About Me
I am a writer, researcher and lecturer in new media and cultural studies, with particular interest in fan studies, dark fandoms, music and new literacies. I am also a member of the COPIM project, which is committed to developing fair, equitable and sustainable models and infrastructures for Open Access Publishing.
My Work
I received my PhD in media and cultural studies from Cardiff University in 2014. My thesis concerned fanfiction and changing ideologies of authorship, for which I received the Centre for Journalism Studies PhD Research Award 2010-11. This thesis formed the basis of my first book, Fanfiction and the Author, which is available to read Open Access at OAPEN. I went on to a lectureship in digital media at Bangor University in North Wales, wherein I fulfilled various roles including Exams Officer and Ethics Officer for the school, and received my Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (now called Advance HE) in 2016.
I then moved to a postdoctoral research role at Solent University, where I developed my interests in fandom, new media and music. I published Emo: How Fans Defined a Subculture , which is the only academic monograph on emotional hardcore to date. Throughout this time, I was becoming increasingly interested in new forms of publishing, digital literacies and the importance of Open Access for a fair and equitable academy. Thus in 2021, I became a member of the COPIM project (Community-Led Open Publication Infrastructures for Monographs), specifically the creation and launch of the Open Book Collective (OBC). The OBC is a UK non-profit which brings together publishers, publishing service providers, and scholarly libraries to secure the diversity and financial futures of open access book production and dissemination. In this role, I am presently a Research and Outreach Associate at Lancaster University, and a Research Fellow at Coventry.
I am particularly interested in the embryonic field of dark fandom studies, i.e., the fan cultures that develop around serial killers, school shooters, and other violent criminals. Having previously published on this topic in New Media and Society and Humanities, I am now writing a book called Killer Fandom: Fan Studies and the Celebrity Serial Killer. It will be published Open Access by mediastudies.press in 2023. I am also seeking funding for a collaborative project exploring the social and economic processes by which interest in violence and dark fandom topics becomes culturally legitimate, specifically regarding flows of capital.
Some of my recent press features are here.
In my spare time, I enjoy reading, playing guitar, and cats.