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University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol
Thursday 12th and Friday 13th July 2007
Conference Report
Iain Robert Smith
University of Nottingham
At a time when the postgraduate process is becoming increasingly professionalised -- with pressure to teach undergraduate courses, to publish articles in respected journals, to attend and organise conferences, and write a thesis -- it is a relief to know that events such as the MeCCSA Postgraduate Network (PGN) Conference are available to help postgraduates attain the necessary skills to enter the academic workplace.
Building on previous annual events in Ulster, Cardiff and Birmingham, this year’s PGN conference was held at the University of West of England in Bristol. The two-day event featured 68 papers on topics as diverse as ‘The US Black Power movement in documentary film’, ‘Female sexual desire in contemporary Spanish cinema’, and ‘The reception of television historical dramas in China’. Illustrating the diversity of work currently being undertaken across the field of media and cultural studies, the conference pointed to a flourishing discipline that is coming to terms with the impact of new media technologies, geo-political disputes, and trans-media mergers within an increasingly globalised media landscape.
While the nature of a conference with four parallel sessions running at any one time meant that each delegate’s conference experience was likely to diverge greatly, this particular delegate found the panels on ‘Fan Culture and Online Audiences’ and ‘Online Citizens and Democracy’ to be particularly valuable -- with Cath Davies’ insightful discussion of representations of death and Einar Thorsen’s rigorous research on online civic engagement deserving special mention.
Furthermore, while one of the aims of the PGN conference is to offer the opportunity for new PhD students to deliver their first conference papers in a mutually supportive environment, this thankfully did not mean that students simply offered each other unquestioning praise. Indeed, some of the most useful sessions were those in which methodologies were challenged and conclusions questioned. With criticism generally tending towards the constructive -- “perhaps you could read such-and-such in order to broaden the relevance of your case study?” -- there was a refreshing sense that most delegates were delighted to help and support their colleagues.
Of course, with the job market becoming increasingly fierce, one shadow which hangs over these events is the prospect of graduate students competing with their peers for jobs in a few years’ time. Thankfully, one of the real strengths of the PGN conferences are the workshop sessions which are specially designed to help postgraduate students develop those skills which will prove invaluable on the job market. This year these ranged from plenary talks on publishing and finding employment, to workshop sessions on teaching and obtaining funding. One of the most useful of these sessions was the keynote on ‘The PhD Experience and Finding Employment’ in which Dr Lincoln Geraghty and Dr Farida Vis offered their advice on that worrisome question - what next? Drawing on their own experiences, they discussed obtaining book contracts, navigating the job market, and developing future research projects. These were especially helpful since both speakers were recent PhD graduates: in the years following graduation, Dr Geraghty gained a permanent lecturing position and a number of book contracts; similarly Dr Vis achieved a prestigious post-doctoral research post with the Open University.
The event was rounded off with a plenary talk on the development of digital video technology from Prof Michael Chanan and a discussion of the Raindance Film Festival from founder Elliot Grove. Laying emphasis on the much neglected media practice sector, these closing sessions brought insights from the practical world of cultural production into the more theoretical world of academia. Indeed, this dialogue often resulted in clashes -- the stark pragmatism of film producer Elliot Grove very much conflicting with the more idealistic vision of artistic production from Michael Chanan -- yet it seemed a fitting end to a conference which brought together academics and practitioners from across the media spectrum.
With this annual conference capping an academic year which has already seen the PGN organise the regional events ‘Sharing Experience’ and ‘Minding the Gap’, the network is very much in rude health. Far from the poor cousin of the main MeCCSA conference, this year’s PGN event was the more youthful -- dare I say more vibrant -- nephew. These are the next generation of media studies scholars, an indication of where the discipline is heading, and where it will one day arrive.
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