Research and innovation

School celebrates success at REF 2021

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Our research

We collaborate with academic institutions, the public sector and media industries in the UK and across the world. We examine the relations between media, communication and society, and explore the impact of these interactions.

The School of Media and Communication received excellent scores in the REF 2021 exercise. 88% of the submitted research outputs were judged to be ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’. This underlines the vitality of our research culture and our commitment to supporting and developing staff and postgraduate research.  

We also contribute to the Leeds Arts and Humanities Research Institute Sadler Seminar Series.

To get the latest School news, including our research, direct to your inbox, send your name and email address to mediamass@leeds.ac.uk.

Research Groups

Research in the School of Media and Communication is clustered around several research groups.

The Digital Cultures research group is interested in how digital media and technologies can act as disruptive - and potentially transformative - forces in society.

More on Digital Cultures

The Global Communication research group is united by a critical focus on how communication processes instantiate power relations that cut across the local, regional and the transnational.

More on Global Communication

The Journalism research group brings together researchers with a broad interest in journalism. They are specialists in either journalism practice or research, although most have experience in both.

More on Journalism

This research group brings together researchers with an interest in empirical and theoretical works that engage with research on media production, policy and regulation.

More on Media Industries and Cultural Production

The Political Communication research group provides a forum for researchers to discuss and investigate how power and political ideas are represented in a diversity of communication contexts.

More on Political Communication

The Visual Media and Communication research group explores the dominant role of the visual in communication and media culture - raising questions about the role of the visual in everyday life.

More on Visual Media and Communication

The Gender and Media research group brings together colleagues and postgraduate researchers engaged in debates about how gender functions within and through media and communication.

More on Gender and Media

The Practice research group is interested in how practice-led research can produce innovative answers and creative outcomes to a range of media and communication questions.

More on Practice

News and events

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Newsday winners

Students from the University of Leeds’ School of Media and Communication…

More on Double success for graduates at national student journalism awards
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The free showcase, titled ‘Language Research to Address Regional and Global…

More on Language@ Leeds to host public research showcase
Olivia and Emma holding their silver awards.

Second year BA Journalism students Olivia Davies and Emma Jackson won silver…

More on Journalism students Olivia Davies and Emma Jackson win Community Radio Award

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A photographer on a dark road points his lens at the viewer

Dr Richard Stupart argues for the existence of 'context switching' and moral injury as two novel forms of emotional harm that morally directed journalism may be particularly predisposed to

More on Research Seminar: ‘Bad feeling in journalism: Moral injury and Context Switching’
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This presentation draws on research with actors engaged in 'extreme-right' milieus to explore the messages they encounter, their responses to them and subsequent trajectories of (non)radicalisation

More on Research Seminar: ‘Responses to ‘extremist’ communication: From radicalisation to dialogue’
Clothworkers court

This talk places the international effects of digital platforms on music in the long-term context of the music industry’s relations to capitalism and colonialism

More on Research Seminar: ‘The Global Spread of Music Streaming: Capitalism and Colonialism, Technology and Culture’
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The showcase will offer insights into cutting-edge research from academics across disciplines, addressing critical issues such as inclusivity, accessibility, and reducing inequities through education

More on Language Research to Address Regional and Global Challenges