medical fictions. More recently, Nickianne had undertaken an editorial role for the journal Textile.
Any discussion of Nickianne’s life would be incomplete without an acknowledgement of her devotion to cats, who appeared in some of her research projects, often in teaching materials, and as one of life’s pleasures more generally. Donations to Cats Protection in her memory are welcomed.
Nickianne’s funeral will take place at Springwood Crematorium and Chapel on Friday 5 July at 2.00pm.
