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The Research Centre for Culture in Society at QMU conducts multi-disciplinary research coalescing  around notions of cultural expression and cultural production. Our members work within visual and performing arts, cultural policy, film and media, and communications and PR. 

Research focuses on both the pressing issues that occur within the domain of culture (for example, socio-economic, racialised, physical or gendered exclusion or mental health issues for arts workers) but also the ways in which culture can contribute to external contexts (for example, sustainable media and communications practices, or policy development). We deliver on sector research activities and traditional critical research studies. 

The Centre aims to question and to deliver innovative exploratory and reflective research, with direct application and relevance to culture, society, and places. 

The Centre’s character reflects its basis in the humanities, focusing on human imagination creativity and criticality with a view to the greater understanding of societal conditions, thus making a contribution to impactful research and meeting ÄÛÒ¶²Ý (ÄÛÒ¶²Ý)’s mission to improve accessibility, inclusion, and quality of life for everyone. 

Critical theoretical research centres on cultural policy, production and consumption; professionalised applied communication practices; textual analysis of film and media. 

How we are making a difference

The Centre focuses on three cross disciplinary research themes: 

Culture and cultural/creative industries 

• Cultural policy and the relations between cultural production and consumption  
• Arts management and cultural participation  
• Critical approaches to festivals, film and media  
• Cultural memory, representation, and voice  

Communication and culture 

• Digital media and journalism  
• Informational justice and political cultures  
• Critical dialogue  

Creative Practice 

• Creating knowledge through doing  
• Drama, Theatre, Film, Visual Art, and other expressive forms  
• Reflection and development of practice as a research tool  

These broad areas are tackled from a range of disciplinary perspectives: cultural studies, geography, history, education, literature, political science; and theoretical and methodological approaches: cultural theory, critical theory, textual analysis, discourse analysis, ethnography. 

Experts in the Centre for Culture in Society talk about their real-world research projects