Course description
Staff research areas
School of History of Art, Film and Visual Media research areas include: film, feminism and psychoanalytic theory, especially in relation to Hollywood; avant-garde film history, theory and practice; technology and aesthetics; early film and ‘intermediality’; Russian and Soviet cinema; European film policy and issues in media historiography; media technologies; early cinema; digitalisation and multimedia; film and the other arts. Inquiries in other fields are also welcome, especially those involving new primary research, work with archives and/or methodological innovation.
The Faculty of Lifelong Learning also supervises research in film/television/media studies. Current research areas include: European cinema and the film and media industries; Italian cinema; British colonial film and photography; ethnographic and documentary film-making; critical discourse analysis; theories of globalisation and anti-globalisation movements; media consumption; everyday media use and attitudes to politics and public issues; the theoretical study of journalism.
Study resources
The quality of the School of History of Art, Film and Visual Media was endorsed by the latest Government Quality Assessment visit in which we received the highest marks possible in all of the six categories assessed. In the last Research Assessment Exercise, the School increased its rating from 4 to 5.
The School’s strong research ethos has been enhanced by the foundation of the AHRC Centre for British Film and Television Studies, which was hosted by Birkbeck in 2000–2005 and has led to the creation of a new, purpose-built Centre for Film and Visual Media Research.
In addition to the Birkbeck Library, research students have easy access to the nearby University of London Library, the British Film Institute and the British Library, as well as other specialist collections and institutions in central London. You will be given special access to events, as well as research skills seminars, and you will be encouraged to attend other lectures and screenings of interest.
The School of History of Art, Film and Visual Media attracts a rich programme of visiting scholars and practitioners. There is a self-access centre for audio-visual materials and we have well-equipped computer facilities, including a multimedia laboratory.
