Jude Schofield

Jude is an early career researcher based in the East Asian Languages and Cultures department, having passed their viva with minor corrections. They have a first-class honours in BA Japanese and Korean, and a distinction in MA Japanese Studies, both at SOAS, throughout which they focused on the experiences of marginalised people in Japan through a curated module selection including Writing from the Margins, focusing on literature in Japan written by marginalised people, Advanced Japanese, Japanese - English Translation, and Transnationalising Trans, Queer and Disability Studies. Their doctoral research training was in the fields of Anthropology and Gender Studies, providing an interdisciplinary framework from which to conduct their research.

Jude's PhD project focuses on the lived and embodied experiences of disabled people in the workplace in Japan, during which time they were a visiting fellow of Tokyo College, University of Tokyo. They use interdisciplinary research methods and theoretical frameworks to analyse the ways in which workplaces are currently supporting their disabled employees, and what needs to change so that disabled people can equitably access the workplace moving forward. They have a contracted monograph with Palgrave Macmillian forthcoming based on their PhD thesis, titled Embodied Experiences of Disability in Japanese Workplaces: Robots, Social Media, and Segregation (expected publication 2027).

In addition to their research interests, Jude is a Graduate Teaching Assistant, having taught on a number of East Asian Languages and Cultures modules including East Asian Imperialisms, Myths Legends and Folkways of East Asia, and Contemporary Japanese Society, as well as Common Core I, a Doctoral School training module for first-year PhD students. They are a 1:1 Study Skills tutor and regularly run study skills workshops for undergraduate and postgraduate students, and they are also a freelance Disability Equity Consultant, working with higher education institutions to draft and implement policy, form Disabled Staff Networks, and to guide institutions towards becoming a Disability Confident Employer. 

• Schofield, J. (2025) Inclusion or Segregation? The Specialist Subsidiary System for Accessibility in Japanese Workplaces in Review of Disability Studies (20, 1). Available via RDS at https://rdsjournal.org/index.php/journal/article/view/1354 [as Jenni Schofield]
• Schofield, J. (2025) “To be recognised as human is enough”: Tales from the intersection of queerness and disability in Metttasphere: Narrating identities across borders and media, ed. Facius, M., aliwen, and Janz, H. Torch Press. ISBN: 978-4-907562-57-1 C0070
• Schofield, J. (forthcoming) Embodied Experiences of Disability in Japanese Workplaces: Robots, Social Media, and Segregation. Palgrave Studies in Disability in Asia and the Pacific. Palgrave MacMillan.

Jude's research interests are disability and equitable access, accessibility, assistive technology, and neurodiversity. They also have an interest in queer and trans studies. They approach all of their research with an intersectional and interdisciplinary lens.

Jude Schofield