As Program Manager of the Humanities Lab, Dr. Boyd blends key interests - interdisciplinary research, pedagogy, and human challenges (sexual violence, racial injustice, health care disparities, etc.) - into one goal. The Humanities Lab is an experimental space in which interdisciplinary faculty teams work with diverse students to investigate and address complex, critical social issues. These challenges are deeply entwined with human ideas, beliefs, assumptions, traditions, and values, which is the reason why the Humanities Lab emphasizes a human-centered, collaborative, transdisciplinary-research approach. Focusing on the inquiry process instead of content mastery, student teams implement their own research designs then create and disseminate research outcomes for a specific audience, all with the mentorship of faculty, librarians, and consultants. These courses, called Labs, also partner with the impacted community to inform and shape their work. This holistic approach puts theory into practice where students are immersed in the complexity of systems through a socially-situated study, that empowers the students to see their capabilities and how to channel their passion into civic action.
Dr. Boyd's research examines narratives of Victorian gendered and sexualized violence. Through archival research of Victorian periodicals she employs a mixed methods design of humanities and social science methodologies. While there are too many cultural difference to assume any key continuities between then and now, precedents put in place in the 19th century continue to haunt us in complicated ways. Boyd's research helped make the spectre of gendered sexual violence more visible by elucidating the history of a period that is consider foundational to many of today's myths about sexual violence and whose values and assumptions are embedded in systems operating today.
Currently, Dr. Boyd is working on a fictional novel based on her research.