Julia Kennedy

Biography

Graduating as a mature student with an English and media studies degree in 2001 (following a career in emergency and psychiatric nursing), Julia has over a decade's experience working as a senior lecturer on the BA(Hons) Journalism course at Falmouth. Subjects taught include media ethics and regulation, audience studies, journalism and film, health and environmental journalism, crime and the media and radical and participatory journalism. Julia's research interests lie in the intersection of representations of crime, conflict, illness and trauma with new media technologies. Work on responses to the mediation of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann through user generated content on YouTube was published in Journalism Studies early in 2010. A co-authored chapter on the YouTube phenomenon of the reaction video posted in response to graphic body modification imagery was included in Controversial Images: Media Representations on the Edge, an edited collection published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2013. Julia has a strong profile of postgraduate study and scholarly activity. This includes an MA (distinction) in Mass Communications from the University of Leicester. A Postgraduate Certificate in Applications of Online and Distance Learning with the OU inspired an interest in online learning and teaching technologies. Hybrid learning approaches are of particular interest, and Julia has co-presented papers on using electronic forums to support workplace based learning, and reading educational futures through science fiction literature at conferences in Naples and Lisbon respectively. She has undertaken a longitudinal research project to explore student responses to peer evaluation through online gallery spaces in BA(Hons) Journalism with a colleague in the department. Julia has also completed an MAEd at Falmouth, and is currently working towards a PhD exploring the role of online narrative networks and knowledge exchange in contemporary health contexts.

Research Interest

Research interests and expertise Research interests are focused around the representation of crime, trauma, conflict and illness in digital contexts. Research topics Crime health and trauma in digital cultures