Faculty Academic Support Lead – School of Media and Creative Industries
I have worked at the University since 1997 (having previously been a student on BA (Hons) Media Studies between 1993–1996.
I am the Faculty Academic Support Lead (FASL) for the School of Media and Creative Industries. Previous positions within the University have included Associate Head of School for Film and Media, Principal Lecturer for Quality Assurance and Enhancement, and Team Leader for Film, Media, and Journalism.
I am a graduate of the University (BA Media Studies 1993–1996/MA Film and Cultural Studies 1997–1999).
I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
I currently sit on the Student Success and Retention Committee (deputy chair). I was a member of the Behavioural Framework Development Group and have sat on many other boards, committees, and steering groups, including Athena Swan, Academic Development Quality Sub-Committee, and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
My research interests include science fiction and horror television and cinema, media history, student belonging and retention and fictional British heroes, and national identity. I have published on Doctor Who, James Bond, and Jack the Ripper. I have contributed to the BBC television series Arena (BBC, 2005, 'Galton and Simpson') and Inside Out (BBC, 2009). I have been interviewed for BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland, LBC, and BBC local radio (Newcastle, Tees, and Stoke). In 2006 I filmed and appeared in three episodes of Doctor Who (BBC, 2006, Rise of the Cybermen, Age of Steel, and Doomsday). Oh and I appeared on BBC's The Weakest Link a few years before!
Teaching and supervision
I predominantly teach:
I have taught, created, and developed modules including:
- At undergraduate level: Science Fiction and Fantasy Television, The Making of Popular Culture, History of Broadcasting, Media Histories, Contemporary Cinema, History of Cinema, Introduction to Film Analysis, American Film and Society, European Cinema, Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, Film Horror and the Body
- Dissertation Supervision – national identity, representation, media/broadcasting histories, horror, science fiction, British popular culture, cult TV and cinema, heroes and heroism
- At postgraduate level: English Literature, Media, Film and Popular Culture.
Research interests for potential research students
- Science fiction cinema and television
- Horror cinema and television
- Media histories
- History of English popular culture
- British fictional heroes – James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Who
Research
My research has focused on representation and national identity in British popular fiction. Specifically, my research examines how fictional heroes and 'cult figures' (since the mid-nineteenth century) have been rearticulated and renewed within popular culture and varying media (chiefly film and television).
I have written on the continued popularity and shifting perceptions of James Bond as both a British and English hero and at the same time, mapping attitudes to masculinity over the 20th and 21st Century.
Further research has looked at how both franchises and representations of gender are 'regenerated' in the BBC series Doctor Who, exploring through the show's long history on television, shifts not only in production and performance but also attitudes towards gender.
In recent years my research moved away from traditional fictional heroes to examine how the historical figure of Jack the Ripper is rendered as a fictional, cultural icon and sold as a commodity.
I am currently engaged in research around student engagement, success and belonging in higher education.
- Science fiction/fantasy cinema and television
- Dracula
- Horror cinema and television
- Cult TV – texts, histories, and fandom
- Media Histories
- History of English popular culture
- Representation
- British fictional heroes – James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Who
My previous roles at the University have included Associate Head of School (Film and Media), Principal Lecturer for Quality Assurance and Enhancement, Team Leader for Film, Media and Cultural Studies, Team Leader for Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, and Research Administrator.
I currently chair the Student Voice Feedback Forum (formerly Staff Liaison Committee) for the School of Media and Creative Industries. I have been chair and deputy chair of the University's Quality Management Sub-Committee (QMSC).
I have chaired and been a member on university periodic review and programme approval events, appeals panels, academic misconduct panels, extenuating circumstances, academic committees, and programme studies boards.
I have been an external examiner for BA Media and Communication at De Monfort University, Leicester (2020–2024) and for MA Creative Digital Film Production at the University of Bedfordshire (2020–2024).
