Dr. Anna Gough-Yates

I am Associate Dean (Research and Partnerships) for FSSH, having previously been Associate Dean in FASS, and Academic Leader for the Media area. I have taught media, communication and cultural studies in Higher Education since 1991, with previous positions at Universities including Brunel University, University of East London, University of Leicester, and the Open University. I was awarded a doctorate in Cultural Studies from the University of Birmingham in 2000 for research on the transformation in the production, advertising and marketing practices of the women's magazine industry in late twentieth century Britain. I also have a strong interest in teaching and learning in Higher Education, and was awarded a Masters in Education from the Open University in 2004. As Associate Dean (Research) I am responsible for the management and leadership of research across the faculty and for representing FASS in developing strategic links at University level.

Research Profile 

I have mainly conducted research on, and with, the television and magazine industries. Broadly speaking, my work has examined the ways in which the ''economic'' processes and practices of production are also phenomena with cultural meanings and effects. In 2008 I worked with Professor Bill Osgerby on a consultancy project for the BBC Trust on television, audiences and entertainment. I am a member of the Steering Committee of the Network for Subcultures, Popular Music and Social Change (http://www.reading.ac.uk/history/research/hist-subcultures.aspx),  ECREA and MECCSA. I regularly act as a peer reviewer for publishers and journals in the media and cultural studies areas. I have also acted as external examiner/scrutinizer at a number of Universities in the UK and abroad. I have also acted as interviewee and consultant for programmes on Channel 4, BBC2, Radio 4 and 5 Live.

In 2003 I published Understanding Women’s Magazines: Publishing, Markets and Readerships, London and New York: Routledge.Understanding Women's Magazines investigates the changing landscape of women's magazines since the 1970s, and focuses on the successes, failures and shifting fortunes of a number of magazines including Elle, Marie Claire,Cosmopolitan, Frank, New Woman and Red. The book examines the transformation in the production, advertising and marketing practices of women's magazines. Arguing that these changes were driven by political and economic shifts, commercial cultures and the need to get closer to the reader, the book shows how this has led to an increased focus on consumer lifestyles and attempts by publishers to identify and target a 'new woman'.

Current research

Recent publications include:

‘Magazines’ in Sociology Compass (forthcoming 2012).

‘Mickey Mouse Studies? Debates about media education in the UK’ in Winfred Kaminski, ed. Clash of Realities 2010: Computer Games, media and more, Munich (2011)

‘Magazines’ in Paul Cobley and Daniele Albertazzi, The Media: An Introduction, London: Pearson Education, 2009

What do women want?’: women, social change and the UK magazine market’, Information, Society and Justice, no. 1, vol. 1, Dec 2007

‘The Cultural Studies tradition of Mass Communications Research’, MA Mass Communications by Distance Learning course materials, CMCR, Leicester University, 2006.

‘What’s sex got to do with it?’ Signifying Feminism in Sex and the City’ in David Holloway et. al., American Visual Cultures, London: Continuum (2005).

Current research students

• I am interested in applications for PhDs in all areas related to my research in media studies, cultural studies and feminism.