Lecturer

Email: edward.brennan@tudublin.ie

Tel: +353 1 220 5502

 

Profile

Media sociologist Dr Edward Brennan is a lecturer in Journalism, Photography, Game Design and Film & Broadcasting, across undergraduate programmes in the School of Media, TU Dublin. 

His work as a media sociologist explores how media are woven into, and woven by, our various societies.  His recent book A Post-Nationalist History of Television in Ireland (Palgrave 2019) looks at how the introduction of private screens changed family and social life.  It also looks at how these changes are remembered, and how personal recollections may be shaped by social power and, particularly, social class. 
 
His current research is in two, related areas

• Memory-informed Media Histories:  How can memories offer alternative narratives in media history? What do they reveal about how social class, gender, geography, and ethnicity, for example, can shape how we experience, and remember, emerging media forms? 
• Histories of Media and Emotion: Our media feed into experiences of anger, loneliness, fear and sentimentality. But how have these emotions themselves been shaped by their entanglement with media since the capitalist and democratic revolutions of the 18th century? And what can this tell us about media, emotion, and politics today? 

He has served as External Examiner for Department of Media and Communication Studies, Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick. 

Select Publications

• A selection of Edward’s publications can be seen on Arrow, the TU Dublin Library open access repository
• A recent, related publication considers the idea of ‘Digital Loneliness’.

Media Coverage and Participation 

• ‘Television in Ireland.’ The History Show. 1 March 2020. RTÉ Radio 1. 
• Brennan, Edward. “Television in Ireland went far beyond RTÉ” The Irish Times. 11 January 2020.  

 

Lecturing Profile

Edward is a lecture in TU976 BA Photography, TU983 BA Film & Broadcasting, TU984 BA Game Design and TU985 BA Journalism. The modules that he currently teaches are:

• Introduction to Media Theory
• Media, Memory, History
• Dissertation Preparation: Research and Writing, and 
• Media Management. 
• Media and the Natural World, a new module for third years from September, 2022.

Edward also is a supervisor for PhD candidates and has supervised to completion:

• Murray, Ann-Marie. 2013. Rationalizing Creativity—Rationalizing Public Service: Is Scheduling Management Fit for the Digital Era? Doctoral Thesis, Technological University Dublin. 
• Alexandra, Darcy. 2015. Visualising Migrant Voices: Co-Creative Documentary and the Politics of Listening. Doctoral Thesis, Technological University Dublin. 
• Medvedev, Sergey. 2021. Transmedia Strategies for Participatory Politics in Russia: Alexey Navalny’s Grassroots Campaign. Doctoral Thesis, Technological University Dublin 
• Anyanwu, Kosidichimma. 2022. The Apprentice Africa TV Format: Local Culture, Global Model, and Informalized Production Practices in the Nigerian Media Industry. Doctoral Thesis, Technological University Dublin. 

Edward welcomes enquiries from potential doctoral students in any area of media research and has a particular interest in proposals concerning memory-assisted media histories, media and emotion, and media and the natural world.