Matt Johnston

Matt Johnston serves as Assistant Professor at Coventry University's School of Arts & Creative Industries, specializing in photography education and research. He leads the level 6 module Independent Research and masters course Objects, Spaces and Boundaries while contributing across BA and MA photography programmes. His academic profile centers on the evolving ecology of contemporary photobooks and their engagement with global audiences.

Johnston holds a Doctorate in Photo/book/club: connections made and missed from the University for the Creative Arts (2020) and a Postgraduate Certificate from Coventry University (2014). His scholarly foundation combines formal academic training with innovative community-based research practices.

Research focuses on three interconnected domains: the contemporary photobook's form and audience connections (evidenced in his 2021 publication Photobooks &), post-digital publishing frameworks examining hybrid physical-digital artifacts, and distributed authorship models through The Photobook Club. Additional interests span artists' books, American Transcendentalist influences on visual culture, and walking as pedagogical methodology. This interdisciplinary approach bridges visual arts, media studies, and community sociology.

His publication trajectory reveals consistent exploration of photobook culture's social dimensions, evolving from pragmatic community responses (2015) to critical companions (2021). Work consistently addresses the medium's negotiation between digital saturation and haptic materiality, positioning photobooks as cultural connectors across physical and virtual spaces.

Johnston received the National Teaching Fellowship in 2018, reflecting excellence in pedagogy and curriculum innovation within higher education.

As an educator, he actively mentors graduate students through specialized modules while expanding academic boundaries via The Photobook Club. His leadership in developing the Independent Research module demonstrates commitment to student-driven inquiry, complemented by contributions to conference proceedings on academic publishing futures and community-based learning.

The Photobook Club represents Johnston's signature contribution—a globally distributed community operating in over 50 cities that transforms photobook engagement into collective discourse. This initiative functions as both research platform and cultural infrastructure, facilitating connections between practitioners, collectors, and readers while generating insights into audience-photobook relationships.