Research Centres and Groups
There are a number of research centres and groups set up to provide focus and support for research in the Media, Art and Design subject areas.
Our Research
We publish a diverse range of publications in three main areas: digital transformations, film studies and cultural studies as well as producing thought provoking practice-based work in media, art and design.
We are proud to have worked with a variety or partners on different knowledge exchange, consultancy and community engagement projects, which we have gained an international and national reputation for. These include the South East Archive of Seaside Photography ; the Dreamland Project , in collaboration with the Dreamland Trust, Margate; the Old Lookout gallery project in Broadstairs; and the Social Media for Museums project in collaboration with the South East Museum Development Programme .
Centre for Research on Communities and Cultures
The Centre for Research on Communities and Cultures brings together researchers who develop and promote innovative research through publication, seminars, workshops, community events, conferences and online initiatives.
The Powell Research Group
The Powell Research Group aims to promote and celebrate the work of the renowned Canterbury born film-maker Michael Powell (1905-1990), to develop the Michael Powell - A Canterbury Tale Archive, and to engage with theoretical and practice-based creative research in areas such as film studies, visual culture, art history, and contemporary creative and critical activity in film and the arts.
Canterbury Media Discourse Group
The Canterbury Media Discourse Group is an inter-disciplinary group which supports research on the production, consumption and interpretation of textual traffic in the contemporary media environment. The Group’s work encompasses the many and varied forms of textual analysis, and explores a range of topics and research areas, including news discourse, journalistic practices, feminist discourse, political communication, postcolonial discourse, conversation analysis, identity, new media, and memetics.
Expanded Radio
The Expanded Radio Research Group is engaged in creative radio art activity and examines notions of expanded radio and transmission arts.
The group sees learning, feedback and the development of creative ideas and critical thought as integral to the development of a socially inclusive media arts practice, and aims to promote radio as an artistic medium through which non-specialist and specialist audiences alike may mutually develop their artistic voices.
Practice-Based Research
The Practice-Based Research Group exists to initiate, enable and disseminate practical research within our academic community and the public. Through exhibitions, screenings, performances, theatrical productions, colloquia and presentations, the group articulates creative responses to research questions in ways that are distinct from, but related to, text-based forms of research.
Centre for Practice-Based Research in the Arts
The Centre for Practice-Based Research in the Arts brings together arts practitioners from across the Faculty of Arts and Humanities to develop and promote innovative practice-based arts research through seminars, workshops, performances, broadcasts, screenings, exhibitions, conferences and online initiatives.
Keep in touch with the latest news about what's happening in our research centres by following our research blog .
The Canterbury Amateur Film Archive
Since 2011, Senior Lecturer Tim Jones has been carrying out research into amateur film making in the Kent area, initially focusing on the Canterbury District.
These webpages aim to show some of the highlights from this research. A number of exciting collections of amateur cine films have been unearthed. In many cases films have sat in lounge cupboards, sheds and lofts for the past 70 years or more waiting for a suitable home. Now digitised, these films provide a unique record of the local area as it was and give an insight into the development of amateur cinema.