Overview

You could get a fully funded PhD, plus get extra money for living expenses through the Midlands3Cities Arts and Humanities scholarships to study with the Cult, Gender and Sexuality team housed within the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research.

We are particularly keen to attract applicants who wish to study in one of the following areas:

• Gender and Sexuality
• Fandom and Cult Media

Follow the links above to find out more about the subject and who will supervise you. Cult, Gender and Sexuality is the hub for researchers in the Birmingham Centre for Media Cultural Research (BCMCR) who investigate and write about screen-based media ranging from film and television to computer games, animation and the internet. 

For example Dr John Mercer researches issues relating to gender and sexuality and particularly sexual representation. He also has an international reputation for his work on film melodrama and 1950s Hollywood cinema.

Dr Inger Lise Bore is an audience researcher and is working on a book on television comedy audiences.

Dr Oliver Carter has established a reputation within Cult Film Studies based on his work around fan practices and fan production, especially as they relate to Italian Giallo and horror.

Dr Gemma Commane is interested in alternative femininities, burlesque, striptease and clubbing cultures, subcultures and deviancy, gender, sexuality and queer studies.

We welcome enquiries and expressions of interest from potential doctoral students who want to pursue a research degree in the areas described above. Students can work on traditional dissertations or practice-based research.