Research and innovation

Our research

Our research is organized around four challenge-led themes, highlighting how our research relates to key societal issues and concerns. 

We are committed to our research having a positive societal impact and value engagement and knowledge exchange with partners from industry, government, the public sector and civil society. 

Follow us on LinkedIn and Bluesky for updates on our latest research.

Research themes

Our research is organized around four challenge-led themes, highlighting how our research relates to key societal issues and concerns. The themes span traditional sub-fields of media, communication, and cultural studies while also making possible inter-disciplinary connections, enabling new research collaborations and emergent outcomes.

Each intersecting theme is explored through various theoretical perspectives, modalities, and methods, including creative practice and practice-led research. As well as advancing academic knowledge in these areas, we are committed to our research having a positive societal impact and value engagement and knowledge exchange with partners from industry, government, the public sector and civil society. 

Working in partnership

The School of Media and Communication collaborates with internal and external partners to inform regional, national, and international policy through collaborations with industry, regulators and policymakers, such as the BBC, Ofcom, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, and the European Commission. Our researchers work with communities and industry partners to interrogate the challenges they are facing through dialogue, participation, public engagement and creative practice. Find out more.

News and events

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Clothworkers court

The School's Media, Power and Publics Research Theme invites you to a book talk by Professor Stephen Coleman on his new publication, ‘Shaping Citizenship through Talk Radio’ (Intellect, 2026).

More on 'Can We Have a Democratic National Conversation?' with Professor Stephen Coleman
Record shop

How can the case of Jamaican dub reggae broaden our understanding of music experimentation?

More on Science into Pop: Triangulating Legitimacy in Three Experimental Music Traditions
A road in the countryside

The talk explores how digital communication shapes environmental activism across local, national, and transnational levels, sometimes undermining rather than strengthening transnational solidarity

More on Research Seminar: Environmental Activism and Digital Communication: Scaling, Space, and the Limits of Transnational Solidarity
A cell phone sitting on top of a purple circle

From Oprah to TherapyTok, this interactive talk explores how mental health becomes entertainment, why therapists turn to social media, and what happens when care depends on commercial visibility.

More on The Algorithm Will See You Now: Theratainment and the Digital Commodification of Mental Health