Dr Benjamin Little

Ben is an experienced practitioner in participatory methods, with research and teaching expertise in social action and digital media. He is currently Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor Civic (shared with Dr Johanna Forster) where he co-leads UEA's efforts to be better connected to the region - from grassroots engagement to working with local government. He designed UEA's 60th anniversary Civic Charter process and was one of the lead authors on the subsequent book. This is widely considered a pioneering approach nationally to Civic University Agreements. 

Ben joined UEA in 2016 from Middlesex University where he taught media and cultural studies for ten years. Ben’s background is in conjunctural cultural studies in the British tradition and his current research is on participatory methods, social action and the politics of digital culture.

His two co-authored mongraphs are key touch points at the intersection of celebrity, politics and digital media, looking at the way in which celebrified figures are key cultural locations for the exploration of political complexity. In particular, the 2021 book The New Patriarchs of Digital Capitalism: Celebrity Tech Founders and Networks of Power (with Alison Winch) looked at the men who own and run big tech companies like Tesla, Facebook and Google. He has spoken widely on this topic and has been interviewed by the Washington Post and Sky News among other media outlets. His PhD (2010) on the influence of 1980s British comic books on the politics of American comics culture won the John A. Lent scholarship for outstanding research in the field of comic art.

He teaches across politics and media modules in the department of Politics and International Relations, most notably a practice module called Activist Campaigning, which has seen students work with Greenpeace, Generation Rent and People and Planet on live campaigns. He is part of the international leadership group for Teaching Social Action - training academics to deliver student-led campaigns as a form of pedagogy.

Ben was a co-editor of Soundings: A Journal of Politics and Culture which sits at the intersection of academia, activism and politics for thirteen years. 

He believes firmly in collaboration as we shouldn't have to do difficult things on our own.