Film experts selected for BBC training workshop

Two film studies researchers will take part in an exclusive BBC media training workshop which could see them inform national radio programmes.

Dr Daniel O’Brien and Dr Sarah Louise Smyth were selected out of hundreds of applications from British researchers.

The workshop, on 30 April, is the first round of the prestigious Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) New Generation Thinkers competition.

They will learn about commissioning, producing and presenting radio programmes and pitch and develop their own ideas for shows.

The highly-competitive AHRC scheme aims to identify early career researchers with a passion for sharing ideas and talent for engaging with public audiences through the media.

After the media workshop, five selected winners will become researchers-in-residence on Radio 4 programmes, including Woman’s Hour and Front Row, where they will help produce content and present their own show.

As part of the application process, Dr O’Brien and Dr Smyth had to demonstrate their ability to engage audiences by writing pitches for radio discussions.

Dr O’Brien, whose research interests span cinema, interactive art and computer gaming, is fast developing a social media following for his quick-fire video film reviews.

He pitched discussion ideas based on significant cinematic anniversaries in 2025 by pairing iconic films with meaningful connections. He hopes to be able to develop programmes contrasting Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom, both marking their 65th anniversary in 2025, and Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus (1960) and The Shining (1980).

Dr O’Brien said: “I am very pleased to be one of the finalists for the AHRC/BBC New Generation Thinkers scheme and looking forward to the new skills and contacts the workshop will open up. If selected I will be using the format of an anniversary programme to creatively link films, computer games and digital screen media in new and engaging ways to a mainstream audience. Many thanks to the University’s communication team for their support in this area already, particularly with my work writing for The Conversation.”

Dr Smyth is an expert in women filmmakers who was awarded British Academy funding in 2024 for research that will contribute to the first major academic study of the cinematic impact of writer and director Nora Ephron, famed for her romantic comedies including When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle.

Her two discussion ideas would discuss why Ephron’s contributions to male-genre cinema have largely been ignored or forgotten, and the power and pitfalls of celebrity feminism focusing on Reese Witherspoon, whose female-led projects like Big Little Lies have come under increasing scrutiny.

Dr Smyth said: “I am delighted to be shortlisted for the AHRC/BBC New Generation Thinkers scheme. If selected, I hope to show the value of women’s screen work, especially work which is considered too mainstream, too trivial or too feminine, and to demonstrate the importance of looking critically at it. I am excited at the prospect of bringing my research to a large audience and to learn about developing, writing and producing radio programmes.”

Professor Chris Greer, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research, added: “At Essex we are absolutely committed to excellence in arts and humanities research and we are also acutely aware that expressing the value of the arts and humanities is more important than ever. To do that, we need the best communicators: researchers who can engage and inform audiences and debate. That’s why nurturing the next generation of experts who have the skills and the passion necessary to work in the media is so important to us and I’m delighted to see Dan and Sarah secure this wonderful recognition.”