Emma Austin

Emma Austin is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Portsmouth's School of Film, Media and Creative Technologies, part of the Faculty of Creative & Cultural Industries. She has been teaching there since 2004 and serves as Course Leader for BA (Hons) Film Studies/Film Industries. Her research focuses on horror in popular culture, zombies, and cultural representation, with contributions to edited collections on George Romero, zombies as protest symbols, and American Horror Story. She has created teaching resources like the 'Researching Genre' unit and regularly participates in academic and public events.

Education:

• Ph.D., University of Portsmouth (2010): A Strange Body of Work: The Cinematic Zombie
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2015)
• PGCERTHE (2015)

Research Interests: Horror media, zombie studies, cultural representation in film and television, genre analysis, and intersections with surrealism and animation. Her work explores how horror reflects social contexts and evolves across media forms.

Awards:

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2015)
• Ph.D. in Cultural Representation in Zombie Media Texts (2010)
• PGCERTHE (2015)

Advising & Grants: Supervises doctoral students and contributes to academic activities like the Portsmouth Comic Con and conferences on comic book cultures and horror studies. She has organized panels and lectures on global horror and Romero’s legacy.

Labs & Teams: Engaged in academic networks through the School of Film, Media, and Creative Technologies, collaborating on projects like Pop Matters podcast series and interdisciplinary events.