I have been a member of staff in the Department since 1996 (Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader, and now Professor of Film and Media) and before that was Tutor in Information Studies in the Department of Information Studies (1993-96). I have undertaken various administrative and managerial roles during my time in Aberystwyth including Director of Learning and Teaching, Director of Research, Head of Department, and Deputy Dean. I'm married and have three children (one of them grown up and married) .... and a host of pets. Outside of work I enjoy watching rugby, fishing, spending time with the children, playing the organ and occasionally preaching within the Aberystwyth Local Ministry Area of the Church in Wales. During December, a large part of my time is spent in a bright red and white fur suit, black boots and false white beard

My research focuses on broadcasting history and broadcasting policy. I have published books, book chapters, articles, and have delivered conference papers which have made a difference to our ideas about the ways in which early television developed in Britain and the role played by broadcasting in Welsh life. My research has also explored the role played by broadcasting in contributing to cultural and national identity in Wales. My current research on broadcasting policy in a devolved UK, with colleagues in Ulster, Glasgow, and London, will feed into policy debates on the future pattern of broadcasting in Britain.

My latest book, The Early Years of Television and the BBC was published by Edinburgh University Press in June 2022.

I am currently working on a number of articles/books/chaoters/projects/ideas:

Television and Wales in the 1970s [peer-reviewed article]

The cultural significance of broadcasting transmitters in Wales [peer-reviewed article]

Free Cinema, 1956-59 [book chapter]

Broadcasting Policy in a Devolved UK [a 2-year AHRC research project with colleagues in Glasgow, Goldsmiths London, and Ulster Universities]

Programmes, Politics and Protest: broadcasting and Wales [a book project to take me up to retirement!]

Entangled Media Histories [an ongoing research project with colleagues in Bournemouth, Lund, and Hamburg universities]

External Research Grants/Awards:

Arts and Humanities Research Council (£23,230), September 2008-January 2009 - research leave to complete a book (A History of Independent Television in Wales, 1956-1968).

British Academy Small Research Grant (£3117), November 2008-August 2009 - 'The Early Years of Television and the BBC, 1923-1939'.

British Academy Overseas Conference Grant (£200), 'Television: the experimental moment 1935-1955', University of Paris 8, 27-29 May 2009.

Arts and Humanities Research Council (£33,000), February 2010-January 2012 - international research network on broadcasting history.

Leverhulme Trust Research Project Grant (£113,813), September 2016-August 2019 - Television and Society in Wales in the 1970s

Arts and Humanities Research Council (£79,000), May 2025-April 2027 - ‘Broadcasting Policy in a Devolved UK’

PhD supervision and examining

Research Supervision (as primary supervisor)

Lewis Bullen, ‘For the Children: a history of early children’s television and the BBC, 1936-63'

Gwenan Edwards, ‘Public Service Broadcasting and lesser-used languages in Britain’

Phil Layton, ‘Everyday experimentation in electronic imaging of moving phenomena’

Donald F. McLean (PhD by publication): ‘Investigations into the emergence of British television, 1926-1936’

Lucy McFadzean (AHRC studentship): ‘Community, politics and the economy in the cultural policies of the Greater London Council 1981-6.’

I have examined over 26 PhD theses in areas including public service broadcasting, Welsh language journalism, local radio in England, representations of Wales in documentary film and television, interactive television drama, a social and cultural history of the electrophone, and a history of the BBC's Play for Today. I would be interested to hear from any potential research students wishing to explore any aspect of media history/policy or issues surrounding media and national identity.

I teach in the areas of television history, media policy, media and politics, the political economy of the media, and documentary film history.

• Departmental Director of Postgraduate Research

I am a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the Higher Education Academy and am an external examiner at Birkbeck, University of London (BA Film and Media) and the University of Liverpool (BA Communication and Media). I have examined around 20 PhD theses as external examiner in universities in the UK, Sweden, and Australia. I have reviewed papers for Contemporary Wales, Critical Studies in Television, Media History and Twentieth Century British History together with book proposals for Routledge, Sage Publications and Palgrave-Macmillan.

• Editor-in-chief, Media History
• Deputy Chair, QAA Subject Benchmark Statement Advisory Group for Communication, Media, Film and Cultural Studies
• Member, British Academy Advisory Group for Media Studies 
• Chair, Academic Advisory/User Group, National Broadcast Archive of Wales
• Member, International Association for Media and History (IAMHIST) Council
• Member, Institute of Welsh Affairs Media and Democracy Advisory Group
• Honorary Associate of the Centre for Media History, Maquarie University, Australia
• Member, UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowships (UKRI FLF) programme Peer Review College
• Steering Group Member, Entangled Media Histories (EMHIS) research network
• Member, Project Advisory Board, Connected Histories of the BBC (AHRC-funded project at University of Sussex) 
• Member, Royal Television Society Shiers Trust Award Jury
• Member, Advisory Committee for AHRC-funded project ‘The History of Forgotten Television Drama in the UK’ at Royal Holloway University of London 
• Member, Bournemouth University Broadcasting Archives Advisory Group
• Member, Consultative Group, 'People's Voices in a People's War: Aberystwyth 1939-1945' (Heritage Lottery Funded Project)