Janet Harbord

Professor Janet Harbord is a Professor of Film Studies within the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film at Queen Mary University of London, where she serves as Principal Investigator for the Wellcome Trust-funded 'Autism through Cinema' project and contributes to the Centre for Film and Ethics. Her academic leadership spans research, teaching of core courses including Film Archaeology and Modern/Postmodern Cinema, and supervision of doctoral candidates.

Her research interrogates cinema's relationship with embodiment, environments, and philosophical frameworks—particularly through Giorgio Agamben's theories—while pioneering intersections between autism studies, neurodiversity, and film representation. Key trajectories include film archaeology's exploration of sensory discipline, public space media's transformation of urban environments, and avant-garde practices challenging conventional narrative structures. This intellectual breadth manifests in analyses of medical film, entertainment cinema, and artists like Chris Marker and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

Recent publications demonstrate sustained engagement with film philosophy and archaeology, evolving from historical analyses of cinematic institutions toward contemporary concerns about attention, distraction, and neurodiverse embodiment. Her work consistently bridges theoretical rigor with empirical investigations of film festivals, autism representation, and the ethical dimensions of screen-based media across public and private spheres.

Her major research awards include:

• Wellcome Trust Award for 'Autism through Cinema' (2018-2022, £657,000)
• AHRC International Network Grant for 'Bazaar Cinema' (2012-2014, £45,000)
• AHRC Researcher in Residence Scheme (2013, £40,000)
• EPSRC and AHRC Grant for 'MediaCity' (2009-2010)
• Leverhulme Trust Grant for 'Spaces of the Media' (2008-2012)

Professor Harbord currently supervises three PhD candidates: Songyan Du (Chinese subtitling of English-language films), Cathy Lomax (screen makeup and female identity), and Tashi Petter (Lotte Reiniger's silhouette films). Her grant portfolio reflects strategic focus on cinema's evolving relationship with public space, philosophical inquiry, and neurodiversity, securing over £1 million in competitive funding from major UK research councils.

As an active member of Queen Mary's Centre for Film and Ethics, she contributes to interdisciplinary dialogues examining cinema's ethical dimensions, while her 'Autism through Cinema' project fosters collaboration between medical researchers, filmmakers, and neurodiverse communities to reimagine cinematic representation.