Dr Mark Duffett

Since 1999 Mark has taught full time in the department as a Associate Professor in Media and Cultural Studies. His taught modules at undergraduate and Masters level have centred on subjects including music fandom, documentary, research methods, club culture, the music industry, heritage culture, horror films, European cinema and cultural studies.

Mark’s research specialisms include media fandom, Elvis Presley and popular music culture.

In 1994 Mark was employed by Sony Music. He has also been a consultant for the Manchester DJ Mr Scruff and worked for The Discovery Channel. He has been interviewed by media organizations such as the BBC World Service, TalkSport Radio and The Toronto Globe and Mail. His research has been quoted in Rolling Stone, The New York Times and The New Yorker.

In 2012 Mark Duffett was a keynote speaker at the MARS music conference held by the Sibelius Academy in Finland. He was also a keynote at the Fan Studies Network conference in Cardiff in 2018 and the CIAC conference in Faro, Portugal, in 2023. He has organized academic conferences in Chester, Montpellier and Memphis.

Mark’s books include Understanding Fandom (Bloomsbury, 2013) and the edited volume Popular Music Fandom (Routledge, 2013). In 2013 he edited a special issue of the international journal Popular Music and Society. He has also written numerous articles for publications such as Popular Music, Volume!, Convergence, Popular Music History, Transatlantica, Participations and The Journal of Popular Music Studies, as well as completing book chapters for edited volumes such as Kraftwerk: Music Non-Stop (Continuum, 2010) and The Music Documentary (Routledge, 2013).

In 2013 and 2020, Mark organized unique Academic Research Advice Exchange Days that brought together staff and postgraduate students from across social science and associated disciplines at Chester. Dr Duffett welcomes supervisor applications from PhD candidates in his research field.