Mark Rimmer

Mark Rimmer joined UEA in September 2009 as a Lecturer in Media Studies in the School of Film, Television and Media. Prior to joining UEA he was an ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Media and Communication at the University of Leeds and in the Department of Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam. He completed his PhD at Newcastle University in 2006.

He teaches modules related to media industries, popular music, creative work and media audiences. He is currently course director for the BA Media Studies and Ethics Officer for the School of Art, Media and American Studies.

His research interests lie in two main areas. One concerns community or participatory arts and more specifically, community music. In this area he has undertaken a number of research projects on issues from participation and education to community development and organisational sustainability. This work has resulted in a range of reports and publications for both stakeholder groups and academic audiences. Developing out of this work – and particularly its intersections with questions of cultural and musical taste – is a concern with music listening, musical experience and their relationship to social action. The focus of his most recent work engages relational sociological thinking and pragmatist philosophy to consider the value of a ‘trans-actional’ approach in music sociology and its broader relevance for approaches to studying media audiences.

He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, reviewer for a range of academic journals (e.g., Cultural Sociology, Poetics, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, Journal of Youth Studies, European Journal of Cultural Studies) and sits on the editorial board of the International Journal of Community Music.

Research supervision

Mark is interested in supervising research students in media and cultural consumption, audience studies, popular music, cultural sociology and community or participatory arts.

He has devised and convened modules including: Popular Music; Music, Media, Society; Media Industries; Media Regulation; Contemporary Mediascapes; Media Practices in Context; Effects, Audiences and The Media; Reception and Audience Studies in Film and Television; Creative Work in the Media Industries; Film Television and New Media.