Dr Jamie Medhurst

BA (Hons), MLib, PhD, FRHistS, FHEA

I have been a member of staff in the Department since 1996 (Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and now Reader) and before that was Tutor in Information Studies in the Department of Information Studies (1993-96) teaching on media information sources and services. I have undertaken various administrative and managerial roles during my time in Aberystwyth: Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Arts (2005-2008), Departmental Director of Learning and Teaching (2007-2010) and Head of Department (January 2011 - July 2014 and August 2018 - January 2019). I'm married and have two daughters and a son .... and a host of pets! Outside of work I enjoy watching rugby, spending time with the children, and playing the organ (and occasionally preaching) at St Michael's Church in Aberystwyth. During December, a large part of my time is spent in a bright red and white fur suit, black boots and false white beard.

I am a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the Higher Education Academy and am an external examiner at the University of Stirling (MSc Media Management), Edge Hill University (BA Film, Television and Media), and Birkbeck, University of London (BA Film and Media). I have examined around 15 PhD theses as external examiner in universities in the UK and Australia. I have reviewed papers for Contemporary Wales, Critical Studies in Television, Media History and Twentieth Century British History together with book proposals for Routledge, Sage Publications and Palgrave-Macmillan.

• Honorary Associate of the Centre for Media History, Maquarie University, Australia
• Member, UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowships (UKRI FLF) programme Peer Review College
• Steering Group Member, Entangled Media Histories (EMHIS) research network
• Member, Project Advisory Board, Connected Histories of the BBC (AHRC-funded project at University of Sussex) 
• Member, Expert Advisory Group, National Broadcast Archive of Wales 
• Member, Royal Television Society Shiers Trust Award Jury
• Member, Institute of Welsh Affairs Media Policy Group 
• Member, Advisory Committee for AHRC-funded project ‘The History of Forgotten Television Drama in the UK’ at Royal Holloway University of London 
• Member, Bournemouth University Broadcasting Archives Advisory Group
• Member, Consultative Group, 'People's Voices in a People's War: Aberystwyth 1939-1945' (Heritage Lottery Funded Project)

Module Coordinator

• FM10620 - Studying Media
• FM23820 - Work in the Media Industries
• FM26220 - Television History
• FM22620 - Media, Politics and Power

Coordinator

• FM10620 - Studying Media
• FM26220 - Television History
• FM22620 - Media, Politics and Power
• FM23820 - Work in the Media Industries

Lecturer

• FM10620 - Studying Media
• TFM1060 - Practice Research Project
• FM22620 - Media, Politics and Power
• ILM2720 - Media Archives
• FM23820 - Work in the Media Industries

Tutor

• TFM0840 - Documentary Practices
• FM22620 - Media, Politics and Power

Additional Lecturer

• FM23820 - Work in the Media Industries
• TC22420 - Ffilmiau Dogfen
• TC32520 - Ffilmiau Dogfen

Assistant

• TC22420 - Ffilmiau Dogfen
• TC32520 - Ffilmiau Dogfen

I teach in the areas of media history, media policy, the media and politics, media archives, and documentary film history.

My research interests include broadcasting history; media policy; film and media archives; media and society in Wales; media in the devolved nations; documentary film history.

I am currently working on a number of projects:

The Early Years of Television and the BBC (book to be published by Edinburgh University Press in 2020)

Programmes, Protest, and Politics: television and society in Wales in the 1970s (book to be published by the University of Wales Press in 2022)

Key Documents in European Media History (a research project with colleagues in Bournemouth, Lund and Hamburg universities)

Free Cinema, 1956-59 (currently negotiating a book contract with the BFI)

External Research Grants/Awards:

Arts and Humanities Research Council (£23,230), September 2008-January 2009 - research leave to complete a book (A History of Independent Television in Wales, 1956-1968).

British Academy Small Research Grant (£3117), November 2008-August 2009 - 'The Early Years of Television and the BBC, 1923-1939'.

British Academy Overseas Conference Grant (£200), 'Television: the experimental moment 1935-1955', University of Paris 8, 27-29 May 2009.

Arts and Humanities Research Council (£33,000), February 2010-January 2012 - international research network on broadcasting history.

Leverhulme Trust Research Project Grant (£113,813), September 2016-August 2019 - Television and Society in Wales in the 1970s

MPhil/PhD
supervision and examining

Research Supervision

Lucy McFadzean (AHRC studentship): ‘Community, politics and the economy in the cultural policies of the Greater London Council 1981-6.’

Gregor Cameron: ‘Re-performing Who: Tracing Theatre Technique Through Television Time’

Donald F. McLean (PhD by publication): ‘Investigations into the emergence of British television, 1926-1936’

Dafydd Sills-Jones: ‘History Documentary on UK Terrestrial Television, 1982-2002.’

I have examined a number of PhD theses in areas including public service broadcasting, Welsh language journalism, local radio in England, representations of Wales in documentary and interactive television drama. I would be interested to hear from any potential research students wishing to explore any aspect of media history/policy or issues surrounding media and national identity.

• Senior Research Development Lead, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
• Degree Scheme Coordinator, Media and Communication Studies 
• Co-Director, Aberystwyth Centre for Media History
• Academic Lead for Aberystwyth University, South West and Wales Doctoral Training Programme
• Editor-in-Chief, Media History
• I also help out with departmental admissions, schools liaison etc.