Mark Shiel

Professor Mark Shiel is a Professor of Film, Media, and Urban Studies at King's College London's Department of Film Studies within the Faculty of Arts & Humanities. He holds a PhD in Film Studies from Birkbeck College/British Film Institute, University of London. His academic roles include Head of the Department of Film Studies at King's (2018–2022) and previous positions at University College Dublin, Sheffield Hallam University, and the University of Leicester. He has been a Visiting Research Fellow at Princeton University and a Visiting Scholar at UCLA.

His research focuses on intersections between media, urbanization, architecture, and environment. Key areas include North American/European media, media and cities, media sustainability, and architectural photography. Notable publications include Hollywood Cinema and the Real Los Angeles (2012) and Architectures of Revolt: The Cinematic City circa 1968 (2018). His current projects explore Los Angeles media from the 1960s/70s and 21st-century Dublin's media transformation.

Shiel has secured grants from the British Academy, Leverhulme Trust, and Getty Research Institute. His articles often analyze spatial and political dimensions of cinema, such as urban dystopias and post-industrial landscapes. He teaches courses on Media and Cities, Media and Architecture, and Hollywood Cinema history.

Awards include the Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship and a visiting fellowship at Princeton's Shelby Cullom Davis Center. His work bridges academic research with public engagement through journalistic articles and documentary contributions, such as essays on Dublin's urban future and Ed Ruscha's Los Angeles street photography.