Karen Cross

I am currently a Senior Honorary Research Fellow, having previously gained almost 20 years of experience working as an advanced researcher and educator within the field of Higher Education. I have successfully managed degree programmes within media, communications and cultural studies, including innovating in curriculum change and promoting quality learning and teaching that is both research-based and fosters in learners the skills needed for a rapidly transforming world. 

I have experience in undertaking internal and external review work, business planning and working strategically and responsively in a rapidly shifting educational environment. While fostering and maintaining high standards, I also value working in creative and holistically focused ways. My passion is facilitating transformative styles of learning and education that connect students with their sense of purpose and agency. Difficult discussions about complex topics, exploring emotions and finding hope amid the seeming chaos all excite me. 

My work focuses attention on the impacts of digital culture both at an individual and organisational level. I have spoken and published widely on my work to international audiences, including academics, practitioners, specialists and non-specialists. I am passionate about applying knowledge gained through research in practical and creative ways. 

Exploring the new horizons of media and technology for me includes focusing critical attention on solutions that are, above all, inclusive, holistically focused and ethically sound. As well as continuing to offer supervision to doctoral students and undertaking research and consultancy, I recently established the research organisation Healing Media, which seeks to provide a hub of creative engagement for a critical reframing of the role of media in our lives and the futures that we might wish to imagine for it. I am looking forward to fostering new conversations and partnerships in this area.

I hold a PhD Cultural Studies from the University of East London for which I received a full university scholarship. Prior to this, I completed the MSc Social Research Methods (Distinction) at the Open University on a full-time basis with funding from the Pavis Center for Social and Cultural Research. 

I also hold an MA(Econ) in Women’s Studies and Feminist Research from Manchester University, UK., and before this completed a BA(Hons) English at UCRYSJ awarded by Leeds University. 

Leadership
In 2012, I became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and in 2018 I completed the training Leading Transformation in Learning and Teaching (for Senior Leaders) with AdvanceHE and The Leadership Foundation. This led to the development of the project Embedding Mindfulness in the Curriculum, which piloted new approaches for transitioning to university study focusing on first year students.

In 2018, I led undergraduate programmes through revalidation. I also have experience of undertaking internal and external review work for university programmes at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels.

I am a qualified Director of Studies also performing in the role of external examiner for PhD projects internationally.

My research has been concerned with themes of transformation and change within the broader realm of social and cultural experience pertaining to the digital age and the networked society. 

I am the author of Toy Story and the Inner World of the Child (Routledge, forthcoming 2022) a book that focuses on the history of play within film and the development of computer animation using a psychoanalytic lens to explore what lies beneath the surface of cultural and technological change. 

I have written widely on the impacts of digital visual culture on shifting notions of community, work, labour and citizenship, and have presented this work to internationally to both academic and practitioner, specialist and non-specialist audiences. A full list of publications can be found linked with my profile and through my ORCiD page.

During 2021-22, I completed the funded research project ‘Visioning the Future of the City Together: Group Relations in Urban Community Planning’ deploying an innovative organisational psychology methodology to find ways to enhance community representation within the urban citizen planning processes. 

My current focus is on evolving new and innovative approaches to media and technology research and development under the broader umbrella of the Healing Media organisation. Further information can be found at: https://www.healingmedia.org

I am interested in supervising projects relating to my research and I currently supervise a range of doctoral projects within the School of Arts. 

Current PhD Supervision

Jo-Ann Cruwagen, The capacity to be alone in the presence of media screens.

Elif Grant, Shifting spaces of activism: an analysis of the internet and social spaces in post Gezi Park Turkey.

Ruth Llewelyn, Playing through the pandemic: Animal Crossing New Horizons.

Hillary Stevens, Touching Objects: a psychoanlytic analysis of The Repair Shop.

Completed PhDs

(2017) Theodora Thomadakis, On the Couch with Makeover TV: Psychoanalytic approaches to reality television, gender and audience.

Peer review

I have undertaken a wide-range of book and journal peer review roles for well-known academic publishers, including Polity, Bloomsbury, Palgrave MacMillan International. Between 2013-2017, I was the Reviews Editor for the open access journal Free Associations.  

In 2022, I became a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts.

In 2019, I became a Founding Scholar of the British Psychoanalytic Council (a scheme recognising academic and scholarly contributions to the advancement of psychoanalytic thinking).

Member of the Media, Communications and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA)

Since 2012, I have been Fellow of the Higher Education Academy