Robert Edgar

Professor Robert Edgar serves as Professor of Writing and Popular Culture at York St John University, based in the York Centre for Writing within the School of Humanities. He holds significant leadership roles as School of Humanities Postgraduate Research Lead, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and UKCGE Recognised Research Supervisor. His academic career spans teaching across creative writing, literature, media studies, and film production programs.

Edgar's research expertise centers on scriptwriting, adaptation, music memoir, and genre fiction, with particular specialization in folk horror, hauntology, music venues, arena concerts, and music documentary. His scholarly work explores the intersections between popular culture, memory, narrative forms, and British cultural identity. He leads the Hauntology and Spectrality Research Group and co-leads the Music, Memory and Narrative Research Group, fostering collaborative research through publications, conferences, and workshops.

His recent publications reveal a strong interdisciplinary focus bridging literary studies, cultural theory, and creative practice. Significant contributions include 'The Routledge Companion to Folk Horror' (2023), 'Venue Stories' (2023), and 'Horrifying Children: Hauntology and the Legacy of Children's Television' (2024). These works demonstrate his commitment to exploring niche cultural phenomena through academic rigor and creative engagement.

As an active PhD supervisor, Edgar mentors students in literature, cinema, prose fiction, scriptwriting, and adaptation, with current projects covering folk horror, spectrality, weird fiction, music memoir, and historical fiction. He has served as an external examiner at multiple universities including Leeds, Leicester, Salford, and Leeds Beckett, contributing significantly to academic quality assurance.

Edgar's leadership extends to founding and developing research networks that have produced notable publications and events. His work with the Hauntology and Spectrality Research Group has resulted in edited collections, conferences, and collaborations with external partners including museums. His contributions to the academic community through peer review, conference organization, and media engagement demonstrate his commitment to public scholarship.