The Centre for Excellence in Media Practice

The Centre for Excellence in Media Practice (CEMP) is a research centre based in the Faculty of Media and Communication at Bournemouth University. It was awarded Centre of Excellence status in 2004 by the Higher Education Funding Council (now Research England).

CEMP delivers research projects funded by media organisations, charities, research councils, government departments and the private sector. Our research spans media, communication and journalism, with a focus on our key themes:

Media work, media management and media industry practices
Media education and professional development
Creative practice and practice-led research
Sustainability and ethics within media and communication practice
Media, politics and social change

The CEMP team consists of Bournemouth University academics and doctoral students, working with an active team of Visiting Professors and Visiting Fellows. Members of the centre and our doctoral researchers publish widely in journals, books and edited collections.

CEMP convenes the Media Education Summit, and supports a professional doctorate programme (Ed D) for media, creative arts and technology educators and practitioners. In addition to the Ed D programme, members of the centre are interested in proposals for PhD projects related to our research themes.

CEMP Membership

Core Members

Associate Members

Visiting Professors and Fellows

Research groups

The Journalism Education Research Group (JERG)

Led by: Professor Karen Fowler-Watt

JERG is focused on student perspectives and innovative thinking around journalism pedagogy with a focus on voice, inclusivity and civic impact.

Researchers and doctoral students in JERG aim to make an impact in the wider academic community, putting research at the forefront of journalism education through interventions in journalism education debate: publications/media appearances/conferences and symposia; co-creation of knowledge; collaboration and building a community of practice

The Work in Media Industries Research Group (WMIRG)

Led by: Dr Richard Wallis

This research group is dedicated to the experience and evolving nature of media work and employment. Our focus is on understanding the lived experiences of workers, the dynamics of employment, and changing conditions within media industries. We examine issues such as precariousness, diversity, professional identity, and the impact of technological and cultural shifts on media labour. Through interdisciplinary research, we aim to generate insights that inform policy, industry practices, and academic discourse, fostering a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by workers in this rapidly transforming field.

The Advertising for Good Research Association (AGORA)

Led by: Professor Janice Denegri-Knott

The Advertising for Good Research Association is committed to driving positive transformations in advertising and marketing communications by working collaboratively, across disciplines and with different stakeholder groups.

Researchers in AGORA focus on the relationships between promotional communication, consumption and wellbeing. Our members contribute to knowledge generation and its deployment in this context in order to reshape advertising and marketing practice.Our purpose is to deliver outcomes that benefit people and society.

The Screen Studies Research Group

Led by: Dr Austin Fisher

The Screen Studies Research Group brings together diverse fields of research into the practice, history and theory of screen-based media. It defines this term in the broadest sense, to investigate the multifarious ways in which such platforms - and the scholarship that has surrounded them - have developed, clashed and converged.

It provides a supportive and inclusive space for doctoral students, early-career researchers and established scholars to share their research, to collaborate on projects and to disseminate their findings through the most appropriate and reputable outlets.

The Children’s Media Research Group

Led by: Dr Ashley Woodfall

Media permeate all aspects of children’s life. The pace at which media practices and technologies are changing poses significant challenges for our understanding of their use and impacts. The Children’s Media Research Group is focussed on the development, well-being and lived experience of children as they navigate the media landscape, as well as addressing children’s media production practices and children’s media texts themselves.

Current projects

Women and Leadership in the Creative Industries

This interdisciplinary symposium ran at Bournemouth University in September 2024.Two academic publications arising out of the symposium are now in progress.

Supportive offboarding: Developing new practices to support sustainable freelance careers in TV

This project aims to design, develop and test an intervention to support TV freelancers’ careers.

Coastal Communities, Coastal Stories

Capturing memories of Bournemouth's high street and recognising its architectural and community heritage to help inform future development.

Understanding the Production Management skills gap in UK TV

Exploring the experiences and motivations of production managers working in UK television, as well as the current skills gap for the industry.

Children’s Public Service Media

Investigating how young people engage with 'traditional' broadcast content, and the future of children's public service media.

Evaluating Media Literacy with a Theory of Change

Producing a new media literacy evaluation framework, using a theory of change to measure the difference media literacy makes to people’s lives.

Exploring the influence of CEO characteristics on media firm innovation and performance

Understanding how the characteristics of CEOs influence research and development, innovation, and performance.

Team-based learning in a scriptwriting curriculum

This study explores how Team-based Learning has been implemented into a scriptwriting undergraduate programme.

Linwood Post-16 Television Studio Project

Working in partnership with Linwood School to explore how BU’s Television Studio can be operationalised for post-16 young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

Practitioners’ experiences of animatronic-led virtual production

This project focuses on practitioners’ experiences of animatronic-led virtual production and in-camera effects.

Exploring risk management on a student film shoot

This research contributes to understanding student approaches to risk management on film shoots in a higher education setting.

Previous projects

Challenges and New Directions in Journalism Education: new publication by BU academics

The book explore themes around how to teach journalism and lead change in practice with contributions from educators, practitioners and students.

State of Play: management practices in UK unscripted television

Research led by the Centre for Excellence in Media Practice (CEMP) in conjunction with industry bodies has investigated management practices in the UK television industry.

Disability by Design: Representation in TV

Exploring the experiences of deaf and disabled television professionals working both on and behind the screen.

Transforming Advertising in the Transport for London Network

Demonstrating the role of digital media and advertising in stimulating consumer imagination has transformed advertising in Transport for London.

Promoting reflection and sharing within and across international communities

This AHRC network is focused on three emblematic contexts: two rural communities (Bario and Long Lamai) in Malaysia, a historical town (Ilha de Moçambique) in Mozambique, and five favelas (Rio de Janeiro) in Brazil.

DA-RE (Digital Arts – Refugee Engagement)

Digital Arts for Refugee Engagment (DA-RE) is an exploratory research project using arts-based activities in combination with digital literacy for developing the capabilities of refugee youth in Turkey and Bangladesh.

CopyrightUser.org

CopyrightUser.org is an independent online resource to help creators and users understand their copyright rights.

Mi Camino (My Path)

An interactive narrative aimed at young people in high risk areas of Colombia at high risk of (re)recruitment by non-state armed gangs.