Matt Hills

35 Last updated 9 October 2020.

I joined the University of Huddersfield as Professor of Media and Journalism in July 2016. With Professor Cornel Sandvoss I am co-director of the Centre for Participatory Culture, and supervise a number of PhD students in this area, focusing significantly on media fandom and fan studies.

Prior to joining Huddersfield I was Professor of Film and TV Studies at Aberystwyth University, and before that I worked for more than a decade at Cardiff University, beginning as a Lecturer and leaving as a Reader.

I have written six sole-authored research monographs, starting with Fan Cultures in 2002 and coming up to date with Doctor Who: The Unfolding Event in 2015, as well as publishing more than a hundred book chapters and journal articles in the areas of media fandom, cult film/TV, and audiences in the digital era.

I am interested in  any aspect of media fandom or any kind of audience study, particularly in areas that have been under-explored to date. I am also interested in cult film and TV, including programmes such as Sherlock, Doctor Who and telefantasy/science fiction TV more broadly. In terms of theoretical approaches, I have used psychoanalysis and psychosocial theory in my own fan studies’ research as well as drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault. As co-director of the Centre for Participatory Culture I would welcome PhD submissions in this field of study, including work on digital audiences/produsers/prosumers as well as transmedia/convergence culture.