Conferences
Recent conference events organised by the CCMS Research Unit
BBC Wales and the history of Wales
Evening roundtable seminar debate at the Atrium, CCI, University of Glamorgan, Cardiff
Wednesday June 9th 2010
BBC Wales recently issued a commissioning call for proposals for a new television series on the history of Wales. The CCMS unit and Centre for the Study of Media and Culture in Small Nations hosted a seminar to debate the challenges faced in making televison history programming with members of the university gathered alonsgide commissioners, independent television producers and historians. James Stewart, senior lecturer in journalism, offers an overview of the event here
Investigating Torchwood: Text, Context, Audiences
One day conference at the ATRiuM, CCI, University of Glamorgan, Cardiff
Friday June 18th, 2010
Registration forms are available to download here
Optional conference dinner menu
Proposals are sought for a forthcoming symposium to be held at the University
of Glamorgan on the BBC Wales programme Torchwood (2006— ).Whilst
academic work has examined Torchwood’s parent show Doctor Who in both its
classic (pre-2005) and contemporary forms, less attention has focused on
Torchwood. This one-day event seeks to redress this balance, considering the
show from a media and cultural studies perspective.
We are interested in papers which undertake close textual analysis of the
show, as well as those which consider issues of representation and portrayal,
and the show’s reception. We would also particularly welcome proposals which
consider Torchwood within the context of debates over Welsh television and
media, and in papers which focus on issues of genre, the international appeal
of Torchwood, or its appeal across generations/sexualities. Whilst proposals
which allude to Doctor Who and/or The Sarah Jane Adventures are welcome,
the main focus of the proposed papers should be Torchwood.
The event features a keynote address by Dr. Matt Hills, Reader in the School
of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University. Dr. Hills is the
author of numerous articles on cult TV, as well as books such as Fan Cultures
(Routledge, 2002) and Triumph of a Time Lord: Regenerating Doctor Who in
the Twenty-first Century (I.B. Tauris, 2010). We also seek to extend
invitations to industry and production personnel associated with Torchwood
and hope to offer comments from this perspective alongside academic papers.
Possible topics for proposals might include, but are not limited to:
• Representations of gender, sexuality, and ethnicity
• Representations of, and audience responses to, death in Torchwood
• Fan/audience responses to Torchwood
• Celebrity and stardom
• Notions of authorship
• Genre (e.g. sci-fi, investigative drama, horror)
• Portrayals of time travel & space
• Discussions of production and industry
• Representations of Cardiff and Wales
• Torchwood’s transnational and international appeal
• Issues of quality television and cultural value
• Multiplatforming of Torchwood (e.g. radio adaptations)
• Torchwood: Children of Earth as innovative ‘event’ television
Submission guidelines: Please send abstracts of no more than 400 words and a
brief biographical note to Dr. Rebecca Williams (to whom enquiries should also
be directed) at rwillia3@glam.ac.uk The deadline for proposals is 1 April 2010.
Communicating Scientific Risk through the Mass Media – Dr Vian Bakir convened & chaired this panel, part of the ‘Language and the Scientific Imagination’, 11th International Conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas, Helsinki University (28 Jul– 2 Aug 2008).
Inside Coal House Symposium – organsied by Dr Peter Jachimiak & Dr Ruth McElroy with the Centre for Media and Culture in Small Nations, University of Glamorgan June 2008.
The Television Game Show Symposium organised by Dr Gill Allard and Ms Anna Solic with the Centre for Media and Culture in Small Nations, June 2008.
Life on Mars Conference – organised by Dr Ruth McElroy with Prof Stephen Lacey, University of Glamorgan, November 2007.
Members of the Communication, Cultural and Media Studies (CCMS) Research Unit regularly present at national and international conferences each year. Details can be found under People
