School of Media and Communication celebrates research funding successes
Researchers in the School of Media and Communication have recently achieved success in a variety of internally funded awards to conduct diverse research, public engagement and impact activities.
Dr Miriam Kent received a ‘pump-priming’ grant from the Leeds Arts and Humanities Research Institute (LAHRI) to support public engagement and research network activities focused on ‘Comics Practice and Research’. This funding, alongside support from the School of Media and Communication and School of Design, enabled a roundtable event and exhibition launch in November 2025, featuring discussions from an expert panel of leading comics creators and scholars. Timed to coincide with the Thought Bubble Comic Arts Festival, these activities provide a catalyst for further investigations of the dynamic relationship between creative practice and scholarly research in comics studies.
Two applications for Ignite funding were successful in the School. Managed by the Cultural Institute, the Ignite Fund is designed to develop projects that build relationships between the University and external organisations.
Dr Lone Sorensen will be working with an artist at Longsight Community Art Space, on Faces and Threads, developing new arts-based research methods, inspired by her work on the AHRC project, Mediating Climate Change Politics. The Ignite-funded project captures the emotions behind online climate controversies, often shaped by social media influencers, through artistic co-creation. This will result in an installation that turns complex digital debates into tangible experiences, with local residents invited to take part in discussion events, sharing their perspectives and contributing to analysis.
Professors Bethany Klein and Anamik Saha also received Ignite funding for their project ‘Supporting Musicians at the Margins: Exploring the Impact of Come Play With Me Programmes’. The project examines how musicians encounter and experience EDI initiatives designed to address social inequalities across the music industry sector. Partnering with Come Play With Me (CPWM), a Leeds-based non-profit music development organisation that supports people from marginalised communities to develop music careers, the project will interview past participants of Come Play With Me programmes to explore and evaluate their role and impact, while also testing new methods for understanding EDI in music.
Finally, Professor Beth Johnson received substantial backing from the HEIF Maturing Impact Fund, which is designed to support opportunities for impact and knowledge exchange. Professor Johnson’s new funding, titled ‘From Evidence to Action: Tackling Class Inequality in UK Television’, builds on her AHRC-funded project, What’s On? Rethinking Class in the Television Industry. This will be a collaboration with the Film & TV Charity to produce and disseminate a co-branded policy briefing on class inequality in the screen industries. By consolidating research evidence and consulting with regulators and industry leaders, the briefing will provide policy recommendations on workforce inequality and wellbeing.
