Film and Television Studies Research at UQ

Film and Television Studies research in the School of Communication and Arts is focused on questions of film and television aesthetics, ethics, criticism, screen cultures, technologies, history, and cognitive film theory. We seek to deepen understanding of film and television as artworks and as cultural expressions and experiences, and we investigate the complex nature of film and television’s evolutions at the intersection of emerging technologies and industries, media ecosystems, screen cultures, creative labour, artistry, and viewers. Our research encompasses the following approaches and themes:

  • aesthetics of film, television, animation, and digital media
  • authorship and artistry
  • cognitive film theory
  • criticism
  • detectives on film
  • digital bodies
  • ethics
  • gendered violence on screen
  • history and aesthetics of cinematic special and visual effects
  • poetics
  • synthetic media and deepfakes
  • technologies and screen performance

 We are connected through our research to the Centre for Digital Cultures and Societies, and the Centre for Critical and Creative Writing. We are also active participants in our fields on a national and international level in terms of our publications, co-edited works, research collaborations, networks, and editorial positions. Through the Daphne Mayo visiting fellow in Visual Cultures we attract leading national and international scholars to UQ on a bi-annual basis to share their research with the public and engage our undergraduate and postgraduate students.

We welcome inquiries from prospective PhD students whose research interests and projects align with our own.