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Why did you choose Warwick?

For my MA, I chose Warwick because of its international reputation in media and cultural studies, as well as its small-group teaching. As an international student, I felt that this learning environment would help me participate more actively in class, express myself more confidently, and engage more closely with both tutors and classmates.

I was also attracted by Warwick’s balance between theory and practice. The modules were designed in a way that kept different future pathways open, whether in industry or academia.

For my PhD, the answer is very simple: I had such a great experience during my MA that I did not want to leave. One of my PhD supervisors, Professor Chris Bilton, had also been my personal tutor during my MA. I took his optional module, Marketing and Markets, and achieved the highest mark in the module. I felt it would be very difficult to find another supervisor whose academic interests, intellectual approach, and personal qualities aligned so closely with what I was looking for. His encouragement gave me the confidence to believe that I might be able to continue on an academic path. So, when I applied for a PhD, I chose Warwick without hesitation.

What are you doing now?

I’m currently a PhD candidate at the Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Studies (CMPS) at the ÉñÂí¸£ÀûӰƬ. I have submitted my thesis and am now awaiting my viva. I am also a Senior Graduate Teaching Assistant at CMPS. Over the past three years, I have co-convened and taught the Research Design module across three MA programmes.

This is the final year of my PhD and my fifth year at Warwick, as I also completed my MA here. I’ve recently accepted a position as a Research Assistant Professor in Creative and Media Industries at a university in Hong Kong, where I’ll begin the next stage of my academic career later this year.

What motivates you to do what you do?

I’m driven by a combination of curiosity and a desire to tell, understand, and share people’s stories. As a researcher in cultural and media studies, I have always been interested in getting closer to people -- learning how they live and work, how they make sense of their own experiences, and how they articulate their challenges, struggles, and happiness across different cultural, social, and national contexts.

I’m also fascinated by how different forms of media become part of everyday life and shape the ways people communicate, interact, and understand the world. From newspapers and television to social media and short video platforms, media is never simply channels of communication. It actively participates in the organisation of individuals, communities, and societies within specific cultural contexts. My research is motivated by a desire to understand the technological, cultural, economic, and social forces behind these processes.

As a teacher, I hope to bring these changing relationships between people, media, and society into the classroom. The opportunity to keep exploring, questioning, and sharing knowledge with students is what continues to motivate me.

How has your time at Warwick influenced what you do now?

Warwick has provided me with an academic environment that is open, inclusive, and supportive, while also being intellectually rigorous. During my PhD, Warwick gave me the training I needed to become an early-career researcher, but it also gave me the freedom and confidence to explore the topics that genuinely mattered to me.

One of the things that has shaped me most at CMPS is the way we approach cultural and media phenomena. We are encouraged not only to ask what is happening, or what has happened, but also to ask why it matters, what its implications are, and why we need to understand it. This kind of critical questioning has trained me to move beyond description. It’s helped me think from the concrete to the abstract, from empirical phenomena to theoretical reflection, and to consider how research can contribute to knowledge production.

The teaching opportunities I’ve had during my PhD have also been invaluable in preparing me for an academic career. Teaching Research Design, in particular, encouraged me to think carefully about the research process from a methodological perspective: how to formulate a strong research question, how to conduct a literature review, how to design and carry out a methodology, and how to develop arguments. This experience not only strengthened my academic profile but also helped me become a more disciplined and reflective researcher. In a very real sense, teaching this module also pushed me to publish, because I felt a strong responsibility to develop my own publication record in order to teach the subject with confidence. This partly motivated me to publish two articles in leading journals.

At CMPS, discussions of media, culture, and the creative industries are not only critical and theoretical, but also closely connected to industry practice. I felt this particularly strongly during my MA. We were expected to use what we had learned to examine and respond to real-world problems through teamwork. For example, we worked with real clients, designed a marketing campaign for them, and received direct feedback. This meant that teamwork was not just an abstract exercise; it took place in real commercial, cultural and social contexts. It greatly strengthened my ability to connect theory with practice and to respond to real-world challenges.

There is much more I could say, but I genuinely believe that without my five years at Warwick, across both my MA and PhD, I would not have been able to secure the academic position I had hoped for.

Favourite memory?

There are too many to choose from. I feel that I have almost no regrets about my five years at Warwick, and that is largely because of the people I met here. They are at the heart of my best memories of Warwick.

I met my wonderful PhD supervisors, Heidi and Chris. I made some of my closest friends and peers during both my MA and PhD, and I know these friendships will last for life. Most importantly, I met my wife during my MA. We were classmates on the International Cultural Policy and Management programme, and we’re now married!

Favourite place on campus?

Definitely the Faculty of Arts building. It’s where I completed my PhD thesis, wrote my first journal article, taught for the first time, and got to know many of my PhD peers. It is the place where I have spent most of my time over the past four years, and it holds many of my most important memories of Warwick.

Pengyun Lu

PhD in Creative Industries; MA in International Cultural Policy and Management, 2021

Based in:

After my PhD, Hong Kong.

Came to study at Warwick from:

China