Research in FMDC embraces both theoretical and practice-based elements of film, media, discourse and culture. An overarching narrative is one engaging the theme of identity in an age of globalization – in other words, how these subjects relate to a sense of self with regard to the individual, the national and the global context. One strand involves study of the construction of identities, masculinities and lived experience, particularly of post-communism.

Scholarship of men’s and fathers’ experiences of mental illness also forms a facet of this identity narrative, while issues of organ and tissue transplantation and psychosis constitute further facets. In addition, the Centre’s research into representations of trauma and memory is relevant to threats to individual identity. So too are migrant experiences, studies of which focus on Polish post-communist transformations. Especially important to the theme of identity in the current climate is media ethics, which has resonances for aspects of child and animal performance in film, these exemplifying some of the specific research interests of FMDC. Also implicated in the theme of identity is the subject of space, which forms the basis for theoretical approaches to the analysis of its social, aesthetic, and cultural aspects.

In addition, practice-based methodologies are undertaken by Digital Theory, Technology and Practice as a cluster of research expertise within FMDC. Examples of recent achievements include Home from home?: A case study of the first year settlement experiences of EU migrant nurses working in one NHS Trust, a project carried out by Dariusz Galasinski and Magi Sque et al and funded by Health Education England, as well as an extensive range of single-authored and collaborative publications. 

Currently, the centre’s members carry out research in the following areas.  

See also: Arts Learning and Teaching Research (ALTR) Group for research interests relating to arts learning and teaching in a range of contexts.