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Dr Tom Jackson

Dr Tom Jackson

  • Position: Lecturer in Digital Media
  • Areas of expertise: digital media; immersive technologies; ethnography; sensory research methods; photography; graphic design, sensory experience; new media; digital media; field recording; anthropology
  • Email: T.Jackson@leeds.ac.uk
  • Phone: +44(0)113 343 1117
  • Location: 1.29 Clothworkers' Building North
  • Website: tomjackson.net | Twitter | Googlescholar | Researchgate

Profile

Following a highly successful commercial career working for digital agencies across Yorkshire, I made the move into higher education in 2004. My first position was a lectureship at Leeds Metropolitan University where I gained a wide variety of teaching experience related to graphic design, interactive programming, motion graphics and many other digital media production skills. Demonstrating a natural aptitude for engaging students, developing innovative curriculum and leading teams, I rapidly became a senior lecturer and programme leader.

I joined the School of Media and Communication at the University of Leeds in 2012 to contribute to an internationally renowned centre for teaching and research in communication, media and culture. Initially employed as a Research Associate, I secured a full-time lectureship following the completion of my practice-led PhD. I continue to teach digital media production skills whilst concurrently developing a strong profile as a practice-led researcher.

Responsibilities

  • Academic Lead in Cultural Engagement, Centre for Immersive Technologies

Research interests

 

My research primarily addresses issues and debates related to sensory experience, technology and communication. I combine a broad range of theoretical interests including neurological studies of cross-modal perception, ethnographic methods and the critical analysis of digital media platforms with a practice-led and co-creative approach to research. Working closely with cultural organisations and communities, I design and implement digital methods for studying social, cultural and environmental phenomena through the lens of sensory experience. My most recent work interrogates the place of virtual and immersive technologies in engaging communities with sites of historical and cultural significance, such as museum collections and memorial sites.

I also have an emerging strand of pedagogic research related to the practice-led PhD programme. Supported by the Leeds Institute for Teaching Excellence, this work aims to provide best practice recommendations for students undertaking this programme of study, and the academic staff who supervise them.

  • Sensory experience
  • Cross-modal perception
  • Anthropology
  • Ethnographic methods
  • Immersive technologies
  • New/Digital media
  • Field recording
  • The virtual archive

 

<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Any research projects I'm currently working on will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>

Qualifications

  • BSc (Bradford)
  • PhD (Leeds)

Research groups and institutes

  • Centre for Endangered Languages, Cultures and Ecosystems

Current postgraduate researchers

<h4>Postgraduate research opportunities</h4> <p>We welcome enquiries from motivated and qualified applicants from all around the world who are interested in PhD study. Our <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk">research opportunities</a> allow you to search for projects and scholarships.</p>